Dink's Song
"Dink's Song" | |
---|---|
Song | |
Written | Unknown |
Genre | Folk |
Songwriter(s) | Unknown |
"Dink's Song" (sometimes known as "Fare Thee Well") is an American
History
The first historical record of the song was by
Lyrics
As with many traditional songs, there are numerous versions of the lyrics. The version published in American Ballads and Folk Songs is rendered in an approximation of
Ef I had wings like Norah's dove,
I'd fly up the river to the man I love.
Fare thee well, O Honey, fare thee well.
Ise got a man, an' he's long and tall,
Moves his body like a cannon ball,
Fare thee well, O Honey, fare thee well.
One o' dese days, an' it won't be long,
Call my name an' I'll be gone.
Fare thee well, O Honey, fare thee well.
'Member one night, a-drizzlin' rain,
Roun' my heart I felt a pain.
Fare thee well, O Honey, fare thee well.
When I wo' my ap'ons low,
Couldn't keep you from my do'.
Fare thee well, O Honey, fare thee well.
Now I wears my ap'ons high,
Sca'cely ever see you passin' by.
Fare thee well, O Honey, fare thee well.
Now my ap'on's up to my chin,
You pass my do' an' you won' come in,
Fare thee well, O Honey, fare thee well.
Ef I had listened to whut my mama said,
I'd be at home in my mama's bed.
Fare thee well, O Honey, fare thee well.[3]
Notable versions
Libby Holman recorded "Dink's Song" (as "Fare Thee Well") with guitar accompaniment by Josh White in 1942.
White also recorded the song as "Fare Thee Well" in 1945. It appeared on his first album, Songs by Josh White, for Asch Records (A 348). (Asch Records was the predecessor of Folkways Records). Like the rest of the songs on the album, it was performed solo, with guitar. White re-recorded the song at least once later in his career, as "Dink's Blues". It appears on the 1957 Mercury album, Josh White's Blues (MG 20203).
In the 1946 film Cloak and Dagger, the character played by Lilli Palmer sings a verse of the song to Gary Cooper's character, explaining she learned it from an American airman from "New Arizona" and adding she didn't have the chance to learn the rest of it.
Burl Ives also called the song “Fare Thee Well”. on his Return of the Wayfaring Stranger album
The song was performed by Mary "Mississippi" Brown (
Bob Dylan recorded a driving rendition of the song on the 1961 "Minnesota Hotel Tape" (actually recorded in the home of Bonnie Beecher.)[5] After his performance, he suggests he had originally heard the song from Dink, personally. The recording was released in 2005 on The Bootleg Series Vol. 7: No Direction Home: The Soundtrack.[6]
The song was also recorded by Burl Ives (circa 1965).
Dave Van Ronk recorded the song in 1961 for his album Van Ronk Sings. He then went on to record a new version of the song in 1967 for his album Dave Van Ronk and the Hudson Dusters, where it was credited to John Lomax and his first wife, Bess Brown Lomax. In the liner notes to the album, Van Ronk writes that he considers the tune "probably the best piece of singing as such I've ever done on record."[7] He goes on to explain, "I had a nasty flu when we cut this one, and my voice had gone pre-laryngitic. This had the effect of opening up an octave valve I didn't even know I had. The next day I couldn't talk, let alone sing."[7]
Jeff Buckley recorded an 11-minute version live in a New York café in 1993 that was posthumously released in 2003 on his album Live at Sin-é (Legacy Edition).
Gloria Lynne recorded the song for a concept album created and produced by Harry Belafonte in 2001, titled The Long Road to Freedom: An Anthology of Black Music.[8] In Lynne's version the song is called "Fare Thee Well, Oh Honey."
A different arrangement of the song was written and performed by
The song was also performed by Chuck/God (
The British folk musical group The Longest Johns included a rendition of the song on their 2023 album C-Sides.
Joni Mitchell performed "Fare Thee Well (Dink's Song)" early in her career and it was recorded when she appeared on radio station CFQC, circa 1963. This rendition was released in 2020 on Joni Mitchell Archives – Vol. 1: The Early Years (1963–1967).[10]
References
- ^ Lomax, John A.; Lomax, Alan (1934). American Ballads and Folk Songs. New York: The Macmillan Company. p. 193.
- ^ Lomax, John A. (9 August 1917). "Self-Pity in Negro Folk-Songs". The Nation. 105 (2719): 141–5.
- ^ Lomax, John A.; Lomax, Alan (1934). American Ballads and Folk Songs. New York: The Macmillan Company. pp. 195–6. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
- ^ "Love's Young Dream". IMDb. 17 September 1960.
- ^ Howells, John. "Skipping Reels of Rhyme: Bob Dylan's Unreleased Tapes". Bringing It All Back Homepage. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
- ^ "Still On The Road 1961". www.bjorner.com. Retrieved 2023-12-18.
- ^ a b Chrestomathy liner notes
- ^ "The Long Road to Freedom: An Anthology of Black Music". AllMusic. 2001. Retrieved 2020-11-03.
- ^ Inside Llewyn Davis (Original Soundtrack Recording) (CD). 2013. Retrieved 2020-11-03.
- ^ Martoccio, Angie (October 28, 2020). "A DJ Rediscovered Joni Mitchell's Earliest Recordings. Now Everyone Can Hear Them". Rolling Stone. Retrieved November 2, 2020.
Notes
- ISBN 0-06-052569-X
- Lomax, John A (1971) [1947]. Adventures of a Ballad Hunter. Macmillan. ISBN 0-02-848480-0
- Lomax, John A., Alan Lomax, and John William Thompson, eds (1934). American Ballads and Folk Songs. Macmillan. (Dover rpt., 1994) ISBN 0-486-28276-7