Where Did You Stay Last Night?

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1. Georgia Tom & Jane Lucas

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2. Eddie Burns

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3. Arthur Crudup

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4. Louis Armstrong & Velma Middleton

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5. Phillips Sisters

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6. Rusty & the Dragstrip Trio

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7. Harry Head & the Tommy Scott Band

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8. Red Onions

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9. Lightnin Hopkins

[Tobin S.]

10. I thought you were talking about this when I saw the thread title.

Apparently, it's an entirely different song. Cobain says it was written by Leadbelly, but like with so many of those old blues and folk tunes it can be hard to trace their true origins. The song could be over a hundred years old as far as I know. Do you know anything about it?

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12. I'm a rank amateur. I was actually hoping to find out something about this Dylan number:

I'd heard somebody say, forty or more years ago, that it derived from an older song:

come on baby
let's go out in the wood
we pick no berries
but we come back feelin good

So I looked for that and found:

baby get your basket
truck down to the woods
say we may not pick no berries
but we both sure will come back feeling good

in the Armstrong & Middleton version of Where did you stay last night? -- but the tune doesn't closely match the tune Dylan uses, though you can hear an echo here and there

Here's a Leadbelly song In the Pines with a Where did you sleep last night? lyric -- and a version by the Kossoy Sisters including that same lyric

[Tobin S.]

18. Thank you very much.

Yes, I think "In the Pines" is the right name for the song and they've just got it wrong on that Nirvana youtube post. I think that's one of the most haunting songs I've ever heard. I appreciate the effort.

My wife is a big Bob Dylan fan and she's pretty sure that tune is made up of lines from older blues songs with Dylan adding some of his own. Sorry I can't be of more help.

[cemaphonic]

21. With a folk song like this with hundreds of different versions,

the "right" name doesn't really exist. Pretty much every version will have different lyrics too. "In The Pines" is probably the most common name for it though. Nirvana's version is indeed called "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" on their Unplugged album. And yeah, they recorded one of the best versions of it, which is no mean feat for a song that people like Bill Monroe and Leadbelly performed.


As for Dylan, he cribs lyrics from old folk and blues songs all the time. I've been thinking about doing a post about all the old song lyrics he crammed into "Trying to Get To Heaven" when I have some time.

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22. That would be fun to see

[lovemydog]

19. It also references some of those great Jimmie Rogers train songs

like this one:

I hadn't noticed the connection between those songs you mention and now I hear it clear as day.

I love finding connections between songs, & enjoy reading & listening to your threads.

Thanks.

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20. That's quite credible

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16. Joan Baez & Bob Dylan - In the pines

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17. Bill Monroe And The Bluegrass Boys

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11. One Arm Slim

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13. Creole Rice Yerba Buena Jazz Band Of New Orleans

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14. Billie Pierce

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15. James Wheeler