Where Did You Sleep Last Night
Where Did You Sleep Last Night (also known as In the Pines and Black Girl ) is an Appalachian folk song from the 1870s. Much is unclear about the origin, but the piece was played by many musicians and bands , including Leadbelly , Doc Walsh , Bill Monroe , Roscoe Holcomb, Nathan Abshire , Pete Seeger , Doc Watson , The Louvin Brothers , Odetta , Chet Atkins , Fred Karlin , Dave Van Ronk , The Kossoy Sisters, The Carter Family , Connie Francis , Joan Baez , Bob Dylan , The Four Pennies , Grateful Dead , Jackson C. Frank , Dolly Parton , Mark Lanegan , Smog , Nirvana , Nicole Atkins , Jay Smith , Kid Cudi , Sarah Fimm , Delaney Davidson , Chapin Sisters , Nomy, and My Own Private Alaska .
history
At first the text was only transmitted orally. In 1917 Cecil Sharp published this text:
Black girl, black girl, don't lie to me
Where did you stay last night?
I stayed in the pines where the sun never shines
and shivered when the cold wind blows
From Dock Walsh , the earliest known recording of 17 April 1926 dates (Columbia mastered W142031-1; published on 15094-D on 20 September 1926). After that, the piece was used under various titles by smaller " hillbilly " bands. The text was also changed or supplemented, for example the verses The longest train I ever saw // Went down the Georgia line. Leadbelly recorded over half a dozen versions between 1944 and 1948, mostly under the title "Black Girl" or "Black Gal". The recording for Musicraft Records in New York in February 1944 is the best known version.
The song, published in Cajun French by Nathan Abshire under the name Pine Grove Blues or Ma Negresse in 1949 , may be a descendant of In the pines .
Roscoe Holcomb released a version in his signature high lonesome sound in 1965 .
Nirvana version
The version of the US rock band Nirvana , which appeared in the early 1990s, is based on Leadbelly's version from 1944. The piece attracted particular attention at the MTV Unplugged concert in November 1993; this version later appeared on the accompanying CD and as the B-side on the CD single Pennyroyal Tea (1994). Kurt Cobain himself produced a private solo recording of the song in 1990, which only appeared on the sampler With the Lights Out in 2004 .
Use in other media
The piece (in whatever version and under whatever title) appeared in the following films and performances (selection):
- at the end of Wilder Strom (1960)
- in Nashville Lady (1980) sung by Sissy Spacek
- in I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997, Leadbellys Version)
- in Vampire Nation (2010, sung by Danielle Harris )
and also:
- 1958 in the play A Taste of Honey (in the sense of the plot Black Girl was replaced by Black Boy )
- Mars advertisement in the 90s and the 2010 reissue
- at the end of the 2nd episode of the computer game The Walking Dead: Season 2 (sung by Janel Drewis)
- In the series Ripper Street (4th season, episode 3) "the American" sings the song to his son as a lullaby because he "doesn't know any other song".
- In the series The Defenders (1st season, episode 7), the theme is played shortly before the opening credits (instrumental)
- In the series American Gods (season 1, episode 1 and season 2, episode 2)
Individual evidence
- ↑ roughly sorted by date of birth of the vocals
- ^ Nathan Abshire & the Pine Grove Boys - French Blues . Archived from the original on August 19, 2014. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved August 16, 2014.
- ^ The High Lonesome Sound , Roscoe Holcomb
