Tom Dooley (song)

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"Tom Dooley"
Recorded by

Kingston Trio

Music sample



In the documentary Appalachian Journey (1991), folklorist Alan Lomax describes Frank Proffitt as the "original source" for the song. Although there are several earlier known recordings, notably the one by Grayson and Whitter made in 1929, approximately 10 years before Proffitt cut his own recording, the Kingston Trio took their version from Frank Warner's singing. 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.



Dula had a lover, prior to his leaving for the war, named Anne Melton, a cousin of Foster. Her comments led to the discovery of Foster's body, but Melton was acquitted in a separate trial based on Dula's word. 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. Melton, who had once expressed jealousy of Dula's purported plans to marry Foster, died insane a few years after the homicide. 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. A local poet, Thomas C. Land, wrote a popular song about Dula's tragedy after the hanging.


Dula was tried in Statesville, because it was believed he could not get a fair trial in Wilkes County. He was given a new trial on appeal but he was again convicted, and hanged on May 1, 1868. His alleged accomplice, Jack Keaton, was set free. On the gallows, Dula reportedly stated, "Gentlemen, do you see this hand? I didn't harm a hair on the girl's head."


The doleful ballad was first sung shortly after the execution and is still commonly sung in North Carolina.


Several notable recordings have been made:

  • Grayson and Whitter, Victor, 1929. The first recorded version by a group well known at the time.
  • The Kingston Trio, Capitol, 1958. This recording sold in excess of six million copies, topping the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, and is often credited with starting the "folk boom" of the late 1950s and 1960s. It only had three verses (and the chorus four times). This recording of the song has been inducted into the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress[3] and been honored with a Grammy Hall of Fame Award.[4]
  • Lonnie Donegan, also 1958. This version charted in the United Kingdom simultaneously with the Kingston Trio's. Its uptempo skiffle style was a contrast to the U.S. version's slower arrangement.
  • Rob Ickes recorded a version on his album "Hard Times" in 1997 as a bluegrass song.
  • Carolina Chocolate Drops recorded a version on their 2006 album Dona Got a Ramblin' Mind.
  • Macabre Minstrels (a side project of the metal band Macabre) recorded a version on their 2002 EP Morbid Campfire Songs.


Tom Dooley prompted a number of parodies, either as part of other songs (for example, Ella Fitzgerald drops an altered line from the song into a recording of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer) or as entire songs, including one called Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley, Your Tie's Caught In Your Zipper by the Incredible Bongo Band in 1972.

The song and legend were parodied by a one-record novelty act called Waldo, Dudley and Dora on a 45 rpm Grayson Goofed, issued as Awful Records release #PU-1. Verses sung to the Tom Dooley melody alternate with mini-skits, as "John" Grayson's public reputation erodes from "a fine man" to "a stoolie" (i.e., stool pigeon) to "a gink".

The song was often parodied by the Smothers Brothers as Tom Crudely.

It has been parodied or used in many television shows, including:

Chart positions[edit]

For Capitol Records 45 rpm Release #F4049 By The Kingston Trio[5]

Chart (1958) Peak
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 1
Australian Singles Chart 1
Norwegian Singles Chart 1
Canadian Singles Chart 1
Italian Singles Chart 1
U.K. Singles Chart 5
South African Charts 8
Preceded by
"It's Only Make Believe"
by Conway Twitty
Billboard Hot 100 number-one single
November 17, 1958 - November 23, 1958 (1 week)
Succeeded by
"To Know Him Is to Love Him"
by The Teddy Bears



Song books[edit]


See also[edit]


  2. ^ Wirz, Stefan. "Paul Clayton Discography". American Music. 