Lyr/Chords/Tune Req: Tom Dooley (Kingston Trio)

Subject: Kingston Trio, Tom Dooley
From:
Date: 17 Feb 99 - 07:37 AM

Please reply by e-mail, if possible.

I am trying to find lyrics and cords/music for the folk song "Tom Dooley" as sung by the Kingston Trio. I have found several other versions on this site, but the lyrics don't match the parts I remember. I'd appreciate any help/suggestions.

Thanks, Ben Allen

Subject: RE: Kingston Trio, Tom Dooley
From: Ferrara
Date: 17 Feb 99 - 08:38 AM

When you ask for a reply by e-mail, rather than on the forum, readers of the thread have no way of knowing whether you've already gotten a reply. In this case I suspect you've gotten lots of answers by now. ???

Subject: RE: Kingston Trio, Tom Dooley
From: Will Bakker
Date: 17 Feb 99 - 08:57 AM

In fact I sent him an email to go to the Kingston Trio Place-site.

Subject: RE: Kingston Trio, Tom Dooley
From: Mark Clark
Date: 18 Feb 99 - 02:59 AM

There are scholars, such as Art, lurking about who can speak with authority, but I was under the impression that the Kingston Trio's version of that song was a tin pan alley remake of the traditional ballad. Versions by Frank Profitt and Doc Watson are probably more faithful to the tradition and every bit as nice musically speaking.

- Mark

Subject: RE: Kingston Trio, Tom Dooley
From: MudGuard
Date: 18 Feb 99 - 04:20 AM

Hi Will,
why don't you provide the URL of the Kingston Trio Place-site?
Thanks,
Andreas

Subject: RE: Kingston Trio, Tom Dooley
From: Will Bakker
Date: 18 Feb 99 - 05:39 AM

The Kingston Trio place is: http://home.att.net/%7ESAVAIIKEN/lyrics.htm (In fact Roger in Baltimore gave me the address, when I was a starting mudcatter!)

Subject: RE: Kingston Trio, Tom Dooley
From: charp
Date: 18 Feb 99 - 10:06 AM

i'm new to mudcat. i'm new to nw florida too. but i've been playing music for 40 years and kingston trio or doc watson or whomever it don't matter. that's what folk music is all about:folks. charp

Subject: RE: Kingston Trio, Tom Dooley
From: Art Thieme
Date: 19 Feb 99 - 06:12 PM

Aint no scholar folks; just an old folkie and a graduate of the University Of The Open Road. (Howdy Mark!)

As stated elsewhere in a thread somewhere, Frank Proffitt first sang the song for the great collector Frank Warner & his wife Ann (parents of Jeff Warner)in the 1930's. Kingstons did their version & the rest is history. (Have you noticed, everything that was ever done in the past is history?! If it wasn't for time, we'd have to do everything all at once!!)

SANDY PATON did sevewral records of Mr Proffitt---one on Folkways/Smithsonian and at least one full LP on his Folk Legacy label---still available as a custom cassette at their site.

I do realize that now-a-days it's ALL called folk , but those who respect history---those who try to get to the roots and to GIVE PROPER CREDIT WHERE IT IS DUE, will always return to Frank Proffitt...

Affectionately,

Art

Subject: RE: Kingston Trio, Tom Dooley
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 19 Feb 99 - 06:56 PM

I recall reading somewhere that Dave Guard (co-founder of the Kingston Trio) was quite angry that a number of people accused him of "stealing" royalties away from Frank Proffitt, and gave his side of the story. I can't remember the jist of it but it had something to do with other commercial groups having recorded and copywrighted the song long before the "Trio" got to it. Does anyone have any info on this? I know that in the Bourgeois Blues thread someone mentions that Leadbelly and the LOMAXES wrote the song! In a pig's eye! Even The Weavers got royalties under the name "Paul Campbell", for a lot of old songs. I guess money is money, and even some of the "legit" folkies can't resist.

Subject: RE: Kingston Trio, Tom Dooley
From: catspaw49
Date: 19 Feb 99 - 09:31 PM

Like it has ever been easy to make a buck in folk music. It seems as though damn near everyone has, at some point, accidentily or on purpose, screwed someone else, friend or not. Later, their explanations are received with a mixture of understanding or total disdain depending on the feelings of the listener to the apologizer. Well, who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? Actually "The Shadow" knows but I can't seem to locate the sucker.

There can be only one or two questions left regarding the Dooley issue: 1.) Was his tie stuck in his fly? and 2.) What brand of condom did he use?

catspaw

Subject: RE: Kingston Trio, Tom Dooley
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 19 Feb 99 - 09:40 PM

The KT version was a fairly accurate reproduction of Frank Warner's version of Tom Dooley, which he either willfully changed or inadvertantly folk-processed from Frank Proffitt's. Warner copyrighted the song, and shared the income with Frank Proffitt.

Subject: RE: Kingston Trio, Tom Dooley
From:
Date: 13 May 99 - 07:48 AM

Who was really Tom Dooley ?

In his book, a young american doctor called Tom Dooley, who worked during the early 60' in Asia as a "French Doctor" (he was a precursor), say that the KT' song has been dedicated to him. He was suffering from a cancer and Dooley, in the song, is also "going to dye"...

Has everyone informations about the origin of the KT' text "Tom Dooley" ?

Thank you in advance

Subject: RE: Kingston Trio, Tom Dooley
From:
Date: 13 May 99 - 07:49 AM

Who was really Tom Dooley ?

