303
Tom Dula
Of the second of the ballads about Tom Dula and Laura Foster,
there are three variants with considerable dififerences among them.
Henry, in FSSH 325-6, published two versions of 'Tom Dooley.'
The first of these has two stanzas corresponding to our texts and
two stanzas corresponding to two stanzas in our song entitled 'Tom
Dula's Lament' (see below) ; its other five stanzas are additions.
Henry's second version has one stanza corresponding to the first
stanza of our 'Tom Dula' and three other stanzas (two in common
with the first version). Davis FSV 265 lists 'Tom Dooley' and
prints the first line.
Quoting the first stanza of the following text and identifying it as an
"outlaw ballad," Mrs. Sutton in the second of two long notes, wrote:
"It was very popular in the hills of Wilkes, Alexander, and Caldwell
counties in 1867. Many mountain ballad singers still sing it." After
briefly noting the fact on which the ballad was based, she continued :
"Last week I went out in Yadkin Valley section of Caldwell to see if
I could get all the words to the song. . . . The ballad of Laura Foster
and Tom Dula I collected from 'Red-Headed Calvie Triplett,' who lived
in Lenoir a few years ago. I collected another version from Mrs. R. T.
Lenoir, who got it from a servant on her plantation, Fort Defiance, in
Caldwell county. Other versions thr* I have came from Wilkes and
Watauga. One of them, the opening verse of which appears in this
article, was written by a man named Land who lived near the Fosters;
another was composed and sung in prison and on the gallows by Dula.
It has more merit than either of the others."
Mrs. Sutton's statement, "One of them, the opening verse of which
appears in this article, was written by . . . Land," is clearly a slip, for
"the opening verse" which she quotes is identical with the first stanza
of the following text and does not correspond with any stanza in the
712 NORTH CAROLINA FOLKLORE
Land ballad. It would seem probable, then, that the text is from "Red-
Headed Calvie Triplett." Mrs. Sutton describes 'Tom Dula' as "a
banjo tune" and says that it "was composed by an old Negro named
Charlie Davenport, and sung to the tune of 'Run, Nigger, Run, the
Patter Roller's After You.' " Of the full text which she supplies, Mrs.
Sutton wrote : "This is the most familiar version of the Tom Dula
ballad."
1 Hang down your head, Tom Dula,
Hang down your head and cry ;
You killed poor Laura Foster
And now you're bound to die.
2 You met her on the hill-top,
And God Almighty knows,
You met her on the hill-top
And there you hid your clothes.
3 You met her on the hill-top,
You said she'd be your wife.
You met her on the hill-top
And there you took her life.
'Tom Dooley.' With music. From Thomas Smith, Zionville, Watauga
county. Note by Dr. Brown : "Sung by Mrs. R. A. Robinson, Silver-
stone, N. C, 6/22/21." Mr. Smith says that the "verses are from a
song which has been sung and played for many years (probably for
over forty) in Watauga. . . . There is hardly a fiddler or banjo picker
in our county who cannot play 'Tom Dooley.' "
1 Oh hang your head, Tom Dooley,
Oh hang your head [and?] cry.
You killed poor Laura Foster
And now you are bound to die.
2 You met her on the hillside
And there you may suppose
You met her on the hillside
And there you hid her clothes.
3 You met her on the hillside
Supposed to be your wife,
You met her on the hillside
And there you took her life.
c
'Tom Dooly.' From Mrs. Gertrude Allen Vaught, Oakboro, Stanly
county, without date.
I Hang your head, Tom Dooly,
Hang your head and cry.
You have killed poor Laura Foster
And you know you are bound to die.
NORTH CAROLINA BALLADS 713
2 He dug the grave six feet long,
And only three feet deep.
He racked the dirt upon her,
And packed it with his feet.
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303
Tom Dula
B
'Tom Dooley.' Sung by Mrs. R. A. Robinson. Recorded as ms score at Silver-
stone, Watauga county, in 1921. In the recording the sequence of the stanzas
I and 2 (II 712) is reversed. This editor has an identical version of this ballad,
which was sung to him by an old mountaineer ninety-five years old, who lived
near Weaverville, Buncombe county. There are, however, some differences in
the text. The phrase "Oh, hang your head and cry" can also be found in TNFS
-JZ, 'The Lonesome Road'; also, "Bow down your head and cry" in CS 159-
For melodic relationship cf. * FSUSA 300.
Scale: Mode III, plagal. Tonal Center: f. Structure: aaiba^ (4,4.4,4) ==
Reprisenbar.