Tom Dooley (song)

"Tom Dooley" (Roud 4192) is a traditional North Carolina folk song based on the 1866 murder of a woman named Laura Foster in Wilkes County, North Carolina by Tom Dula (whose name in the local dialect was pronounced "Dooley"). One of the more famous murder ballads, a popular hit version recorded in 1958 by The Kingston Trio reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, was in the top 10 on the Billboard R&B chart, and appeared in the Cashbox Country Music Top 20.

The song was selected as one of the American Songs of the Century by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the National Endowment for the Arts, and Scholastic Inc. Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.{{cite web|title=The Top 100 Western Songs|author=Western Writers of America|year=2010|author-link=Western Writers of America|publisher=American Cowboy|url=http://www.americancowboy.com/culture/top-100-western-songs|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101019002745/http://americancowboy.com/culture/top-100-western-songs|archive-date=October 19, 2010|url-status=dead}}

"Tom Dooley" fits within the wider genre of Appalachian murder ballads. A local poet named Thomas Land wrote a song about the tragedy, titled "Tom Dooley", shortly after Dula was hanged.{{cite news| work=The Ballad Index| publisher=Fresno State University| url=http://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/LF36.html| title=Murder of Laura Foster, The [Laws F36]| author1=Waltz, Robert B.| author2=Enge, David G.| access-date=August 2, 2015| archive-date=September 24, 2015| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924015641/http://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/LF36.html| url-status=dead}}{{cite news|work=True West Magazine|title=Ask the Marshall: What is the story behind the folk song 'Tom Dooley?'|author=Trimble, Marshall|date=September 25, 2009|url=http://www.truewestmagazine.com/what-is-the-story-behind-the-folk-song-tom-dooley/|access-date=February 27, 2016|archive-date=February 17, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200217171717/https://truewestmagazine.com/what-is-the-story-behind-the-folk-song-tom-dooley/|url-status=dead}} In the documentary Appalachian Journey (1991), folklorist Alan Lomax describes Frank Proffitt as the "original source" for the song, which was misleading in that he did not write it.{{cite book|title=Appalachian Journey|author=Lomax, Alan|date=1991|url=http://www.folkstreams.net/film%2C128|publisher=Association for Cultural Equity|edition=PBS American Patchwork Series|access-date=August 2, 2015|archive-date=October 2, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171002034259/http://www.folkstreams.net/film%2C128|url-status=dead}} There are several earlier known recordings, notably one that G. B. Grayson and Henry Whitter made in 1929, approximately 10 years before Proffitt cut his own recording.

The Kingston Trio took their version from Frank Warner's singing. Warner had learned the song from Proffitt, who learned it from his aunt, Nancy Prather, whose parents had known both Laura Foster and Tom Dula.{{cite book |last=Cohen |first=Ronald |date=2002 |title=Rainbow Quest: The Folk Music Revival and American Society, 1940–1970 |url=https://archive.org/details/rainbowquestfolk00cohe |url-access=registration |publisher=University Of Massachusetts Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/rainbowquestfolk00cohe/page/132 132] |isbn=978-1-55849-348-3}} In a 1967 interview, Nick Reynolds of the Kingston Trio recounted first hearing the song from another performer and then being criticized and sued for taking credit for the song. Supported by the testimony of Anne and Frank Warner, Frank Proffitt was eventually acknowledged by the courts as the preserver of the original version of the song, and the Kingston Trio were ordered to pay royalties to him for their uncredited use of it.

History

Image:Thomas C. Dula.jpg

In 1866, Laura Foster was murdered. Confederate veteran Tom Dula, Foster's lover and the father of her unborn child, was convicted of her murder and hanged May 1, 1868. Foster had been stabbed to death with a large knife, and the brutality of the attack partly accounted for the widespread publicity the murder and subsequent trial received.

Anne Foster Melton, Laura's cousin, had been Dula's lover from the time he was twelve and until he left for the Civil War – even after Anne married an older man named James Melton. When Dula returned, he became a lover again to Anne, then Laura, then their cousin Pauline Foster. Pauline's comments led to the discovery of Laura's body and accusations against both Tom and Anne. Anne was subsequently acquitted in a separate trial, based on Dula's word that she had nothing to do with the killing.{{cite news|work=True West Magazine|url=http://www.truewestmagazine.com/jcontent/history/history/ask-the-marshall/2948-what-is-the-story-behind-the-folk-song-tom-dooley|title=What is the story behind the folk song 'Tom Dooley?'|author=Trimble, Marshall|date=September 25, 2009}}{{Dead link|date=July 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=no }} Dula's enigmatic statement on the gallows that he had not harmed Foster but still deserved his punishment led to press speculation that Melton was the actual killer and that Dula simply covered for her. (Melton, who had once expressed jealousy of Dula's purported plans to marry Foster, died either in a carting accident or by going insane a few years after the homicide, depending on the version.{{citation needed|date=August 2015}})

