Man of Constant Sorrow
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Man of Constant Sorrow" is a traditional American folk song.
The song was first made famous by the Stanley Brothers. The song appears on Bob Dylan's 1962 eponymous debut album and Dylan performed the song during his first national television appearance in 1963. In their 1962 debut album, also self-titled, Peter, Paul and Mary recorded another version as "Sorrow".
It was recorded by Ginger Baker's Air Force on their eponymous debut album in 1970, sung by the Airforce guitarist and vocalist (and former Moody Blues, future Wings member) Denny Laine. The band used the same melody, and for the most part the same lyrics (but substituting 'Birmingham' for 'Colorado'). The arrangement differed, though, as this was a loosely improvised live version, with violin and saxophones, that stays very much in the major scales of A, D and E, unlike its future bluesier brethren.
The song appears in the 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou?. Performed by the fictitious Soggy Bottom Boys in the movie, it was recorded by Dan Tyminski, Harley Allen, and Pat Enright. It was a hit in the movie for the Soggy Bottom Boys and later became a hit single in real life. It received a CMA for "Single of the Year" and a Grammy for "Best Country Collaboration with Vocals" and it peaked at #38 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart. Dan Tyminski also performed this song at the Crossroads Guitar Festival with Ron Block.
The versions by Dylan and Soggy Bottom Boys utilize somewhat different melodies and while the lyrics have many similarities, they are by no means identical. In this version the singer said goodbye to "old Kentucky."
In 2003, musicians Skeewiff remixed "Man Of Constant Sorrow". The song was so popular in Australia that it featured at number 96 in the Triple J's hottest 100 songs of 2003.
Filk performer the great Luke Ski recorded a parody of the Tyminski/Allen/Enright recording of "Man of Constant Sorrow" for his 2002 album, Uber Geek, entitled "I Am A Vamp Of Constant Sorrow", about Angel, a vampire from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series.
The Brooklyn-based country-hip-hop band Battlestar recorded another version of the song on their 2002 album "Above Market Value." --
Osaka Popstar recorded a punk rock cover of this song for their debut album Osaka Popstar and the American Legends of Punk.
