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23 Nov 10 - 01:34 PM (#3038816) Subject: Tom Dula: The Full Story From: GUEST,Paul Slade http://www.planetslade.com/tom-dooley01.html In 1958, The Kingston Trio scored a massive global hit with an 1860s folk song about Tom Dula's killing of Laura Foster. I've just posted a 25,000-word essay on the song describing Tom's return from the Civil War to his North Carolina home, the many women he slept with there and his role in spreading the syphilis that ultimately led to Laura's murder. Tom hanged for it in the end, but many still insist he was not the true killer. I also examine the song's continuing development by artists like Doc Watson, Steve Earle and Greg Brown, and recount my own visit to the story's key sites in September this year. |
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23 Nov 10 - 01:50 PM (#3038828) Subject: RE: Tom Dula: The Full Story From: Dave Hanson Old news then ? Dave H |
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23 Nov 10 - 01:55 PM (#3038834) Subject: RE: Tom Dula: The Full Story From: VirginiaTam Information covered 10 years ago in the other thread |
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23 Nov 10 - 05:00 PM (#3038959) Subject: RE: Tom Dula: The Full Story From: GUEST Much of the information on that other thread is, however, mistaken. If you've any interest in separating the fact from the fiction, I think you may find my piece more useful. |
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24 Nov 10 - 01:29 AM (#3039256) Subject: RE: Tom Dula: The Full Story From: Stewie Paul, thanks for posting the link. Ignore the above curmudgeons. --Stewie. |
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24 Nov 10 - 09:43 AM (#3039489) Subject: RE: Tom Dula: The Full Story From: fretless Well, I'd feel better about the essay if it didn't open with the statement "We're introduced to a man called Tom Dooley and told he's due to hang tomorrow morning for stabbing an unnamed beauty to death" and if my memory of the KTrio's song didn't have it start with the words: "Hang down your head, Tom Dooley Hang down your head and cry Killed poor Laura Foster You know you're bound to die." Perhaps I'm misremembering the version of the song that was recorded by the KTrio, but "Laura Foster" sounds pretty much like a name to me. |
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24 Nov 10 - 09:50 AM (#3039491) Subject: RE: Tom Dula: The Full Story From: bobad THE KINGSTON TRIO "Tom Dooley" [Intro:] Throughout history There've been many songs written about the eternal triangle This next one tells the story of a Mr Grayson, a beautiful woman And a condemned man named Tom Dooley... When the sun rises tomorrow, Tom Dooley... must hang... Hang down your head, Tom Dooley Hang down your head and cry Hang down your head, Tom Dooley Poor boy, you're bound to die I met her on the mountain There I took her life Met her on the mountain Stabbed her with my knife Hang down your head, Tom Dooley Hang down your head and cry Hang down your head, Tom Dooley Poor boy, you're bound to die This time tomorrow Reckon where I'll be Hadn't a-been for Grayson I'd a-been in Tennessee Hang down your head, Tom Dooley Hang down your head and cry Hang down your head, Tom Dooley Poor boy, you're bound to die Hang down your head, Tom Dooley Hang down your head and cry Hang down your head, Tom Dooley Poor boy, you're bound to die This time tomorrow Reckon where I'll be Down in some lonesome valley Hangin' from a white oak tree Hang down your head, Tom Dooley Hang down your head and cry Hang down your head, Tom Dooley Poor boy, you're bound to die Hang down your head, Tom Dooley Hang down your head and cry Hang down your head, Tom Dooley Poor boy, you're bound to die Poor boy, you're bound to die Poor boy you're bound to die Poor boy, you're bound to die... |
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24 Nov 10 - 10:05 AM (#3039496) Subject: RE: Tom Dula: The Full Story From: GUEST,Paul Slade In fact, The Kingston Trio don't mention Laura Foster at all. Listen for yourself if you don't believe me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoBLGE2cCdU |
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24 Nov 10 - 10:54 AM (#3039535) Subject: RE: Tom Dula: The Full Story From: GUEST,Cpt. Colin Doc Watson's famous version does. |
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24 Nov 10 - 11:42 PM (#3040010) Subject: RE: Tom Dula: The Full Story From: GUEST,fretless As do the New Lost City Ramblers, and it may be their version I was remembering. |
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01 May 22 - 09:44 PM (#4140923) Subject: RE: Tom Dula: The Full Story From: GerryM Another long essay about the history and the song at chess.com, of all places: https://www.chess.com/blog/batgirl/hang-your-head-and-cry. |
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04 May 22 - 08:59 PM (#4141116) Subject: RE: Tom Dula: The Full Story From: GUEST,tom/oregon I like old time banjo singer/player Dwight Diller's version which I play/sing too rather than the more polished Kingston Trio version. |
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05 May 22 - 02:18 AM (#4141125) Subject: RE: Tom Dula: The Full Story From: GUEST,The Sandman it was not a triangle but a foursome |