A Man Of Constant Sorrow

This is an amazing song. Most of you readers probably became familiar with this song from the film “Oh Brother Where Art Thou” in which the Soggy Bottom Boys (a fictitious band plays it (the real players Dan Tyminski, Harley Allen, and Pat Enright). The song dates back to 1913; written and first performed by Dick Burnett under the original title of “Farewell Song”. Here’s a list of musicians who have recorded it: The Stanley Brothers; Ginger Baker’s Air Force; Waylon Jennings; Peter, Paul, and Mary; Rod Stewart; Jerry Garcia; Bob Dylan; and Jackson Browne.

Click here for the link to the song from “Oh Brother Where Art Thou” http://youtube.com/watch?v=ifdgrfr0Bkk

Click here for the real Soggy Bottom Boys with Alison Kraus: http://youtube.com/watch?v=7shqV6sh5zY&feature=related

And the best for last. Listen to Ralph Stanley; his cry and moan as he sings this song is so poignant and beautifully sad. A great great version of a great great song.

Ralph Stanley: http://youtube.com/watch?v=GBDe7rySveQ

Why does this song touch so many? Big Frank doesn’t have the answer, but it’s in the words and the tune both. The melody is combination of singing and almost a moan. The Soggy Bottom Boys have the lead singer doing the first person lyrics (“I have no friends to help me now”) and the other two joining in for the chorus joining in the echo in the third person (“He has no friends to help him now”).

The man of constant sorrow may come from the Isaiah 53, a Catholic interpretation of which has it prefigure the sorrows of Jesus. If this is true then the man of constant sorrow is in fact a Christ figure – one most considered worthless.

Isaiah 53:

“Comfort and salvation are coming to us through a man of sorrows—a despised man, a rejected man, a man people considered worthless.”

Man of Constant Sorrow

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

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

It's fare thee well my own true lover
I never expect to see you again
For I'm bound to ride that northern railroad
Perhaps I'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

It's fare you well to a native country
The places I have loved so well
For I have seen all kinds of trouble
In this cruel world, no tongue can tell

Maybe your friends think I'm just a stranger
My face you'll never see no more
But there is one promise that is given
I'll meet you on God's golden shore