For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday theme, Jim Adams has given us “bluegrass” songs. Jim explains that Bluegrass is a style of country music that arose in Appalachia in the 1940s and it is typically played on acoustic instruments. I’m not a fan of country music nor of bluegrass. But I loved the movie, “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” I even posted about that movie here for last year’s A to Z Challenge. So this week I’m going to focus on a song that was featured in that movie, “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow.” Below is a scene from the movie that introduced the song:
This song was first published in 1913 by the blind folk singer Richard Burnett. It was popularized by the Stanley Brothers, who recorded the song in the 1950s. Many other artists have covered the song, including Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Peter, Paul and Mary, and Ginger Baker’s Air Force with vocals by Denny Laine.
As I mentioned, the song was featured in the 2000 movie, “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” which was based on the epic poem The Odyssey. The lyrics, “I am a man of constant sorrow / I’ve seen trouble all my days,” refers to Odysseus and all the troubles he had on his journey home. In the film, the song is sung by The Soggy Bottom Boys, a group made up for the movie with George Clooney as one of the members. The real voice was that of Dan Tyminski from the band Union Station, with backing vocals from Harley Allen and Pat Enright.
The version of the song recorded for the movie received a CMA Award for “Single of the Year” in 2001 and a Grammy for “Best Country Collaboration with Vocals” in 2002. The song was also named Song of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association in 2001.
Here are the lyrics to “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrows.”
I am a man of constant sorrow
I've seen trouble all my days
I bid farewell to old Kentucky
The state where I was borned and raised
(The state where he was borned and raised)
For six long years I've been in trouble
No pleasure here on earth I find
For in this world I'm bound to ramble
I have no friends to help me now
(He has no friends to help him now)
It's fare thee well my old lover
I never expect to see you again
For I'm bound to ride that northern railroad
Perhaps I'll die upon this train
(Perhaps he'll die upon this train)
You can bury me in some deep valley
For many years where I may lay
Then you may learn to love another
While I am sleeping in my grave
(While he is sleeping in his grave)
Maybe your friends think I'm just a stranger
My face you never will see no more
But there is one promise that is given
I'll meet you on God's golden shore
(He'll meet you on God's golden shore)
Here is the Stanley Brothers version:
This, That, and the Other 
That seems to be a favourite song because Willow chose it too 🤗
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I suspected others would choose it, too.
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A great song and I love that movie. For two other different takes on the song I recommend the versions by Rod Stewart and by Jackson Browne with Sharon Shannon.
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I just listened to both on YouTube. I’m a big Jackson Browne fan, but I liked Rod Stewart’s cover better. Thanks for pointing them out to me.
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You’re welcome. Glad you enjoyed them. Rod’s was the first version of this that I heard when I got his debut album, and it’s always interested me how differently it can be done.
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Clooney is the closest thing we’ve got these days that compares to the charm and charisma of the old time movie stars.
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Love the movie, and the song is so good. 🙂
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A great song from a fantastic movie. Odysseus had a lot of troubles, but his wife Penelope stayed faithful the entire 20 years while he was away from home, and not that many men are lucky enough to find a girl like that.
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Close enough (a Neil young song)?
Old Man (cover) — Beck
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https://www.spin.com/2014/07/artist-of-the-year-beck-january-1997-cover-story/
The truth, though, is that Beck– the son of a bluegrass musician and a former Warhol Factory denizen –is more straightfoward and down-to-earth than anyone might expect.
I don’t know if I believe his dad was a bluegrass musician. I read, somewhere, that his dad was/is a producer or engineer or some such for many artists… including the Rolling Stones. The Warhol part is consistent with what I’ve previous read about his mother.
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https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/music/2014/06/14/meet_becks_dad_david_campbell_who_has_helped_sell_nearly_1_billion_records.html
Campbell’s initial focus was as a player, but his break as an arranger came suddenly through songwriter Carole King, on her 1972 album Rhymes & Reasons.
“It was a lucky break,” Campbell recalls. “I ended up playing on the Tapestry tour and telling her how I was really into arranging and orchestration.
She called me up one night — usually she did her own arrangements — but on her fourth album, she was eight months pregnant at the time and too tired to do the string arrangements, so she said, ‘You want to try this? You want to do this?’
“It was huge — I had to get my sh– together,” he laughs.
The era was also memorable for Campbell and his wife at the time, performance artist and Andy Warhol actress Bibbe Hansen, with the birth of their first son, Beck.
Campbell recalls his son was very creative. “The first area he really got passionate about was with words, writing poems, little books and stories — I thought he’d be a novelist,” says Campbell. “The music came a little later.
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More like folk or country rock, I think.
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Your pick is a good one. I can enjoy bluegrass but don’t know of anyone in particular.
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I’ve seen the movie two or three times, and some clips more than that. It’s fascinating at times, plus is a safe bet for a bonafide bluegrass song.
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Gotta have some finger pickin’ with a banjo and/or mandolin I think, strings with a bow, and probably some harmonious singing (so more than one voice); an upright base doesn’t hurt.
Just dawned on me I do know a name. I have tickets to see him soon (it’ll be my, I think, fourth time… in different configurations always with different people… like once was Live From Here, while this video isn’t that):
how to play with others with Chris Thile|
millennium stage at the Kennedy Center
Bluegrass discussion start at 24 minutes
I’ve got various art-level, framed posters
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Newport
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Boston
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Like this (I think the link will be to the exact design):
https://www.google.com/search?q=punch+brothers+posters&rlz=1C9BKJA_enUS768US768&hl=en-US&sxsrf=AJOqlzUgB805pyDXc9hTqU5s_IlKw6cdlA%3A1679345269809&ei=dcYYZIj3MLypqtsP04qx0Ao&oq=punch+brothers+posters&gs_lcp=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&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-serp#imgrc=sjBQgDe2f7irvM&cobssid=s&piu=ps%253A12&lnspr=W10%253D
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Such a great film I almost used this version and the sirens song from the film , even wrote the post about the film and songs then something made me change and go with Home Free.
Well done Fandango 💜
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Thanks. I enjoyed the Home Free cover.
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Love your pick. Makes me want to watch the movie again ☺️
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It’s a good one!
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Good choice. Thanks for the song back story!
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