Where did you sleep last night?

Where did you sleep last night, is an old American folk song. It is essentially a mash up of two songs from the 19th century “in the pines”, and “the longest train. Many artists recorded different versions of the song but today I have decided to focus on lead belly’s original recording in February 1944 at the music craft records in New York City. The first version of the song i encountered was Nirvana’s cover recorded in the famous MTV unplugged album. I enjoyed the song greatly and after a little research discovered a song with a rich and deep history that I will share with you today. enjoy!

So why is an ancient folk song still popular to this day? many people will argue that the Nirvana cover is the sole reason why the song is famous. While the Nirvana cover is wonderful and certainly has helped keep the song alive, Nirvana selected that song specifically when they could have covered any other. Moreover the other day I was at a pub in Tel Aviv and heard the lead belly version playing. If Lead belly’s recording made it to Tel Aviv more then 70 years after being recorded it must be fairly popular in its own right.

Here is the famous Nirvana cover.

So who was Lead belly? Lead Belly was an American folk musician. His real name was Huddie Leadbetter but he was better known by his stage name. He was born in Louisiana and moved to Texas as a child. An African American in the early 20th century, life was tough for Huddie. he left home with a guitar to make a name for himself. He found himself back in Louisiana and began developing his own music style. Yet life was hard and after several criminal charges found himself in prison. In prison he was discovered by famous folklorists john and Alan Lomax who were visiting, and the legend of Lead Belly began.

So why does his recording stand out? How has a simple folk song survived the passing of time? I believe it has a lot to do with the authenticity of the recording. Where did you sleep last night tells a story, as many folk songs do. A good storyteller lets you feel the story rather then just hear it. That is what lead belly has managed to capture in his recording. A level of authenticity that other covers fail to achieve.

Lets discuss the lyrics. the original authors of the two folk songs are not known today. The lyrics have changed several times down the years, with different versions having different words, or at time completely different verses. many versions of the lyrics discuss a woman caught doing or perhaps being somewhere she shouldn’t be. This of course shows the increased patriarchy of those times , with women almost regarded as male property. There are other versions, some versions of the song discuss a black girl on the run from the police, and she hides in the pines in the cold.

Yet the most common theme remains a woman caught doing something she shouldn’t be doing.

these are the lyrics for lead bellys recording:

Yet Lead’s version focuses on the less common theme. we can clearly see the song is talking about a girl on the run. Her husband was found dead and she is now hiding in the pines. I feel that Lead chose this version intentionally. Lead Belly a man who served time in prison and at times was on the run himself. He has felt what the girl in the song is feeling. this allows him to portray that feeling to us and add a lot of depth to the song. This I feel is the element of the song that makes it stand out more then any other version.

So with out further ado, I give you Lead Belly, “where did you sleep last night”!

To summarize, where did you sleep last night has many versions. The authenticity of Lead Belly is what has allowed his recording to remain popular and relevant for so many years. Kurt Cobain (Nirvana’s lead singer) once said that Lead belly is his favorite artist and wrongly attributed Lead as the songs author! I love this song and am grateful for Nirvanas version that helped me listen to the original. I hope you have enjoyed reading!