I didn't harm a hair on the girl's head. Tom Dula (pronounced locally as “Dooley”) was born in 1845 in the Appalachian hill country of North Carolina. As the children grew up, Tom and Ann apparently became intimate. This time tomorrow Reckon where I'll be Hadn't a-been for Grayson I'd a-been in Tennessee. "Tom Dooley" is a North Carolina folk song based on the 1866 murder of a woman named Laura Foster in Wilkes County, North Carolina, allegedly by Tom Dula. The Kingston Trio was one of the most prominent groups of the era's pop-folk boom that started in 1958 with the release of their first album and its hit recording of "Tom Dooley", which sold over three million copies as a single. Written late in the 19th century, this song is credited by many as the one that started the folk music boom of the late 1950s and early 60s. Confederate veteran Tom Dula, Foster's lover and the father of her unborn child, was convicted of her murder and hanged May 1, 1868. The song was selected as one of the American Songs of the Century by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the National Endowment for the Arts, and Scholastic Inc. Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.[1]. A Western set after the Civil War, it was not about traditional Tom Dula legends or the facts of the case, but a fictional treatment tailored to fit the lyrics of the song. A local poet, Thomas C. Land, wrote a popular song about Dula's tragedy soon after Dula was hanged titled "Tom Dooley". But the actual history behind the story of Tom Dula and the murder of Laura Foster are what might be generously described as slightly different from how he song tells it. The legged has it that he that he was signing it, strumming along on his banjo, as he sat on top of his own coffin riding in the wagon on the way to his execution. It reached number one in the US Billboard Hot 100 and sold over six million copies. A man named Tom Dula, pronounced "Dooley", was convicted and hanged for the crime. The Kingston Trio took their version from Frank Warner's singing. [4] There are several earlier known recordings, notably one that Grayson and Whitter made in 1929, approximately 10 years before Proffitt cut his own recording. Dula realized that it was Anne Melton who had committed the crime. Tom Dooley (Lied) Tom Dooley ist ein auf Tatsachen beruhender Folksong aus den USA, der von einem vermeintlichen Mörder handelt, welcher für seine Tat gehängt wird. Capo II [Refrain] D Hang down your head Tom Dooley, A7 Hang down your head and cry, Hang down your head Tom Dooley, D Poor boy, you're bound to die, [Verse] D I met her on the mountain, A7 and there I took her life, Met her on the mountain, D stabbed her with my knife, [Refrain] D Hang down your head Tom Dooley, A7 Hang down your head and cry, Hang down your head Tom Dooley, D Poor … For example: For Capitol Records 45 rpm Release #F4049 By The Kingston Trio[18], The third and final verse of Stonewall Jackson's crossover hit song Waterloo of 1958 referenced Tom Dooley with the lyrics "Now he swings where the little birdie sings, and that's where Tom Dooley met his Waterloo.". Ann Foster's mother found Ann and Tom in bed together when Ann was only fourteen years old. Mr. Shane, whose whiskey baritone was the group’s most identifiable voice on hits like “Tom Dooley” and “Scotch and Soda,” sang lead on more than 80 percent of the Kingston Trio’s songs. Learning that Dula was in love with Foster, not her, Anne Melton stabbed Laura Foster to death in a jealous rage. [7] Dula's enigmatic statement on the gallows that he had not harmed Foster but still deserved his punishment led to press speculation that Melton was the actual killer and that Dula simply covered for her. Many renditions of the song have been recorded, most notably: Other artists that have recorded versions of the song include Paul Clayton, Line Renaud, Bing Crosby, Jack Narz, and the Grateful Dead. Tom Dula was born to a poor Appalachian hill country family in Wilkes County, North Carolina, most likely the youngest of three brothers, with one younger sister, Eliza.The young Dula grew up, attended school, and "probably played with the female Fosters", Ann (later Melton) and her cousins Laura and Pauline. About “Tom Dooley”. The song is best known today because of a hit version recorded in 1958 by The Kingston Trio, which reached No. A man named Tom Dula, pronounced "Dooley", was convicted and hanged for the crime. The opening scene is set in 1958, the year the Kingston Trio version of the song debuted. [citation needed], Dula was tried in Statesville because it was believed he could not get a fair trial in Wilkes County. The song is best known today because of a hit version recorded in 1958 by The Kingston Trio. When Dula returned, he became a lover again to Anne, then Laura, then their cousin Pauline Foster. Mrs. Edith Ferguson Carter In Memoriam A warm thank you to all the people who have helped me in my research (New 8-27-2017). Warner had learned the song from Proffitt, who learned it from his Aunt Nancy Prather, whose parents had known both Laura Foster and Tom Dula. [Part 1]". Watch the video for Tom Dooley from The Kingston Trio's Greatest Hits for free, and see the artwork, lyrics and similar artists. 