In The Pines

Song composer(s)

Traditional

Grateful Dead Recordings

Not recorded by the Dead

Dead Related Recordings

No Dead related recordings entered

Other Recordings

Tenneva Ramblers (192?)
Single : Bill Monroe & his Blue Grass Boys (1941)
Single : Bill Monroe & his Blue Grass Boys (1952)
Folksongs and Ballads of Virginia : Paul Clayton (1956)
Tragic Songs Of Life : The Louvin Brothers (1956)
Bowling Green : Kossoy Sisters with Erik Darling (1956)
American Favorite Ballads, Vol. 2 : Pete Seeger (1958)
Ballads, Blues and a Spritual : Dave Van Ronk (1959)
Good Night, Irene : Leadbelly (195?)
Duane Eddy Plays Songs of Our Heritage : Duane Eddy (1960)
Sam Hinton Sings The Song Of Men : Sam Hinton (1961)
Joan Baez, Vol. 2 : Joan Baez (1961)
Will Holt Concert : Will Holt (1963)
Music From The Ozarks : Various Artists (John D Mounce & Lee Mounce) (1964)
Cisco Houston - A Legacy : Cisco Houston (1964)
High Lonesome Sound : Roscoe Holcomb (1965)
Take This Hammer : Leadbelly (1965)
Plays Leadbelly : Clifford Jordan (1965)
The Flat-Picker's Guitar Guide - An Advanced Instruction Record : Jerry Silverman (1966)
Greatest Hits : Bill Monroe (1968)
Gambler's Blues : Dave Van Ronk (196?)
Charlotte Daniels & Pat Webb : Charlotte Daniels & Pat Webb (196?)
In The Pines : The Possum Hunters (196?)
It Ain't Easy : Long John Baldry (1971)
Fiddle Breakdown - 20 Instrumental Favorites : Don Reno & Red Smiley (featuring Fiddlin' Buck Ryan) (1971)
Strange Creek Singers : Strange Creek Singers (1972)
Together Again : The Blue Sky Boys (1975)
Art Of The Mountain Banjo : Art Rosenbaum (1975)
Stanley Brothers On Air : The Stanley Brothers (1976)
Father Of Bluegrass : Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys (1977)
The Virginia Mountain Boys, Vol. 2: Bluegrass String Band : The Virginia Mountain Boys (1977)
One Way Track : Boone Creek (1977)
Rusty Tracks : Mickey Newbury (1977)
Legendary Performer : Chet Atkins (1978)
Fiddlin' Arthur Smith & His Dixieliners, Vol. 2 : Fiddlin' Arthur Smith & His Dixieliners (1978)
Hoe Down! Vol. 6. Country Blues Instrumentals : Mutt Poston & The Farm Hands (197?)
Nobody Knows You When You're Down & Out : The Scragg Family (197?)
The Wonderful World Of Country Music : The Blue Sky Boys (197?)
Out In The Country : Doc Watson (1982)
Very Early Joan Baez : Joan Baez (1983)
Winding Sheet : Mark Lanegan (1990)
Bristol Sessions : Various Artists (Tenneva Ramblers).(1991)
Late Last Night : Skip Gorman & Rick Starkey (1991)
Long Journey Home : Kentucky Colonels (1991)
One Way Track : Boone Creek (1991)
The Folkway Years 1959-1961 : Dave Van Ronk (1991)
Scene 20 - 20th Anniversary Concert : Seldom Scene (1991)
Tribute To Leadbelly : Various Artists (1992)
In The Pines : Bill Monroe (1993)
Great American Train Songs : Various Artists (Merle Travis & Mac Wiseman) (1993)
The Music Of Bill Monroe : Bill Monroe (1994)
Twangin' From Phoenix To LA : Duane Eddy (1994)
Bluegrass Guitar Duets : Sandy Rothman & Steve Pottier (1994)
Unplugged : Nirvana (1994)
In The Pines : Todd Phillips (1995)
Where Did You Sleep Last Night, Lead Belly Legacy, Vol. 1 : Leadbelly (1996)
Hats Off! A Tribute To Bill Monroe : Various Artists (Mac Wiseman) (1996)
Ballads, Banjo Tunes and Sacred Songs of Western North Carolina : Bascom Lamar Lunsford (1996)
Longest Train : Charlie Louvin (1996)
Uncle Henry's Favorites : Marvin Gaster (1996)
Old Time On The Air, Vol. 2 : Various Artists (The Rhythm Rats) (1996)
Smithsonian/Folkways American Roots Collection Sampler : Various Artists (Leadbelly) (1996)
Get Acquainted Waltz : The Strange Creek Singers (1997)
Last Forever : Dick Connette & Sonya Cohen (1997)
Lord I'm Coming Home : Jimmy Martin & The Sunny Mountain Boys (1997)
Essential : Bill Monroe / Monroe Brothers (1997)
I Guess It Never Hurts To Hurt Sometimes : The Oak Ridge Boys (19??)
On Radio Vol. 1 : Blue Sky Boys (19??)
Ballads & Breakdowns of the Golden Era : Various Artists (Dock Walsh) (19??)
Great Original Recordings 1927-28 : The Tenneva Ramblers (19??)
The Railroad in Folk Song : Various Artists (J. E Mainer's Mountaineers) (19??)
Neiman-Marcus First Edition : Various Artists (J. E Mainer's Mountaineers) (19??)
Bill & Wilma Millsaps & the Snowbird Mountain Boys (19??)

