Down in the Valley

DESCRIPTION: "Down in the valley, valley so low, Hang your head over, hear the wind blow." The singer tells of his deep, unrequited love for (his/her) sweetheart. (He) bids farewell: "If you don't love me, love whom you please." (He says to write to Birmingham Jail.)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety)
KEYWORDS: love courting separation prison lyric
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,SE,So)
REFERENCES (31 citations):
Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety, p. 488, "Down in the Valley"; pp. 488-489, "Bird in a Cage" (2 texts)
Randolph 772, "Down in the Valley" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 281, "Down in the Valley (Birmingham Jail)" (1 text plus a fragment); also probably 282, "I Sent My Love a Letter" (3 texts, of which "A" is likely to be this piece and "C" is a mess with some "Down in the Valley" verses and others about Lulu, though it's not clear which Lulu; "B" is "Green Grows the Laurel (Green Grow the Lilacs)")
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 281, "Down in the Valley (Birmingham Jail)" (1 tune plus a text excerpt)
Morris-FolksongsOfFlorida, #31, "Birmingham Jail" 2 texts, 1 tune)
Fuson-BalladsOfTheKentuckyHighlands, p. 142, "Bird in the Cage" (1 text)
Sulzer-TwentyFiveKentuckyFolkBallads, pp. 6-7, "Down in the Valley" (1 text plus some additional verses, 3 tunes)
Henry-SongsSungInTheSouthernAppalachians, p. 179, "Down in the Valley" (1 text)
Thomas/Leeder-SinginGatherin, p. 28, "Down in the Valley" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag, p. 148, "Down in the Valley"; 213, "Bird in a Cage" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Lomax/Lomax-FolkSongUSA 19, "Down in the Valley" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax/Lomax-AmericanBalladsAndFolkSongs, pp. 147-149, "Down in the Valley" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FolkSongsOfNorthAmerica 150, "Down in the Valley" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax/Lomax-OurSingingCountry, pp. 310-311, "Little Willie's My Darling" (1 text, 1 tune, with a plot of "Twenty-One Years" [Laws E16] but which has swallowed "Down in the Valley" almost entire)
Cohen-AmericanFolkSongsARegionalEncyclopedia1, p. 332, "Birmingham Jail" (1 text)
Owens-TexasFolkSongs-1ed, pp. 149-151, "The Birmingham Jail" (1 text, 1 tune)
Owens-TexasFolkSongs-2ed, pp. 92-93, "The Birmingham Jail" (1 text, 1 tune)
Abernethy-SinginTexas, p. 85, "Birmingham Jail" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fife/Fife-CowboyAndWesternSongs 58, "Down in the Valley" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-TreasuryOfAmericanFolklore, pp. 902-903, "Down in the Valley" (1 text, 1 tune)
Seeger-AmericanFavoriteBallads, p. 33, "Down In The Valley" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pankake/Pankake-PrairieHomeCompanionFolkSongBook, p. 290, "Down in the Valley" (1 text)
Fireside-Book-of-Folk-Songs, p. 99, "Down in the Valley" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 150, "Down In The Valley" (1 text)
Fuld-BookOfWorldFamousMusic, pp. 201-202, "Down in the Valley"
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, pp. 27, 54, 58, 114, 230, 311, "Down in the Valley" (notes only)
Zander/Klusmann-CampSongsNThings, p. 104, "Down in the Valley" (1 text, 1 tune)
Zander/Klusmann-CampSongsPopularEdition, p. 17, "Down in the Valley" (1 text)
BoyScoutSongbook1997, p. 99, "Down in the Valley" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, DOWNVALY*
ADDITIONAL: Fred W. Allsopp, Folklore of Romantic Arkansas, Volume II (1931), p. 212, (no title) (1 fragment)
Roud #943
RECORDINGS:
[Tom] Darby & [Jimmie] Tarlton, "Birmingham Jail" (Columbia 15212-D, 1927)
Ezra Hill & Henry Johnson, "Birmingham Jail" (Challenge 15750, 1929)
Abby Mason, "Down in the Valley" (Piotr-Archive #82, recorded 09/17/2021)
Frank Proffitt, "Down in the Valley" (on Proffitt03)
Riley Puckett, "Down in the Valley" (Regal Zonophone [Australia] G22464, n.d.)
Pete Seeger, "Down in the Valley" (on LonesomeValley) (on PeteSeeger17)
Unidentified group of singers, "Down in the Valley" (on JThomas01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Charlotte the Harlot (III)" (tune)
cf. "Bull Connor's Jail" (tune)
cf. "The Stolen Bride" (tune)
cf. "Billy My Darling" (lyrics)
SAME TUNE:
Hang Your Head Over (Suck Your Big Toe) (Pankake/Pankake-PrairieHomeCompanionFolkSongBook, p. 110)
Tom Darby & Jimmie Tarlton, "Birmingham Jail - No. 2" (Columbia 15375-D, 1929; rec. 1928); "New Birmingham Jail" (Columbia 15629-D, 1930 -- note that two different takes were issued under this record number)
NOTES [99 words]: "Birmingham Jail" (sometimes credited to E.V. Body) is considered by some a separate song, but it can hardly be distinguished from "Down in the Valley." The same can be said of Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag's and Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety's "Bird in a Cage" texts; it lacks the "Down in the Valley" stanza, but the other verses are common. - RBW
This song is often called "Birmingham Jail," particularly on early recordings; there is also, however, another song called "Birmingham Jail", which is part of the "Sweet Thing/Crawdad Hole" family, and no relation to this. - PJS
Last updated in version 6.7
File: R772

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