Tom Dooley

This article is about the song. For the soccer player, see Thomas Dooley.

Tom Dooley is an old North Carolina folk song based on a historical event. Laura Foster was murdered in 1866 in Wilkes County, and Tom Dula (pronounced Dooley) was convicted of the crime and hanged. Local legend holds that Dula's love Annie Melton may have actually killed Foster, and that the sheriff who took custody of Dula and presided over the hanging, Sheriff Grayson, was jealous of Dula. These events are described in the doleful ballad that was probably first sung shortly after the execution and is still commonly sung in North Carolina.

Several notable recordings have been made:

• Grayson and Whitter, Victor, 1929. The first recorded version by a group well-known at the time.
• Frank Warner, Elektra, 1952. Warner, a folklorist, unaware of the 1929 recording, in 1940 took down the song from Frank Proffitt and passed it to Alan Lomax who published it in Folk Song: USA.
• The Kingston Trio, Capitol, 1958. This recording sold in excess of six million copies and is often credited with starting the "Folk Boom" of the late 1950s and 1960s. It only had three verses (and the chorus four times).
• Doc Watson, Vanguard Records, 1964. This version considerably extended the scope of the song. It is the Doc Watson lyrics given below.

Lyrics

Hang your head, Tom Dooley

Hang your head and cry

You killed poor Laurie Foster

And you know you're bound to die

You left her by the roadside

Where you begged to be excused

You left her by the roadside

Then you hid her clothes and shoes

Hang your head, Tom Dooley

Hang your head and cry

You killed poor Laurie Foster

And you know you're bound to die

You took her on the hillside

For to make her your wife

You met her on the mountain

And stabbed her with your knife

You dug the grave four feet long

And you dug it three feet deep;

You rolled the cold clay over her

And tromped it with your feet.

Hang your head, Tom Dooley,

Hang your head and cry;

You killed poor Laurie Foster,

And you know you're bound to die.

"Trouble, oh it's trouble

A-rollin' through my breast;

As long as I'm a-livin', boys,

They ain't a-gonna let me rest.

I know they're gonna hang me,

Tomorrow I'll be dead,

Though I never even harmed a hair

On poor little Laurie's head."

Hang your head, Tom Dooley,

Hang your head and cry;

You killed poor Laurie Foster,

And you know you're bound to die.

"In this world and one more

Then reckon where I'll be;

If is wasn't for Sheriff Grayson,

I'd be in Tennesee.

You can take down my old violin

And play it all you please.

For at this time tomorrow, boys,

It'll be of no use to me."

Hang your head, Tom Dooley,

Hang your head and cry;

You killed poor Laurie Foster,

And you know you're bound to die.

"At this time tomorrow

Where do you reckon I'll be?

Away down yonder in the holler

Hangin' on a white oak tree.

Hang your head, Tom Dooley,

Hang your head and cry;

You killed poor Laurie Foster,

And you know you're bound to die.

References

Lomax, Alan, Editor, (1947). Folk Song: U.S.A. New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce. (Also printed under the title Best Loved American Folk Songs).

External links

Tom Dooley: The Ballad that started The Folk Boom

The Legend of Tom Dula