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The song I sing in the video is from Leadbelly. He called it “Black Girl.” I’ve changed some of the lyrics and added the end from another song, “Prettiest Train,” which Odetta sang on her Carnegie Hall record album. I loved both of these songs when I was a teenager. “Black Girl” was one of the first songs I ever played on the guitar. I really do love the song. I wish I practiced more, but things, until I do get better and improve, are going to be what they are.
My Girl, My Girl
My girl, my girl, don’t lie to me
Tell me, where did you sleep last night?
In the pines, in the pines
where the sun never shines.
I shivered the whole night.
My girl, my girl, where will you go?
I’m going where the cold wind blows
In the pines, in the pines
where the sun never shines.
I’ll shiver the whole night long
My husband was a railroad man
He died half a mile from here
They found his head in the driver’s wheel
And his body they never found
You caused me to weep, you caused me to moan
You caused me to leave my home
I’ve cast my pearls before the swine
And there’s nothing that can be done.
My girl, my girl, don’t lie to me
Tell me, where did you sleep last night?
In the pines, in the pines
where the sun never shines.
I shivered the whole night.
My girl, my girl, where will you go?
I’m going where the cold wind blows
In the pines, in the pines
where the sun never shines.
I’ll shiver the whole night long
Dolly, when you marry, you marry a railroad man
Every day a Sunday dollar’s in your hand
Dolly, don’t marry a convict man
Every day a Monday hoe handle’s in your hand
Oh, Dolly, Dolly, Dolly!
When Kurt Kobain covered this song in the 1990s, he sang, “My Girl” instead of “Black Girl.” At first I thought Kurt should sing it Leadbelly’s way. But then I thought, “No, the times do change, and some things, if you are not doing a history lesson, can change and remain honest.” These days, the girl in the song is a universal girl who bares every color of skin in the world, and for Kurt (or me for that matter) to sing “black” would be detrimental.
Well, I have just learned from the poet, Joel Allegretti, that Leadbilly did sing a version of the song that he called, “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” In that version, he sings “my girl,” not “black girl.” Because Kurt Cobain uses the title, “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” he was probably just doing that particular version of the song. Perhaps it was not Kurt Cobain, but me on my own who decided to sing, “My Girl.”
P.S.
I am at odds with the censorship of words today. A dictatorship of language cannot last, truth be told. Words own themselves and will be what they will be no matter what anybody tells them.
That being said, this morning I was playing “Black Jack David.” Instead of singing “Fifteen summers was all that she’d seen and her skin was soft as the velvet,” I sang: “Sixteen summers was all that she’d seen and her skin was soft as the velvet.” Of course, back in the day, girls were married at fifteen—no big deal. But singing “fifteen” today I felt a bit like a child molester. When I sang “sixteen,” I felt better.
Then I was singing “The Banks of the Ohio” where the singer murders his girlfriend because she won’t marry him, and depending on the version, I can stab her, strangle her or drown her, and I just didn’t feel like murdering anyone this morning. Of course, “The Banks of the Ohio” is a traditional murder ballad minstrels were singing in one form or another since the Middle Ages in England or Normandy or wherever doing the deed on whatever river bank was available.
Olivia Newton John had a number one hit in 1971 singing “The Banks of the Ohio.” In her version, she kills a guy:
I held a knife against his breast
as into my arms he pressed
He cried, “My love, don’t you murder me.
I’m not prepared for eternity.”
Killing a guy seems a little better. Maybe I’m being sexist—don’t hate me for it—but when it comes to love and sex, a man can be way sleazier, by a long shot, than a woman and probably merits the knife the singer shoves into his ribs. I think I will change it to a guy—Maybe I will feel better stabbing, strangling, and drowning an unrequited male lover. I’ll get back to you on it.
Some Versions
“Black Jack David” by The Incredible String Band is my favorite:
Joan Baez and “The Banks of the Ohio.” Sing it, Joanie!
Olivia Newton John:
And Nirvana with Kurt Cobain:
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The Guitar Player by Vermeer, 1672