Thanks to the efforts of newspapers such as The New York Times and to the fact that former North Carolina governor Zebulon Vance represented Dula pro bono, Dula's murder trial and hanging were given widespread national publicity. A local poet, Thomas C. Land, wrote a song titled "Tom Dooley" about Dula's tragedy soon after the hanging. Combined with the widespread publicity the trial received, Land's song further cemented Dula's place in North Carolina legend and is still sung today throughout North Carolina.{{citation needed|date=August 2015}}

A man named "Grayson", mentioned in the song as pivotal in Dula's downfall, has sometimes been characterized as a romantic rival of Dula's or a vengeful sheriff who captured him and presided over his hanging. Some variant lyrics of the song portray Grayson in that light, and the spoken introduction to the Kingston Trio version{{Gilliland |title=Show 18 – Blowin' in the Wind: Pop discovers folk music. [Part 1] |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19768/m1/ |show=18 |track=5}} did the same. Col. James Grayson was actually a Tennessee politician who had hired Dula on his farm when the young man fled North Carolina under suspicion and was using a false name. Grayson did help North Carolinians capture Dula and was involved in returning him to North Carolina but otherwise played no role in the case.{{citation needed|date=August 2015}}

Dula was tried in Statesville, North Carolina because it was believed he could not get a fair trial in Wilkes County. He was given a new trial on appeal but he was again convicted and hanged on May 1, 1868. On the gallows, Dula reportedly stated, "Gentlemen, do you see this hand? I didn't harm a hair on the girl's head."{{Citation |title=Foster, Sir Tom Scott, (1845–18 Sept. 1918) |date=2007-12-01 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u196545 |work=Who Was Who |access-date=2023-09-25 |publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u196545 |url-access=subscription }}

Dula's last name was pronounced "Dooley", leading to some confusion in spelling over the years. The pronunciation of a final "a" like "y" (or "ee") is an old feature in Appalachian speech, as in the term "Grand Ole Opry".{{citation needed|date=August 2015}} The confusion was compounded by the fact that Dr. Tom Dooley, an American physician known for international humanitarian work, was at the height of his fame in 1958 when the Kingston Trio version became a major hit.{{citation needed|date=August 2015}}

Recordings

{{Infobox song

| name = Tom Dooley

| cover =

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| artist = The Kingston Trio

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| written = Unknown, Frank Proffitt’s grandfather (possibly)

| published =

| released = November 19, 1958

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| genre = Folk

| length =

| label =

| writer = Thomas Land

| composer =

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| misc = {{Audio sample

| type = song

| file = KingstonTrioTomDooley.ogg

}}

Many renditions of the song have been recorded, most notably:

In 1929, G. B. Grayson and Henry Whitter made the first recorded version of Land's song by a group well known at the time, for Victor.{{cite book | editor =John Lomax |editor2=Alan Lomax | title = Folk Song USA | publisher = Duell, Sloan and Pearce |year= 1947 | isbn = 978-0452253070}}{{cite web| url=http://www.birthplaceofcountrymusic.org/node/207| title=G.B. Grayson and Henry Whitter| date=September 30, 2007| work=Our Musical Heritage– Biographies| publisher=Birthplace of Country Music Alliance| location=Bristol, Tn| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110603111658/http://www2.birthplaceofcountrymusic.org/node/207| archive-date=June 3, 2011}}{{cite web| url=http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/grayson_whitter/bio.jhtml| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080925151528/http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/grayson_whitter/bio.jhtml| url-status=dead| archive-date=September 25, 2008| title=Grayson & Whitter| date=October 18, 2009 |work=Artist Biography| publisher=CMT | access-date=February 23, 2010}}
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.{{cite news |last=O'Donnell |first=Lisa |date=December 8, 2018|title=A Bond of Song: Two men, one from New York and the other from the mountains of North Carolina, formed an enduring friendship that brought the ballad of Tom Dooley out of the hollers and onto mainstream radio |url=https://journalnow.com/news/local/a-bond-of-song-two-men-one-from-new-york-and-the-other-from-the/article_31ca648b-2166-50e6-9f94-75f31f3f39ef.html |work=Winston-Salem Journal |location=Winston-Salem, NC |access-date=November 29, 2020}}
On March 30, 1953, the CBS radio series Suspense broadcast a half-hour "Tom Dooley" drama loosely based on the song, which was sung during the program by actor Harry Dean Stanton. While not issued as a commercial recording, transcription discs of the broadcast eventually were digitized and circulated by old time radio collectors."Oldtime Songs as Oldtime Radio Drama" http://boblog.blogspot.com/2017/02/oldtime-songs-as-radio-drama.html{{better source needed|date=November 2020}}
The Folksay Trio, which featured Erik Darling, Bob Carey and Roger Sprung, issued the first post-1950 version of the song for American Folksay-Ballads and Dances, Vol. 2 on the Stinson label in 1953. Their version was noteworthy for including a pause in the line "Hang down your head Tom...Dooley". The group reformed in 1956 as The Tarriers, featuring Darling, Carey and Alan Arkin, and released another version of "Tom Dooley" for The Tarriers on the Glory label in 1957.{{cite web

