Dink's Song (1904) / Fare Thee Well (1942)

John A. Lomax tells how he found the song in 1904, when he made his first field trip for Harvard University: "I found Dink scrubbing her man's clothes in the shade of their tent across the Brazos river from the A. & M. College in Texas. Professor James C. Nagle of the College faculty was the supervising engineer of a levee-building company and he had invited me to come along and bring my Edison recording machine. The Negroes were trained levee workers from the Mississippi River.

'Dink knows all the songs,' said her companion. But I did not find her helpful until I walked a mile to a farm commissary and bought her a pint of gin. As she drank the gin, the sounds from her scrubbing board increased in intensity and in volume. She worked as she talked: 'That little boy there ain't got no daddy an' he ain't got no name. I comes from Mississippi and we never saw these levee niggers, till us got here. I brung along my little boy. My man drives a four-wheel scraper down there where you see the dust risin'. I keeps his tent, cooks his vittles and washes his clothes. Some day Ize goin' to wrap up his wet breeches and shirts, roll 'em up in a knot, put 'em in the middle of the bed, and tuck down the covers right nice. Then I'm going on up the river where I belong.' She sipped her gin and sang and drank until the bottle was empty.

The original Edison record of 'Dink's Song' was broken long ago, but not until all the Lomax family had learned the tune. The one-line refrain, as Dink sang it in her soft lovely voice, gave the effect of a sobbing woman, deserted by her man. Dink's tune is really lost; what is left is only a shadow of the tender, tragic beauty of what she sang in the sordid, bleak surroundings of a Brazos Bottom levee camp.

Lomax continues to say: "The lyrics and music of Dink's Song' are to me uniquely beautiful. Professor Kittredge praised them without stint. Carl Sandburg compares them to the best fragments of Sappho. As you might expect, Carl prefers Dink to Sappho.

"When I went to find her in Yazoo, Mississippi, some years later, her women friends, pointing to a nearby graveyard, told me, Dink's done planted up there.' I could find no trace of her little son who 'didn't have no name.'

"Dink's Song" was published in 1934 in John and Alan Lomax's "American Ballads and Folk Songs"

The first artist that recorded "Dink's Song" (as "Fare Thee Well") was Libby Holman with guitar accompaniment by Josh White. Strangely she begins with the last chorus (see lyrics above)

(o) Libby Holman (1942) (as "Fare Thee Well")
Recorded on March 23, 1942 in New York

78 RPM - Libby Holman - Baby Baby / Fare Thee Well - Decca - USA - 18304

https://www.wirz.de/music/whitefrm.htm

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http://www.wirz.de/music/whitefrm.htm



(c) Josh White (1944) (as "Fare Thee Well")
Released on the album "Songs by Josh White" (Asch album # 348)

Josh White - I Got A Head Like A Rock / Fare Thee Well (Shellac, 10", 78 RPM) | Discogs

Illustrated Josh White discography

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Libby Holman's and Josh White's "Fare Thee Well" IS NOT TO BE CONFUSED with Georgia White's "Fare Thee Honey Fare Thee Well", recorded in 1937 on the Decca-label, although the label says the composer is ALSTON. And that name also is on the label of Libby Holman's and Josh White's "Fare Thee Well".
The version by Georgia White has different lyrics and the melody is also different.

SEE NEXT LINK for Georgia White's "Fare Thee Honey Fare Thee Well".

http://jopiepopie.blogspot.nl/2013/04/ill-see-you-in-spring-when-birds-begin.html



But here are some covers of the version originally recorded by Libby Holman and Josh White.

(c) Burl Ives (1951) (as "Fare Thee Well O Honey")
Recorded October 24, 1951 in New York City 
Released in 1960 on the next album

Burl Ives - The Return Of The Wayfaring Stranger (Vinyl, LP) | Discogs

Burl Ives

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(c) Burl Ives (1955) (as "Sad Man's Song (Fare Thee Well, O Honey)")
Recorded April 1955 in New York City

Decca matrix 87822. Sad man's song (Fare Thee well, o honey) / Burl Ives - Discography of American Historical Recordings

45cat - Burl Ives - Songs For Men And About Men Part 1 - Decca - USA

Burl Ives - Men: Songs For And About Men (Vinyl, LP, Album, Mono) | Discogs

Praguefrank's Country Discography 2: Ives Burl

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(c) Cisco Houston (1954) (as "Dink's Song")

http://www.folkways.si.edu/cisco-houston/hard-travelin/american-folk/music/album/smithsonian

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(c) Ellen Stekert (1957) (as "Dink's Song")

Ellen Stekert - Ballads Of Careless Love (1956, Vinyl) | Discogs

Musicguy247: Ellen Stekert - Folklorist, Folk Singer and Educator

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(c) Herta Marshall (1957) (as "Fare Thee Well")

To You with Love: American Folk Songs for Women | Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

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(c) Guy Carawan (1957) (as "Dink's Song")
Released in 1960

http://www.45cat.com/record/jea4

http://www.discogs.com/Guy-Carawan-Guy-Carawan-Sings-Songs-From-The-South/release/1701705