1 in Billboard and the Top 10 on the Billboard R&B listing, and appeared in the Cashbox Country Music Top 20. He had previously held the position of senior executive vice president, chief financial officer and chief administrative officer. Thomas E. Dooley was the interim president and CEO of Viacom from August until November 15, 2016. Combined with the widespread publicity the trial received, Land's song further cemented Dula's place in North Carolina legend[2][3] is still sung today throughout North Carolina. Although Laura was murdered in Wilkes County, North Carolina, Dula was tried, convicted, and hanged in Statesville. In 1866, a woman named Laura Foster was murdered in Wilkes County. Anne Foster Melton, Laura's cousin, had been Dula's lover from the time he was twelve and until he left for the Civil War – even after Anne married an older man named James Melton. "Tom Dooley" fits within the wider genre of Appalachian "sweetheart murder ballads". That murder and the name Tom Dooley live on in one of the most famous folk songs ever to come out of North Carolina. Versions of it have since been recorded by Lonnie Donegan, Doc Watson, Steve Earle, The Grateful Dead and others. Col. James Grayson was actually a Tennessee politician who had hired Dula on his farm when the young man fled North Carolina under suspicion and was using a false name. [citation needed], A man named "Grayson", mentioned in the song as pivotal in Dula's downfall, has sometimes been characterized as a romantic rival of Dula's or a vengeful sheriff who captured him and presided over his hanging. Weltweit wurde der Folksong im Jahre 1958 durch die Fassung des Kingston Trio bekannt. The verdict remains controversial to this date. "Tom Dooley" is the name of a season 5 episode of Ally McBeal, in which John Cage sings a version of the song with his Mexican band. "[citation needed], Dula's last name was pronounced "Dooley," leading to some confusion in spelling over the years. Melton was married, wealthy, beautiful, and insanely jealous. Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube. In 1866, a woman named Laura Foster was murdered in Wilkes County. A local poet named Thomas Land wrote a song about the tragedy, titled "Tom Dooley" (which was how Dula's name was pronounced), shortly after Dula was hanged. Tom Dooley Lyrics: Hang your head, Tom Dooley / Hang your head and cry / You killed poor Laurie Foster / And you know you're bound to die / You left her by the roadside / Where you begged to be Tom Dula was having an affair with Mrs. Ann Foster Melton and when her cousin Pauline Foster came to work at the Melton home, Tom Dula took her to bed as well. The Legend of Tom Dooley. Framed Vintage Toleware Folk Art Painting Signed "Mash '86" 9" x 11" $14.42. Tom Dula was blamed for the murder. ... memorial page for Dr Thomas Anthony “Tom” Dooley III (17 Jan 1927–18 Jan 1961), Find a Grave Memorial no. The motive for the murder is uncertain. (Melton, who had once expressed jealousy of Dula's purported plans to marry Foster, died either in a carting accident or by going insane a few years after the homicide, depending on the version. He was named COO in May 2010. Tom Dula's sense of chivalry made him unwilling to see a wealthy woman dishonored and facing a death by hanging. Grayson returned home to the North. Your edit did not contain any changes from the original. That murder and the name Tom Dooley live on in one of the most famous folk songs ever to come out of North Carolina. $169.99. We shipped it, all 400 pounds of it, to our manager in California. Dula fled, heading for Tennessee. This version was a multi-format hit, which reached #1 in Billboard and the Billboard R&B listing, and appeared in the Cashbox Country … Hang down your head, Tom Dooley Poor boy, you're bound to die. Recording Industry Association of America, List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 1958 (U.S.), List of number-one singles in Australia during the 1950s. It's said that Tom Dooley wrote this song himself. "Show 18 – Blowin' in the Wind: Pop discovers folk music. 