| url = http://www.kingstontrioplace.com/tdooleydoc.htm#DISCOGRAPHY

| title = Tom Dooley: The Ballad That Started The Folk Boom

| last = Curry

| first = Peter J.

| work = The Kingston Trio Place

}}

The Kingston Trio recorded the most popular version of the song in 1958 for Capitol. This recording sold in excess of six million copies, topping the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, and is often credited with starting the "folk music boom" of the late 1950s and 1960s. It only had three verses (and the chorus four times). This recording of the song was inducted into the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress{{cite web | title = The Full National Recording Registry| publisher = The Library of Congress| url = https://www.loc.gov/rr/record/nrpb/nrpb-masterlist.html| access-date = May 2, 2010}} and honored with a Grammy Hall of Fame Award.{{cite web| title =Grammy Hall of Fame Award: Past Recipients| publisher =The Recording Academy/Grammy.com| url =http://www2.grammy.com/Recording_Academy/Awards/Hall_Of_Fame/#t| access-date =May 2, 2010| url-status =dead| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20101224205742/http://www2.grammy.com/Recording_Academy/Awards/Hall_Of_Fame/#t| archive-date =December 24, 2010}} The Grammy Foundation named it one of the Songs of the Century.{{cite web| url=http://www.criminalbrief.com/?p=11015| title=Boy Kills Girl| last=Lopresti|first=Rob| date=January 17, 2010| work=Tom Dooley| publisher=Criminal Brief| access-date=February 21, 2010}}
Neil Young and Crazy Horse recorded an eight-minute version on their 2012 album Americana, on which they retitled the song to the proper spelling "Tom Dula" and pronounced it in such a way as to make it a political statement against former Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}
The French group Les Compagnons de la Chanson recorded a French version titled "Tom Dooley (Fais ta priere)", which reached No. 1 on the Belgian chart and No. 4 on the French chart in 1959.{{cite web |url= https://www.ultratop.be/fr/song/79a41/Les-Compagnons-De-La-Chanson-Tom-Dooley-(fais-ta-priere) |title=Les Compagnons De La Chanson – Tom Dooley (fais ta prière)|work=Ultratop }}{{cite web |url=https://infodisc.fr/Tubes_Artistes_C.php |title=Les Compagnons de la chanson |work=infordisc}} Select "Les Compagnons de la chanson" from list

Other artists that have recorded versions of the song include Paul Clayton, Line Renaud, Bing Crosby, Jack Narz, Steve Earle the Grateful Dead, Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith, and Doc Watson. Lonnie Donegan also recorded the song in the UK. It spent 14 weeks in the British charts from November 1958, reaching its highest ranking at number 3 for 5 weeks.

References in other songs

The third and final verse of country music singer Stonewall Jackson's 1958 crossover hit "Waterloo" referenced Tom Dooley with the lyrics, "Now he swings where the little birdie sings, and that's where Tom Dooley met his Waterloo."
Ella Fitzgerald drops an altered line from the song into a recording of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" on her 1967 album, Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas.

=Parodies=

"Tom Dooley" prompted a number of parodies, either as part of other songs or as entire songs. For example:

The Smothers Brothers did a version of the song on their 1961 debut album, The Smothers Brothers at the Purple Onion, which referenced the lawsuit against The Kingston Trio by claiming that Dickie Smothers had written it and The Kingston Trio had stolen it.
The Four Preps used this song and "Worried Man Blues" to make fun of The Kingston Trio in their song "More Money For You and Me".
The Incredible Bongo Band recorded the song "Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley, Your Tie's Caught In Your Zipper" (1972).
The Capitol Steps used this song to make fun of South Dakota Senator Tom Daschle on their 2003 album Between Iraq and a Hard Place.{{cite web|date=January 16, 2004|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2004-01-16-0401160289-story.html|website=Chicago Tribune|title=Capitol Steps rolling along|access-date=February 9, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200210000005/https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2004-01-16-0401160289-story.html|archive-date=February 10, 2020}}

