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Girl Of Constant Sorrow

from Heading For Home by Peggy Seeger

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GIRL OF CONSTANT SORROW

traditional USA

Composed by Sarah Ogan Gunning (1910-1983) this song was based on an earlier piece, "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow," recently made popular by its appearance in the film O Brother Where Art Thou? Gunning first recorded her song in 1937 for Alan Lomax (Library of Congress Archive of American Folk-Song (# AFS 1945A). It was printed in People's Songs Bulletin, vol. 1, no. 3, April 1946 (and thence in Reprints from People's Songs Bulletin, 1961). Gunning later sang it at the Newport Folk Festival (Vanguard 9182, Traditional Music at Newport 1964 - Part I) and on Folk-Legacy FSA 26, Girl of Constant Sorrow (1965). Archie Green's notes to the latter LP date Gunning's recomposition to "about 1936 in New York, where her first husband, Andrew Ogan, was fatally ill." She had learned the tune from one of Emry Arthur's recordings of "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow," which were issued in 1928 and 1931.

The original "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow" first appeared in the 2nd decade of the 20th century, once in a 1913 pocket songbook distributed by the blind Kentucky singer, Dick Burnett, and then as part of a variant of "In Old Virginny" sung to Cecil Sharp by Mrs. Frances Richard at St. Peter's School, Callaway, VA, 1918 (English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians [1932], pp. 233-234). Burnett's version, which was his reworking of an earlier hymn, was Emry Arthur's source.

Peggy's version is from John Greenway's American Folksongs of Protest (1953). She included it in her own songbook, Folk Songs of Peggy Seeger (1964). She also recorded it on Female Frolic (Argo ZDA 82), and on A Song For You and Me (Prestige 23058). (Joe Hickerson, August 2003)

lyrics

I am a girl of constant sorrow
I 've seen trouble all my days
I left my home in old Kentucky
The place where I was borned and raised.

My mother how I hated to leave her
Mother dear, now she is dead
But I had to go and leave her
So my children could have bread.

Perhaps, dear friends, you're a-wondering
What the miners eat and wear
This question I will try to answer
For I think that it is fair.

For breakfast we have bulldog gravy
For dinner we have beans and bread
For the miners don't have any supper
Just a tick of straw that we call a bed.

For our clothes be always ragged
And our feet be always bare
And I'm sure if there's a heaven
That the miners will be there.

credits

from Heading For Home, released October 7, 2003

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Peggy Seeger Oxford, UK

Peggy is one of the most influential folk singers on either side of the Atlantic. She is Pete Seeger’s half-sister and Ruth Crawford Seeger’s daughter; her first life partner was the English songwriter Ewan MacColl, who wrote First Time Ever I Saw Your Face for her. She has made more than 22 solo recordings to date. Please check ewanmaccoll.bandcamp.com for other albums featuring Peggy. ... more

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