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adgefan
Mar-09-2004, 4:50pm
This isn't really a mandolin question, but I hope someone will be able to give me some info about the song "Long Black Veil".

The BBC showed a Ralph Stanley concert a couple of weeks ago and the bassist performed this song. In my opinion it was the best song in the set, I loved it.

Google has shown me that loads of artists have recorded this over the years, but is it a "traditional" song or something more recent? Any other info on its history would be much appreciated.

Many thanks,

Katherine

mandofiddle
Mar-09-2004, 5:02pm
I found this info about the song here...
http://users2.ev1.net/~smyth/linernotes/thesongs/LongBlack.htm

The lyrics, written by Opry veteran Danny Dill, tell the story of a man wrongfully convicted of murder who goes to the gallows rather than compromise his lover -- his best friend's wife -- in whose arms he'd be lying when the crime was committed. The song's central Gothic image is of the grieving adulteress walking the hills "in a long black veil," returning over and over to her hanged lover's grave. Dill drew the simple tale from several sources, including stories he had read of a woman who supposedly haunted Rudolph Valentino's grave. But what gives the lyrics their subtle power is the unspoken conceit--the same ploy used in the movie "Sunset Boulevard"--of having the story narrated from beyond the vale of tears. The voice you hear singing "The Long Black Veil" is that of a ghost.

Instead of putting his own music to the words, Dill took the song to Wilkin at Cedarwood and literally slung the lyric sheet across her desk. "I wrote this thing last night," he said. "I don't know if it's any good or not. If you like it, why, put a tune to it. If you don't, why, throw it in the wastebasket."

Wilkin read the eerie lyrics and got cold chills from head to foot. "I just put that sheet of music up on the piano and started playing, and just sang that thing out. And it just rolled right out."

Garrett
Mar-09-2004, 5:05pm
Marijon WIlkin and Danny DIll wrote it in the 50s. Lefty Frizzel did the first recording. You can tell it's not traditional because of the twist at the end, it's just too coherent a story to be a real old time song. My two favorite versions are by the Seldom Scene and by the Band. The most famous version is by Johnny Cash.

mingusb1
Mar-09-2004, 6:59pm
My band plays it (in A). #For the chorus, it seems some of us want to sing:

...
she visits my grave
when the night winds wail

and others end up singing:

...
she visits my tomb
when the night birds wail

I prefer birds to winds, but is that incorrect?

Z

levin4now
Mar-09-2004, 7:49pm
the first version i remember hearing was of the country gentlemen.

bflat
Mar-09-2004, 9:33pm
the John Duffy cd "always in style" has it, and is a fantastic collection of JD's work

garyblanchard
Mar-10-2004, 9:44am
I've been playing that song for years and put it on my "Looking Backward" CD. (No mandolin on that cut - just guitar and b*$#o.) For the life of me I don't remember where and when I heard it, it just feels like it's always been there.

I agree that the song has something that really grabs me, though I couldn't identify what it is.

Martin Jonas
Mar-10-2004, 10:31am
My band plays it (in A). #For the chorus, it seems some of us want to sing:

...
she visits my grave
when the night winds wail

and others end up singing:

...
she visits my tomb
when the night birds wail

I prefer birds to winds, but is that incorrect?
There are some variations in lyrics between different recordings. In addition to the one you list, there are different versions of the first verse:

"The people who saw they all agreed /
That the slayer who ran looked a lot like me"

versus (my prefered version):

"There were few at the scene, and they all did agree /
That the man who ran looked a lot like me."

Martin

Bob Sayers
Mar-10-2004, 11:48pm
I first heard LBV back in the early '60s on the Country Gentlemen's live concert LP "On the Road."

I think it's Charlie Waller who introduces the song by saying "This song was written just two or three years ago. It has an awful good folk flavor. I'd say somebody really had a brainstorm. It's called the Long Black Veil."

And then John Duffey launches into the Gent's epic version with a beautiful mando intro. The hair on the back of my neck (not much left on top) still stands up when I hear that preamble. I don't think anyone's ever done it better.

By the way, Duffey is quoted in the liner notes of the recent Smithsonian Folkways reissue ("On the Road...and More") as saying of the song: "Here was something really unique. You don't hear people talking from the grave every day."

Bob

adgefan
Mar-11-2004, 8:30am
Many thanks to all for the wealth of information you've provided. It's good to see I'm not alone in thinking this song has a special vibe to it.

Cheers,

Katherine

garyblanchard
Mar-11-2004, 8:45am
I think that of all the songs I play, this is my fiance's favorite. She has worked hard to create a nice harmony for it when we perform.

I might add that I heard this song done my Dave Matthews and Emmy Lou Harris, both on the tribute to Johnny Cash and on the CMT special they did together. I am not at all a DM fan, but they also did a great, although slightly different version of this song.

