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28 Sep 03 - 11:29 PM (#1026117) Subject: Origins: Some Dark Holler From: richlmo I love the Dwight Yoakum version on the Will The Circle Be Unbroken #3 album. Where did this song come from and what are the traditional lyrics? |
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28 Sep 03 - 11:51 PM (#1026125) Subject: Lyr Add: DARK HOLLOW (Bill Browning) From: GUEST,pdq Check the lyrics search right here on Mudcat. It is probably the real reason people come to this place. Here is one version: DARK HOLLOW Writer: Bill Browning I'd rather be in some dark holler Where the sun don't never shine Than to be at home alone, knowin' that she's gone That'd cause me to lose my mind. CHORUS So blow your whistle freight train Take me far on down the track I'm goin' away, I'm leavin' today I'm a-goin', but I ain't comin' back. I'd rather be in some dark holler Where the sun don't never shine Than to be in this big city In a small room with you on my mind. |
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29 Sep 03 - 01:46 AM (#1026145) Subject: RE: Origins: Some Dark Holler From: Gene I remember JIMMIE OSBORNE's version very well. Tho' he didn't write the referenced song, he did write: MOM IS DYING TONIGHT and DEATH OF LITTLE KATHY FISCUS among others... |
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29 Sep 03 - 07:20 AM (#1026217) Subject: RE: Origins: Some Dark Holler From: GUEST |
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29 Sep 03 - 07:15 PM (#1026432) Subject: RE: Origins: Some Dark Holler From: Q (Frank Staplin) In a lot of versions of East Virginia- see thread 35233: East Virginia Carter Famiy, Doc Watson, etc. Holler rhymes with foller and dollar, so it appears in "Greenback Dollar" as well. The second verse of Osborne's version is reminiscent of "In the Pines" (where the sun never shines). |
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29 Sep 03 - 07:47 PM (#1026462) Subject: RE: Origins: Some Dark Holler From: Q (Frank Staplin) Lyr. Add: THE DARK HOLLOW Little birdie, little birdie, Come sing me a song, I want to live in a dark holler Where the sun never can shine! I'd ruther be a sailor Way out on the sea, Than to be a married man With a baby on my knee. Litle birdie, little birdie, What makes you look so queer? You've no cause for to worry, No sorrow for to bear. And- Purty woman, purty woman, Just see whut you've done. You've caused me to murder Another woman's son! From Randolph, Ozark Folksongs, pp. 121-122, with music. There are many floating verses and similar songs. Also see Dark Holler Blues, "a modernized hillbilly song as sung by Clarence Ashley (Columbia records 15489D)." Quote from Randolph, p. 122 |
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29 Sep 03 - 10:31 PM (#1026485) Subject: RE: Origins: Some Dark Holler From: Q (Frank Staplin) "I'd Rather Be in Some Dark Hollow," sung by Dave Bailey, Homer Petty and Dean Bone, at American Memory. Can't make it out, but have a listen. Search (Enter dark hollow in the blank) |
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30 Sep 03 - 03:38 AM (#1026568) Subject: RE: Origins: Some Dark Holler From: Little Robyn Isn't it a 'floater' verse that pops up in lots of songs? I'd rather be in some dark holler Where the sun refuse to shine Than to see you be another man's darlin' And to know that you'll never be mine. Come all ye fair and tender ladies, The cuckoo, what else? |
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13 Dec 10 - 10:32 AM (#3052474) Subject: RE: Origins: Some Dark Holler From: GUEST The post referencing Bill Browning is wrong; he may have wrote that version, but he didn't write the song (that's like people thinking Merle wrote "Nine Pound Hammer" when he wrote that version, but he didn't write the song). It relies quite a bit on traditional, passed down stuff. Further proof is... Clarence Ashley's version of "Dark Holler" that came out in Archive of American Folk Music, from late 1920s has these lyrics: I was born in old Virginia South Carolina I did go There I caught a pretty little woman but her age I did not know Well her hair was brown and curly Oh her cheeks were rosy red On her breast she wore white lillies Oh the tears that I have shed When I'm asleep I'm dreaming about you When I wake I have no rest Every moment seems like an hour Oh the pains roll through my breast I'd rather be in some dark holler Where the sun don't ever shine For you to be some other man's darling When you ain't no longer mine Papa says I must not marry Mama says it'll never do But little girl if you are willing I will run away with you For I'd rather be in some dark holler Where the sun don't ever shine For you to be some other ma's darling When you ain't no longer mine When I'm asleep I'm dreaming about you When I wake I have no rest Every moment seems like an hour Oh the pains roll through my breast |
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13 Dec 10 - 12:24 PM (#3052542) Subject: RE: Origins: Some Dark Holler From: mikesamwild That last verse loks like one from 'I Live not Where I love.' Random floting verses are useful |
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14 Dec 10 - 06:35 AM (#3053138) Subject: RE: Origins: Some Dark Holler From: GUEST,charlie frederick Luke Gordon had the best version of this song. Luke was a member of the Jimmy Dean Show in Washington, DC |
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30 Oct 12 - 05:04 PM (#3428533) Subject: RE: Origins: Some Dark Holler From: GUEST Agree. Of all the artists who have ever recorded "Dark Hollow", Luke Gordon's arrangement will always be remembered as the very best version of this song. |
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30 Oct 12 - 11:55 PM (#3428686) Subject: RE: Origins: Some Dark Holler From: maeve Luke Gordon - "Dark Hollow" on YouTube. |
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31 Oct 12 - 10:54 AM (#3428857) Subject: RE: Origins: Some Dark Holler From: GUEST,leeneia Thanks for the link, maeve. I enjoyed the true bluegrass sounds in that record. The train whistle rendered by the fiddle at 48 seconds is especially to be prized. The Union Pacific Railroad had its exhibition steam train, the X844 (see it on YouTube) in town a couple weeks ago. I had the magical experience of lying in bed early one morning and hearing its mournful whistle from a mile or so away. It's absolutely haunting. |