Charts

scope="col"\| Chart (1958–1959) ! scope="col"\| Peak position
class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center" \|+ Weekly chart performance for "Tom Dooley"
{{single chart\|Flanders\|1\|song=Tom Dooley\|artist=The Kingston Trio\|rowheader=true\|access-date=May 28, 2024}}
{{single chart\|Wallonia\|1\|song=Tom Dooley\|artist=The Kingston Trio\|rowheader=true\|access-date=May 28, 2024}}
{{single chart\|Dutch100\|1\|song=Tom Dooley\|artist=The Kingston Trio\|rowheader=true\|access-date=May 28, 2024\|note=Then called the Muziek Parade chart.}}
{{single chart\|Norway\|1\|song=Tom Dooley\|artist=The Kingston Trio\|rowheader=true\|access-date=May 28, 2024}}
{{single chart\|UKsinglesbyname\|5\|artist=Kingston Trio\|song=Tom Dooley\|artistid=6707\|rowheader=true\|access-date=May 28, 2024}}
{{single chart\|Billboardhot100\|1\|artist=The Kingston Trio\|rowheader=true\|access-date=May 28, 2024}}
{{single chart\|Italy\|1\|song=Tom Dooley\|artist=The Kingston Trio\|rowheader=true\|access-date=1959}}
{{single chart\|Billboardrandbhiphop\|9\|artist=The Kingston Trio\|rowheader=true\|access-date=May 28, 2024\|note=Then called the Hot R&B Singles chart.}}

Certifications

{{Certification Table Top|caption=Certifications for "Tom Dooley"}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|type=single|artist=Kingston Trio|title=Tom Dooley|award=Gold|relyear=1958|certyear=1959|access-date=July 1, 2024}}

In popular culture

The Kingston Trio's hit song was the inspiration for the 1959 film The Legend of Tom Dooley, starring Michael Landon as Dooley, and co-starring Richard Rust. A Western set in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, it was not about traditional Tom Dula legends or the facts of the case, but a fictional treatment tailored to fit the lyrics of the song.

"Tom Dooley" is the name of a season 5 episode of Ally McBeal, in which John Cage sings a version of the song with his Mexican band.

The song was parodied in episode No. 702 of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Crow T. Robot, motivated by one actor's resemblance to Thomas Dewey, sang a version beginning "Hang down your head, Tom Dewey."

Glada Barn's version of Land's song closes Rectify season 2 episode "Mazel Tov".{{cite web|date=August 27, 2015|url=http://www.sundance.tv/series/rectify/blog/2014/08/rectify-season-2-music-round-up|website=Sundance TV|title=Rectify Season 2 Music Round-up|access-date=November 22, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201035436/http://www.sundance.tv/series/rectify/blog/2014/08/rectify-season-2-music-round-up|archive-date=December 1, 2017|url-status=dead}}

In the 1980 film Friday the 13th, the campers in the opening scene start to sing the song. The opening scene is set in 1958, the year the Kingston Trio version of the song debuted.

Episode 10 of Santo, Sam and Ed's Total Football Podcast is titled "Hang Down Your Head Tom Dula". This naming was in reference to a sample of the song generated by Santo Cilauro whereby he jokingly claimed Tiziano Crudeli had performed a version of Tom Dooley with "The Kingstown Trio". Crudeli's bombastic commentary style on Diretta Stadio afforded him celebrity status in Italy, and audio of Crudeli's pronunciation of various footballers' names was a constant running gag throughout the Total Football Podcast.

The Irish comedian Dave Allen did a sketch in which two cowboys with guitars sit by a hangman's gallows, trying to compose a ballad. They try to think of a name to incorporate into their song, but have no success. Then Tom Dooley walks past, and they sing, "Hand down your head, Tom Dooley" and think that sounds great, so they hang him.

Song books

{{cite book |last1=Blood |first1=Peter |last2=Patterson |first2=Annie |title=Rise Up Singing |publisher=Sing Out Publications |location=Amherst, Ma |year=1992 |page=104 |isbn=978-1-881322-13-9}}
{{cite book |last1=Lomax |first1=Alan |first2=Lomax |last2=John A. |title=Folk Song U.S.A. |url=https://archive.org/details/folksongusa111be0000loma |url-access=registration |publisher=Duell, Sloan and Pearce |location=New York |year=1947 |edition=1 |series=Best Loved American Folk Songs}}