Performance History

Played by the Black Mountain Boys on the 7th March 1964.

Occurs on the "Unident Thing" tape that features Garcia and Pigpen. Date and venue are unknown.

Notes

Lead vocals - Garcia.

According to Southern Mountain Folksongs by W. K. McNeil there is an unpublished study of In The Pines, running to 650 pages, by Judith McCulloh. This study analyses the lyrics and music of 160 variations of the song and identifies one musical and three textual elements that must be present for a song to be In The Pines. The textual elements are;

the phrase "In the pines, in the pines, where the sun never shines"

the phrase, "The longest train I ever saw"

and one or more verses describing an accident in which someone is decapitated.

Many variations of the song occur. Variations also occur with different titles, such as; Where Did You Sleep Last Night, Black Girl and The Longest Train.

The Black Mountain Boys version is fairly rudimentary and unrehearsed, it sounds in places (lines marked with an asterisk) that different members of the group sing different words for some lines.

The longest train that ever I saw,
Went down the Georgia line,
The engine passed at six o'clock,
And the (cab it passed at nine?).*

In the pines, in the pines,
Where the sun never shines,
And you shiver when the cold wind blows.

I asked my captain for the time of day,
He (said?) throwed his watch away,
It's a long (?) and a short (cross tie?),*
I'm on my way back home.

In the pines, in the pines,
Where the sun never shines,
And you shiver when the cold wind blows.

Little girl, little girl, what have I done,
That makes you treat me so,
You caused me to weep, and caused me to mourn,
You caused me to leave my home.

In the pines, in the pines,
Where the sun never shines,
And you shiver when the cold wind blows.

This is a bluegrass style version of the song based perhaps on versions recorded by Bill Monroe and the Stanley Brothers.

The version of the song that occurs on the "Unident Thing" tape with Pigpen on harmonica and Garcia on guitar and vocals is much different.

It segues directly from an abandoned version of Careless Love on the tape. After a verse of Careless Love the singer (Mike Sector?) gives up on the song and requests Garcia's presence on stage, "Jerry I need some funk up here." Garcia calls for Black Girl, which is the name used by Leadbelly for In The Pines. They then move directly into the song.

Here the music is blues based, two guitars and Pigpen's harmonica. The original singer, not Garcia, takes the vocals. The lyrics are repeated phrases rather than a full version of the song;

Black girl, black girl, don't you lie to me,
Tell me where did you stay last night.

In the pines, in the pines,
Where the sun never shines,
And I shiver the whole night through.

You caused me to weep and you caused me to mourn,
And you caused me to leave my happy home.

Black girl, black girl, don't you lie to me,
Tell me where did you stay last night.

In the pines, in the pines,
Where the sun never shines,
And I shiver the whole night through.

Black girl, black girl, don't you lie to me,
Tell me where did you stay last night.

In the pines, in the pines,
Where the sun never shines,
And I shiver the whole night through.

You caused me to weep and you caused me to mourn,
And you caused me to leave my happy home.

The only version that survives on tape by the Grateful Dead is from July 17th 1966. This is a much more finished work than either of the earlier recorded versions, and unlike those versions, captures the strange and eerie nature of the song.

It's a good example of the synthesis of styles that formed the Dead's music. There are elements of the bluegrass version and elements of the blues version but this is now a rock version of the song. The lyrics are an expanded form of those performed in the Black Mountain Boys version but the delivery is more assured and greatly enhanced by the arrangement, especially the menacing organ figures. Here's the lyrics from the Dead's version;

Little girl, little girl, what have I done,
To make you treat me so,
You have caused me to weep, you have caused me to mourn,
You have caused me to lose my home.

In the pines, in the pines,
Where the sun never shines,
You shiver as the cold wind blows.

My daddy was a railroad man,
Drove a mile when the (?) go down,
His head was found beneath the driving wheel,
And his body has never been found.

In the pines, in the pines,
Where the sun never shines,
You shiver as the cold wind blows.

The longest train I ever saw,
Was down the Georgia line,
The engine passed at ten o'clock,
The cab passed by at nine.

In the pines, in the pines,
Where the sun never shines,
You shiver as the cold wind blows.

Little girl, little girl, what have I done,
To make you treat me so,
You have caused me to weep, and caused me to mourn,
You have caused me to lose my home.

In the pines, in the pines,
Where the sun never shines,
You shiver as the cold wind blows.

In the pines, in the pines,
Where the sun never shines,
You shiver as the cold wind blows.

In the pines, in the pines,
Where the sun never shines,
You shiver as the cold wind blows.

Lyrics from In The Pines occur in other songs. For example Rolling Mill Blues recorded by Peg Leg Howell in the late 1920's comprises a series of couplets many of which come from In The Pines.

A song recorded by Odum (1926), and given the title Goin' Down That Lonesome Road, includes lyrics familiar to us in the Dead's repetoire from In The Pines and Goin' Down The Road Feelin' Bad;

Goin' down dat lonesome road,
Oh, goin' down dat lonesome road,
An' I won't be treated this-a way.
Springs on my bed done broken down,
An' I ain't got nowhere to lay my head.

Now my mamma's dead an' my pappa, too
An' it left me alone with you.
An' you cause me to weep an' you cause me to moan,
An' you cause me to leave my happy home.

Longest train I ever saw
Was nineteen coaches long
Darlin' what have I done to you?
What makes you treat me so?
An' I won't be treated this way.