1 contributor. Crow T. Robot, motivated by one actor's resemblance to Thomas Dewey, sang a version beginning "Hang down your head, Tom Dewey. Thomas C. Dula was a former Confederate soldier who was convicted of murdering Laura Foster. $199.99 + shipping . In subsequent years, a folk song was written, and many oral … Learn the Scary Truth behind the legend of Tom Dooley. "A Bond of Song: Two men, one from New York and the other from the mountains of North Carolina, formed an enduring friendship that brought the ballad of Tom Dooley out of the hollers and onto mainstream radio", http://boblog.blogspot.com/2017/02/oldtime-songs-as-radio-drama.html, "Tom Dooley: The Ballad That Started The Folk Boom", "Grammy Hall of Fame Award: Past Recipients", "The Kingston Trio Chart History (Hot 100)", "Billboard Hot 100 60th Anniversary Interactive Chart", History of the Appalachian people in Baltimore, History of the Appalachian people in Chicago, Social and economic stratification in Appalachia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tom_Dooley_(song)&oldid=993874037, United States National Recording Registry recordings, Articles with dead external links from July 2018, Articles with permanently dead external links, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2015, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from October 2018, Articles lacking reliable references from November 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from November 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 12 December 2020, at 23:18. Learn the Scary Truth behind the legend of Tom Dooley. So Dula confessed to a murder he did not commit in order to save Melton's reputation. 702 of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Anne Melton went slowly insane from guilt, and years later as she was on her deathbed, the trees around her house filled with back cats and the air was filled with the smell of burning flesh as demons came to take her soul to Hell. The case has been argued for over 150 years, and publications about it include, “The Ballad of Tom Dula: The Documented Story Behind the Murder of Laura Foster and the Trials and Execution of Tom Dula” by John Foster West (2002) and “The True Story of Tom Dooley” by John Fletcher (2013). "Tom Dooley" is a North Carolina folk song based on the 1866 murder of a woman named Laura Foster in Wilkes County, North Carolina, allegedly by Tom Dula. "Tom Dooley" is a North Carolina folk song based on the 1866 murder of a woman named Laura Foster in Wilkes County, North Carolina, allegedly by Tom Dula. Read Artist's Complete Bio. The traditional version of the story casts Tom Dula as a dashing, handsome Confederate veteran. The Kingston Trio hit inspired the film, The Legend of Tom Dooley (1959), starring Michael Landon, co-starring Richard Rust. The pronunciation of a final "a" like "y"[clarification needed] is an old feature in Appalachian speech, as in the term "Grand Ole Opry". On May 1, 1868, Tom Dula was executed for the murder of Laura Foster. The Kingston Trio album was a nearly instant smash success, propelled by what would be their biggest hit—and one of the most popular songs of the late 1950s, the pretty but mournful ballad “Tom Dooley.” Shane explains, “Tom Dooley’s real name was Tom Dula. [citation needed]. "Tom Dooley" prompted a number of parodies, either as part of other songs or as entire songs. ... Tom J Dooley Mountain Lake Landscape Framed Artist Proof 23 Signed Print. Tom Dooley. Tom Dula, pronounced "Dooley" in the part of North Carolina from which he heralded, was twice convicted of the murder and was ultimately hung in 1868, slightly less than two years after the murder. Some variant lyrics of the song portray Grayson in that light, and the spoken introduction to the Kingston Trio version[6] did the same. The traditional version of the story casts Tom Dula as a dashing, handsome Confederate veteran. In the 1980 film Friday the 13th, the campers in the opening scene start to sing the song. The song is best known today because of a hit version recorded in 1958 by The Kingston Trio, which reached No. "Ask the Marshall: What is the story behind the folk song 'Tom Dooley? Hang down your head Tom Dooley Hang down your head and cry Killed poor Laura Foster You know you’re bound to die. Considerable controversy surrounded the case. On the gallows, Dula reportedly stated, "Gentlemen, do you see this hand? ", Glada Barn's version of Land's song closes Rectify season 2 episode "Mazel Tov".[22]. Sort by: The song was parodied in episode No. Details about Tom J Dooley Mountain Landscape Framed Signed Original Oil Painting. When Dula returns from the war, he meets Laura Foster, a young woman who was being courted by a schoolteacher from the North by the name of Bob Grayson. Tom Dooley, as recorded by the Kingston Trio in 1958, is often credited as being the song that kick-started the folk music revival of the 1950s and 60s. Thomas Anthony Dooley III (January 17, 1927 – January 18, 1961) was an American physician who worked in Southeast Asia at the outset of American involvement in the Vietnam War.While serving as a physician in the United States Navy and afterwards, he became celebrated for his humanitarian and anti-communist political activities up until his early death from cancer. On the First of May 1868 Thomas C. Dula was hanged for murder in the city of Statesville