In the pines

The song “My Girl” (also called “In The Pines”, “Black Girl”, and "Where did you sleep last night") has been around at least since the 1870’s. It has been covered and recorded over 600 times. The most famous version was recorded by Huddie William Ledbetter, better know as Lead Belly. I wanted to post a video version here but I am not able to. I can provide you a link to Lead Belly's version here

Lead Belly (1885-1949) lead a very colorful life which is documented on the Lead Belly Web.

What did you bring me?
To keep me from the gallis pole

Here is a brief summary of some of the highlights.

“Convicted on charges of murder (1917) and attempted murder (1930), Lead Belly literally sang his way to freedom, receiving pardons from the governors of Texas and Louisiana. The second of his releases was largely obtained through the intervention of John and Alan Lomax, who first heard Lead Belly at Angola State Prison while recording indigenous Southern musicians for the Library of Congress.”

Lead Belly was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of fame in 1988.


Nirvana unplugged



This song gained a lot attention when it was covered by Nirvana on MTV unplugged leading some to believe it was written by Kurt Cobain.

“I think maybe you have been sucking down the bong juice or something. This song is nothing new. Leadbelly just took it from Nirvana and made it a folk song. That's cool, bro. No hard feelings.” “Leadbelly's version, even though he stole it from Nirvana is really cool. It's all good bro!”

There are a lot of versions out there. I like this one by GeoFly




and this one by the Stanley Brothers because it has a longer version of the lyrics.



Here is an example of the lyrics for Black Girl:

Black girl, black girl, don't you lie to me,
Tell me where did you stay last night.
In the pines, in the pines, 
Where the sun never shines, 
And I shiver the whole night through.
You caused me to weep and you caused me to mourn, 
And you caused me to leave my happy home.

Black girl, black girl, don't you lie to me,
Tell me where did you stay last night.
In the pines, in the pines, 
Where the sun never shines, 
And I shiver the whole night through.
Black girl, black girl, don't you lie to me,
Tell me where did you stay last night.
In the pines, in the pines, 
Where the sun never shines, 
And I shiver the whole night through.
You caused me to weep and you caused me to mourn, 
And you caused me to leave my happy home.

_____________________________________________

and here is some guitar TAB for "Where did you sleep last night"

Where Did You Sleep Last Night (Huddie Ledbetter)

Voicings:

E5 - 022x0x or 022x00
A - x0222x
G - 320033 or 320003
B - x2444x
B/F# - 22444x

Intro: E5 (E) (F#) (G) (E) A G B B/F# E5 [Repeat 2x]

E5 A G
My girl, my girl, don't lie to me
B B/F# E5
Tell me where did you sleep last night
E5
In the pines, in the pines
A G
Where the sun don't ever shine
B B/F# E5
I would shiver the whole night through

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 don't ever shine
I would shiver the whole night through

Her husband, was a hard working man
And his honey was half his age
His head was found in a driving wheel
But his body never was found

[Repeat first verse]

Interlude: play verse progression

[Repeat second verse gently]
[Repeat first verse loudly]

My girl, my girl, where will ya go
I'm going where the cold wind blows
In the pines, the pines
The sun, the shine
I'll shiver the whole night through

[Repeat Interlude]

Be My Girl by Jet

Here is a version of “Be My Girl” by the Australian band Jet. The original video is ok but I like this one by lockeout called “Are You Gonna Be Mai-Girl” which features My-HiME anime.

Beautiful by James Blunt

I like the song but I am not a big fan of the video. I thought that he said the F-word the first time I heard the song, but in this version he says “flying high”. This must be the made for TV or Walmart version of the song. “Beautiful” made it to number 1 on the Billboard top 100. Weird Al Yankovic did a parody called “You’re Pitiful”. Blunt’s record label blocked Weird Al from including the track on his latest album. Weird Al offers the song as a free mp3 download from his website if you right-click (or option click for Mac) from the following link.

You're Pitiful

http://www.weirdalforum.com/private/yourepitiful.mp3

Save Tonight by Eagle-Eye Cherry

The son of trumpeter Don Cherry (1936-1995), Eagle-eye was born in Sweden in 1971.

This 1998 hit “Save Tonight” comes from the platinum “Desireless” which was his debut album. I really like both the song and the music video.

There was a really cool track on Santana’s “Supernatural” called “Wishing it was” which featured Eagle-eye.

Eagle-eye released “live and kicking” earlier this year and has a new album coming out this fall.

Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars

I think I first heard "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol on an episode of “Grey’s Anatomy”. It really caught my attention at the time. A lot of the music that I like (not all) is rather simple. Acoustic guitar (piano), mild percussion, easy vocals. This track fits along those lines. I really like to lay on the ground with my acoustic guitar and play this one. I like also the raindrops that come down in the video. I recommend to everyone, next time it rains, lay down on the ground and watch the drops fall from the sky. It is always amazing to me.

Plain White T’s

Hey There Delilah



The Plain White T’s, a pop band out of Villa Park, Illinois, released their fourth album in 2006 entitled “Every Second Counts”. The song “Hey There Delilah” is a re-release with the original found in the 2005 album “All That We Needed”. The re-release made it to #2 on the US Pop 100 charts. Its a good song. I am glad they did the re-release or I never would have heard it.

You can find their current touring schedule and several songs from “Every Second Counts” on their musicians myspace page.

You can see live footage, photos, and even buy the album from the offical plain white T’s fan club site. I know its hard to believe, but these one hit wonders seem to have a following.

I like this chipmonk version

Young Folks by Peter Bjorn and John

The feature video for today is “Young Folks” by Peter Bjorn and John which features Victoria Bergsman as guest vocalist. This musical trio hails from Sweden and “Writers Block” is their third release. I talked to a number of people about this song and I find a polarity. People either say that “its ok” or they absolutely hate it. For me, I think its ok. I listen to it and then, a few hours later, I find myself humming or whistling the solo. I think that is the main reason people hate it, the whistling solo. Someone put up an emergency blog to stop Peter Bjorn and John, and, while the blog has given up the cause as of March, I offer you this quote:

“They're like a Swedish Milli Vanilli. And worse: when he messes up and starts singing over the whistling, you can actually hear him laughing about it. You can almost hear what he's thinking: these stupid American hipsters will listen to anything. You can give them a song with a whistle solo (bad enough) but then you can fake the fucking solo and laugh about it…”


With that in mind, I found a bluegrass style version of “Young Folks” by dawn Landes and the WST Band. This version has no whistling. The solo is done on harmonica and fiddle. I have been a long-time fan of the bluegrass style. If you are a Peter Bjorn and John hater, this version will do nothing to change your mind, but if you are curios, here it is.

dawn Landes - Young Folks


You can find other songs by dawn Landes on her by myspace musicians account.

More info on Peter Bjorn and John can be found on their homepage and several songs from “Writers Block” can be found on their myspace page.