In his book, a young american doctor called Tom Dooley, who worked during the early 60' in Asia as a "French Doctor" (he was a precursor), say that the KT' song has been dedicated to him. He was suffering from a cancer and Dooley, in the song, is also "going to dye"...

Has everyone informations about the origin of the KT' text "Tom Dooley" ?

Thank you in advance

Subject: RE: Kingston Trio, Tom Dooley
From: Roger in Baltimore
Date: 13 May 99 - 10:43 AM

I believe Alan Lomax in his "Folk Songs of North America" states that there was a real Tom Dooley, except his name was Tom Dula. He was hanged for the murder of his girlfriend. When I get home, I will look it up.

Roger in Baltimore

Subject: RE: Kingston Trio, Tom Dooley
From: Rockaday Johnny
Date: 13 May 99 - 10:48 AM

Grayson & Whitter recorded the song "Tom Dooley" in the early 30's (or twenties?) Grayson was a grandson (Great?) of the sherrif in the song

Subject: RE: Kingston Trio, Tom Dooley
From: Allan C.
Date: 13 May 99 - 01:39 PM

Lomax says that yes, there was a Tom Dula who was hanged in 1868 (I think it was - don't have the book with me) for the murder of a woman named Laura. The woman in question had a reputation for being as "wild" as she was pretty. She and Tom courted for some time but eventually broke up. Tom was then attracted to another woman whose first name began with "A" (maybe Alice?) and last name, Melton. Ms. Melton was reported to be extraordinarily attractive. The story goes that it soon became evident to Dula and Melton that Laura had passed on a little "gift" to them in the way of a venereal disease. This enraged the two so much that they plotted Laura's murder. Tom met with Laura in a secluded place. He took a drink of whiskey, wiped his mouth with a bandanna and offered Laura a drink. About then he suddenly jammed the bandanna into her mouth. Melton leaped from behind some bushes and plunged a knife into Laura's abdomen. When they were certain she was dead, the two placed the body in a grave which Dula and Melton had dug the day before. Two weeks later, when the grave and body were found, both Tom and Alice (I will call her that for now until my memory returns) were arrested. After a lengthy trial Tom Dula was found guilty of the murder while the so very beautiful Alice charmed the male judge and the all male jury into a very short prison sentence. Dula consistantly swore that Melton had nothing to do with the murder. Dula wrote the song shortly before he was hanged. Melton died a few years later. There were reports of evil-sounding supernatural events which occurred in the room at the moment she died.

Subject: RE: Kingston Trio, Tom Dooley
From: Rasta
Date: 14 May 99 - 01:43 AM

Tom Dooley ,he was actually a early secret member of the Kingston trio but quit and opened up his own lawnmowing business.--No but as I recall in the book bout Dr Tom Dooley ,the trio actually played for Dr Tom in the hospital.---I know Im rambling--- anyway heres a lyric I got from an old N.Y. folksinger friend years ago----- Hold up your head tom dooley -hold up your head and smile -though youve lived a short life- -youve lived a life worthwhile---

--somethling like that Merember the Amalo --Rastaaaaaa

Subject: RE: Kingston Trio, Tom Dooley
From: Allan C.
Date: 14 May 99 - 08:13 AM

Yep! The old memory is getting rusty! Tom's accomplice was named Ann, not Alice. Laura's last name was Fulton and she was from Wilkes County, North Carolina. There is another thread which covers much of this and more. Look for the thread called TOM DOOLEY. (I don't want to attempt a link just now 'cause I haven't had my first cuppa coffee yet!)

Subject: Dr Tom Dooley and Mr Kingston Trio, the answer
From:
Date: 17 May 99 - 08:43 AM

Dr. America

The Lives of Thomas A. Dooley, 1927-1961

James T. Fisher

The first major biography of the fabled "jungle doctor" of Southeast Asia

This book chronicles the life of Tom Dooley, the American doctor whose much-publicized exploits in Vietnam and Laos during the 1950s helped lay the ideological groundwork for the U.S. military intervention a decade later. The scion of an upper-middle-class St. Louis family, Dooley was an enormously complex and fascinating individual. He was a devoutly religious Roman Catholic as well as a self-styled playboy socialite, a devoted physician to the poor and a tireless propagandist for the "Vietnam Lobby," a shameless self-promoter and a closeted homosexual, a victim of Navy persecution and a beneficiary of CIA support.

Dooley first gained notoriety as a young Navy doctor charged with overseeing the evacuation of Catholic refugees from North Vietnam in the wake of the 1954 Geneva Accords. His celebrity grew after his book Deliver Us from Evil, a fervently anticommunist account of his experiences, was serialized in Reader's Digest. By the end of the decade, as his name became associated (albeit mistakenly) with a ballad popularized by the Kingston Trio, he had achieved the status of "America's first pop star saint."

And many thanks to Rasta for his rambling on Dooley, Dooley and Dooley. Again, please !

Subject: RE: Kingston Trio, Tom Dooley
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Oct 10 - 11:50 AM

hey tom dooleyn did not kill laura foster

Subject: RE: Kingston Trio, Tom Dooley
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 04 Oct 10 - 01:10 PM

I much preferred the Lonnie Donegan version of Tom Dooley!

Subject: RE: Kingston Trio, Tom Dooley
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 04 Oct 10 - 05:30 PM

As I remember it, he was dying of cancer and had left Laos for treatment in NYC or somewhere and the kingston trio was playing nearby and they all got to meet...he was a cult figure amongst Irish Americans and very inspirational. mg

Subject: RE: Kingston Trio, Tom Dooley
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 04 Oct 10 - 06:15 PM

David Holt's programme about Tom Dula