in Iredell County, North Carolina, USA. 1 in Billboard and the Top 10 on the Billboard R&B listing, and appeared in the Cashbox Country Music Top 20. He was given a new trial on appeal but he was again convicted and hanged on May 1, 1868. A current boyfriend of one of the Gabor sisters had just donated a new gravestone to Tom Dooley, so the original one, which was just a plain block of granite and had only the initials "TD" engraved on it, was given to us. Supported by the testimony of Anne and Frank Warner, Frank Proffitt was eventually acknowledged by the courts as the preserver of the original version of the song, and the Kingston Trio were ordered to pay royalties to him for their uncredited use of it. The Official Music Video for the classic folk song by The Kingston Trio. $16.96 + shipping You took her by the roadside Where you begged to be excused As a youngster he fell in love with Ann Foster, but he had to leave his love behind when the Civil War broke out and Tom and his three brothers went off to fight Yankees. Anne was subsequently acquitted in a separate trial, based on Dula's word that she had nothing to do with the killing. The story is told from two different perspectives: Pauline Foster, a cousin of Ann's who lives the Meltons and Sharyn McCrumb has explored many folk ballads in her previous novels. "What is the story behind the folk song 'Tom Dooley? Tom Dooley ist ein auf Tatsachen beruhender Folksong aus den USA, der von einem angeblichen Mörder handelt, welcher für seine Tat gehängt wird. Tom Dooley. Grayson did help North Carolinians capture Dula and was involved in returning him to North Carolina but otherwise played no role in the case. In 1866, Laura Foster was murdered. Thomas Anthony Dooley III (January 17, 1927 – January 18, 1961) was an American physician who worked in Southeast Asia at the outset of American involvement in the Vietnam War.While serving as a physician in the United States Navy and afterwards, he became known for his humanitarian and anti-communist political activities up until his early death from cancer. About Tom Dooley. Tom Dooley is in reality, Tom Dula, a feckless Confederate veteran who has an adulterous affair with his childhood sweetheart Ann Melton. [citation needed] The confusion was compounded by the fact that Dr. Tom Dooley, an American physician known for international humanitarian work, was at the height of his fame in 1958 when the Kingston Trio version became a major hit. Tom was a Combat Artist in Vietnam and spent 18 months recording the war; in 1971, Tom came to Colorado permanently to paint nature, its beauty and serenity in hopes that future generations may enjoy Western life as Tom views it. Three months before his eighteenth birthday, on … Hang down your head, Tom Dooley Hang down your head and cry Hang down your head, Tom Dooley Poor boy, you're bound to die. Bob Grayson headed a posse to hunt down Tom Dula, and the posse dragged the fugitive back to Wilkes County. Foster had been stabbed to death with a large knife, and the brutality of the attack partly accounted for the widespread publicity of the murder and subsequent trial received. You took her on the hillside As God almighty knows You took her on the hillside And there you hid her clothes. [citation needed]), Thanks to the efforts of newspapers such as The New York Times and to the fact that former North Carolina governor Zebulon Vance represented Dula pro bono, Dula's murder trial and hanging were given widespread national publicity. Tom Dooley - The legend and the facts. In a way which shows how much the ways in which we define music catgegories has changes in the past half-century, The Kingston Trio recording of the Ballad of Tom Dooley reached #1 on the Billboard R&B charts, even higher than its near-top placement on Billboard's Country charts. The story behind “Tom Dooley” – the 1866 murder of Laura Foster by Tom Dula in Elkville, North Carolina – is particularly ugly. [2][3] In the documentary Appalachian Journey (1991), folklorist Alan Lomax describes Frank Proffitt as the "original source" for the song, which was misleading only in that he didn't write it. [5] In a 1967 interview, Nick Reynolds of the Kingston Trio recounts first hearing the song from another performer, and then being criticized and sued for taking credit for the song.[6]. Pauline's comments led to the discovery of Laura's body and accusations against both Tom and Anne. Copyright © 2007-2020 North Carolina Ghosts. It's this version of the tale, a complicated story story that ends in the death of an innocent man, that became immortalized in a folk song that circulated in North Carolina for nearly 100 years before it was made nationally famous by the Kingston Trio in 1958. National publicity from newspapers such as The New York Times turned Dula's story into a folk legend. Foster fell in love with Tom Dula, but so did another woman, Anne Melton.