(c) Jack Elliott (1958) (as "Dink's Song")

Ramblin' Jack Elliott - Jack Takes The Floor | Discogs

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Or here:





(c) Pete Seeger (1959) (as "Dink's Song")

American Favorite Ballads, Vol. 3 | Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

Pete Seeger - American Favorite Ballads, Vol. 3 | Discogs

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(c) Barbara Dane (1959) ("Dink's Blues")
Barbara Dane, vocal; Frank Hamilton, guitar; Bill Lee, bass
Recorded on location at the Newport Folk Festival, Rhode Island on July 11-12, 1959

Folk Festival At Newport Vol. 2 (Vinyl, LP, Mono) | Discogs

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(c) Leon Bibb (1959) (as "Dink's Blues")

http://www.discogs.com/Leon-Bibb-Sings-Folk-Songs/release/4076715

Listen to a sample here





(c) Judi Resnick (1961) (as "Dink's Song")

Judi Resnick - You've Heard My Voice (Vinyl, LP, Album) | Discogs

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(c) Dave Van Ronk (1961) (as "Dink's Song") 

Dave Van Ronk - Dave Van Ronk Sings (Vinyl, LP, Album) | Discogs

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(c) Bob Dylan (1961)  (as "Dink's Song")

Dink’s Song | The Official Bob Dylan Site

Dink's Song

No Direction Home: The Soundtrack (A Martin Scorsese Picture) | Discogs

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(c) Carolyn Hester (1962)  (as "Dink's Song")

Carolyn Hester - Carolyn Hester | Releases | Discogs

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(c) Jack McDuff (1961) (as "Dink's Blues")

Brother Jack McDuff - The Honeydripper | Releases | Discogs

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(c) Bob Gibson (1964) (as "Fare Thee Well (Dink's Song)")

Album – WHERE I’M BOUND | Bob Gibson Folk Legacy

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(c) Tom Paxton incorporated "Fare Thee Well" in 1964 in his tribute to Cisco Houston: "Fare Thee Well, Cisco"

Tom Paxton - Ramblin' Boy (Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo) | Discogs

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(c) Limeliters (1963)  (as "Faretheewell (Dink' s Song)")

The Limeliters - Fourteen 14K Folksongs (Vinyl, LP, Album, Mono) | Discogs

Composer credit| : Bess B. Lomax - John A. Lomax - arr Bob Gibson

Images for The Limeliters - Fourteen 14K Folksongs



(c) Catherine McKinnon (1965)  (as "Dink's Song")

Catherine McKinnon - Voice Of An Angel Volume II (Vinyl, LP, Album, Mono) | Discogs
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(c) Benji Aronoff (1965) (as "Dink's Blues")

Benji Aronoff - The Two Sides Of Benji Aronoff (Vinyl, LP, Album) | Discogs



(c) Simon Sisters (1964) (as "Dinks Blues)

Cuddlebug (The Happiness Blanket) | Discogs

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(c) Fred Neil (1966)  (as "Faretheewell (Fred's Tune)")

Fred Neil - Fred Neil (Vinyl, LP, Album, Mono) | Discogs

Fred Neil (album) - Wikipedia

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(c) Big 3 (1968) (as "Nora' s Dove) (Dinks Song)")

The Big 3 Featuring Cass Elliot - Nora's Dove (Dink's Song) (Vinyl, 7", Single) | Discogs

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(c) Rick Cunha (1980)

http://www.discogs.com/Rick-Cunha-Moving-Pictures/release/3936941



(c) John Stewart (1994) (as "Dink's Blues")
Recorded live at the Turf Inn, Dalry, Scotland October 1994

John Stewart - Bandera (CD, Album) | Discogs

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(c) Odetta (1999) (as "Dink's Blues") 

Odetta - Blues Everywhere I Go (CD, Album) | Discogs





(c) Roger McGuinn (2001) (as "Dink's Song")

Roger McGuinn's Folk Den » Blog Archive » Dink's Song

Listen here: ibiblio.org/jimmy/folkden/php/music/Dink.mp3



(c) Jeff Buckley (2003)  (as "Dink's Song")
Recorded in the summer of 1993

Jeff Buckley - Live At Sin-é (CD, Remastered) | Discogs





(c) Gabriel Rios (2007)  (as "Dink's Song")

Gabriel Rios - Angelhead (CD, Album, Limited Edition) | Discogs

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(c) Oscar Isaac (2013) (as "Fare Thee Well (Dink's Song)")
(c) Oscar Isaac and Marcus Mumford (2013) (as "Fare Thee Well (Dink's Song)")

Both versions above are from the soundtrack of the Coen Brother's movie "Inside Llewyn Davis".

http://www.contactmusic.com/press/nonesuch-releases-soundtrack-to-coen-brothers-inside-llewyn-davis-on-september-17th-2013

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More versions: Folk Music Index - Devil' to Dio



NOTE: NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH: "Dink's Blues" by Dink Johnson (1947)