I think that this has to rate as one of the Great American Songs.

jimbob
Mar-16-2004, 4:43am
I don't know much about the song...but was lucky enough to catch Mr. Stanley and the boys in OKC last year...one word...GREAT !!! It was one of the best shows I have seen...he is one of the masters. The bass palyer sang Long Black Veil...very nice. They visit OKC about every year...if you have the opportunity to catch the show, I would highly recommend it.

AlanN
Mar-16-2004, 5:06am
....I might add that I heard this song done my Dave Matthews and Emmy Lou Harris, both on the tribute to Johnny Cash and on the CMT special they did together. I am not at all a DM fan, but they also did a great, although slightly different version of this song....

You're dang right, I had heard of Dave Matthews before, but hadn't heard him until this clip. Very good, he belted it out, with feeling.

Scotti Adams
Mar-16-2004, 2:43pm
Long Black Veil



Ten years ago, on a cold, dark night
There was someone killed neath the town hall light
There were few at the scene, but they all agreed
That the man who ran looked a lot like me

She walks these hills in a long black veil
She visits my grave while the night winds wail
Nobody knows, nobody sees
Nobody knows but me

The judge said Son, what is your alibi
If you were somewhere else, then you don't have to die
I spoke not a word thought it meant my life
For I'd been in the arms of my best friend's wife

The scaffold was high and eternity near
She stood in the crowd and shed not a tear
But sometimes at night when the cold winds moan
In a long black veil she cries over my bones

Scotti Adams
Mar-16-2004, 2:44pm
..I seen that version too Alan...I liked it...different..but good..

AlanN
Mar-16-2004, 3:12pm
There's an excellent version of this done on Back Against The Wind, a record done by Raymond Legere and company. Soulful and tight.

mandodude
Mar-16-2004, 3:13pm
Some years ago I sang harmony with Vernon Oxford (...now THERE'S a name from the past!) on this tune at a Fan Fair show in N'ville... he sang it pretty much the way Scotti wrote it out a few posts back (which is also pretty much the way JC did it).

AlanN
Mar-16-2004, 3:44pm
Now, for you harmony singers out there on this tune, I gotta hand it to you. This tune has a tough part, where it goes ..."Nobody knows, Nobody sees". That is a b*&^-buster to sing. Either you hit or you don't. And it's butt-ugly if you don't. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

Scotti Adams
Mar-16-2004, 4:02pm
Now, for you harmony singers out there on this tune, I gotta hand it to you. This tune has a tough part, where it goes ..."Nobody knows, Nobody sees". That is a b*&^-buster to sing. Either you hit or you don't. And it's butt-ugly if you don't. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif
you got that chit right.. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

racuda
Mar-16-2004, 4:41pm
I first heard this on Grismans "Pizza Tapes". It actually gave me chills.

mandodude
Mar-16-2004, 4:41pm
That is a b*&^-buster to sing. Either you hit or you don't. And it's butt-ugly if you don't.
WHOA!! Alan... Scotti... NOW I remember you guys! You were at that show, right? Front row?... fingers in your ears?... right?

Seriously though... it is one o' them harmony parts that (...and you harmony singers know what I'm talkin' 'bout!), when it comes 'round, you jus' kinda plant your feet, bend your head waaaay back from the mic stand, grit your teeth closed, let the sound form in the back of your throat and push it out quickly through your clenched jaw, all the while hoping that your cowboy hat don't end up fallin' off the back of your head!

...all this, while you're mentally thinkin' ahead of the rest of the verses so's you can figure out how many more times during this song you gotta go through this routine!

Willie Poole
Mar-20-2004, 8:06pm
Alan...do like I do with my band...we cut all harmonies on that line and just do the lead part...Saves a lot of hard work and red faces if and when they miss it...~til later...Willie

AlanN
Mar-20-2004, 8:14pm
Yes, Willie, that's the cowboy way, for sure http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

The bluegrass way is to GO FOR IT (after mucho practice, that is)...

evanreilly
Mar-20-2004, 9:02pm
And of course the definitive version was recorded by..... Bill Monroe!!!

jim simpson
Mar-20-2004, 11:22pm
I remember seeing Seldom Scene for the first time and Duffey and the gang gave me chills. I believe they had just recorded Scenic Roots with that song on it. Once I sang the words "she stood in the crowd and chugged down a beer.." - no one seemed to notice. I guess that's when you have to think you're not reaching your audience.

earthsave
Mar-21-2004, 9:47pm
FYI, the bass player is Jack Cooke. He was with the Stanley Brothers and has been a Clinch Mountain Boy since the 70's. Also, played guitar and sang lead as a Bluegrass Boy in the late 50's or early 60's.

RI-Grass
Jun-26-2005, 12:18pm
When in a jam situation, is this song typically done:
Verse
Refrain
Verse
Refrain
Verse
Refrain

- or like the Monroe recording:

Verse
Verse
Refrain
Verse
Refrain

I was at a jam last year and one of the leaders of the group told us who's version of this is typically done. I just can't remember.
Thanks,
Sal