In The Pines

By Nick.
Pop songs come and go, but truly good music sticks around in some form or another. Such is the case with American Folk (And I don't mean that wretched Pete Seeger stuff.) Folk songs were carried off from England and Scotland to the Appalachians. From there they stayed in the hills and musically fermented, until the invention of trains and electricity and coal mining hit the area. It was then that folk music morphed into country, with a little help from luminaries such as The Carter Family and Jimmy Rogers. From there, the songs became country and bluegrass standards, were mostly forgotten by all but the dedicated during country's lean years, and then revived by alternative/indie rockers such as Ryan Adams or Connor Oberst looking for something more authentic than the latest pop faddle.
The song "In The Pines" is an interesting case study in the way that folk songs trickle down through time. It is a gloomy appalachian ballad alternately known as "Black Gal", "The Longest Train" or "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?" The best known early recording of it was by Leadbelly, who learned it from another person who learned it from two early phonograph recordings. Not having access to the Leadbelly version, I had to make do with the three versions I had.
The Earliest version I had on hand was that by J.E. Mainer and his Mountaineers
from the CD East Virginia Blues, part of the series When The Sun Goes Down, which bills itself as "The Secret History of Rock and Roll". The CD, which is the only one in the series we have as of now, not only contains many interesting old Appalachian songs, but also song explanations in the liner notes. J.E. Mainer was no stranger to dark songs- his nephew Wade Mainer and his Friend Zeke Morris, who play on "In The Pines", do another song on the album called "Down in The Willow", which is a classic murder ballad. This version may strike modern listeners as being a little too upbeat for such dark lyrics, but it was keeping up with the times. Back in the 20s and 30s, many murder ballads and sad songs were recorded and sung with more upbeat rhythms and melodies, both to keep up with the popular way of playing them, and to make them more suitable for live performances. No self-respecting Appalachian fiddler would have wanted his songs to be melodramatic, although he probably would not have used that word.
Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys recorded a version in their early days, even more upbeat than the Mountaineers'. This version is pure Bill Monroe, complete with yodeling. The lyrics here are much less sad, and talk about "The longest train that I ever saw". The only downside to this recording is the train whistle sound that one of the bandmembers makes during the chorus. It's interesting at first, but after hearing it every time the chorus comes around, it gets kind of annoying.
The final version that I listened to was Nirvana's rendition on their Unplugged CD. Despite Kurt Cobain's status as "The Father of Grunge", he played this old folk song as the coda to his performance. While researching for this post on the internet,the only thing I found on this song other than the same article repeated a thousand times was a songs meaning site which had a bunch of comments, most of which were something along the lines of "Kurt Cobain wrote this as a song about his wife's infidelities", and "He didn't write it, Dude. Courtney loved Kurt." Conclusion: The internet is useless. Therefore I have had to come up with my own interpretation.
To anyone who knows about Nirvana, it's obvious that Kurt Cobain was into dark and often creepy stuff. Grunge music (or whatever you want to call it) was almost all about depression, at least until the Stone Temple Pilots came out and made it somewhat fun. That's a whole 'nuther story. Kurt Cobain obviously had some sort of liking for this song, but it's what he did with it that's amazing.
For starters, he played it in a minor key, unlike the earlier versions played in major. A cello plays the bass notes, making the song take on a major key feel until halfway through each verse, when it goes down back into minor. Kurt's raspy voice, famously showcased on the unintelligible and oft-parodied chorus to "Smells Like Teen Spirit", gives this song a more raw edge, which is kicked into overdrive when he screams the final verses. The most amazing thing is what he does with the lyrics. In a typical Nirvana-esque twist, he takes the lyrics to the different versions and rearragnes them into a rage-filled song about pointlessness. This was not directed at Courtney Love, this was directed more toward everyone, with no special preferences to anyone. The Lyrics to the Nirvana Version are below

My girl, my girl, don't lie to me
Tell me where did you sleep last night

In the pines, in the pines
Where the sun don't ever shine
I would shiver the whole night through

My girl, my girl, where will you go
I'm going where the cold wind blows

In the pines, in the pines
Where the sun don't ever shine
I would shiver the whole night through

Her husband, was a hard working man
Just about a mile from here
His head was found in a driving wheel
But his body never was found

My girl, my girl, don't lie to me
Tell me where did you sleep last night

In the pines, in the pines
Where the sun don't ever shine
I would shiver the whole night through

My girl, my girl, where will you go
I'm going where the cold wind blows

In the pines, in the pines
Where the sun don't ever shine
I would shiver the whole night through

Super quick addendum: I just listened to a sample of the Leadbelly version on Amazon. The Nirvana uses the same chord progression.