Lonesome Road

DESCRIPTION: "Look down (x2) that lonesome road, Hang down your head and sigh. The best of friends must part some day, And why not you and I? (x2)." "I wish to God that I had died... Before I had seen your smilin' face." Singer may be in prison, having ignored mother
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c. 1923 (AbbotSwan)
KEYWORDS: courting betrayal lie floatingverses lyric prison loneliness lover
FOUND IN: US(MW,SE)
REFERENCES (13 citations):
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 292, "Lonesome Road" (2 texts); also 306, "By By, My Honey" (1 text, mostly "Who Will Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot" though with several floating verses, including one from this song)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 292, "Lonesome Road" (1 tune plus a text excerpt)
McNeil-SouthernMountainFolksong, pp. 67-71, "Look Up, Look Down That Lonesome Road" (1 text plus an excerpt, 1 tune)
Scarborough-OnTheTrailOfNegroFolkSongs, p. 73, "The Lonesome Road" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Gentry/Smith-ASingerAmongSingers, #53, "How Hard It Is to Love" (1 fragment, 1 tune, which could be almost anything; I file it here because Roud does)
Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag, pp. 322-323, "Lonesome Road" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Lomax/Lomax-OurSingingCountry, pp. 146-147, "Long Lonesome Road" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax/Lomax-OurSingingCountry, p. 404, "Look Down that Lonesome Road" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FolkSongsOfNorthAmerica 308, "Hattie Belle" (1 text, 1 tune)
Abbot/Swan-8Negro 7, "Dat Lonesome Road" (1 text, 1 tune)
Courlander-NegroFolkMusic, p. 273, "Look Down" (1 tune, partial text, placed here on the basis of the first line)
Brumley-LamplitinTimeInTheValley 10, "That Lonesome Road" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fireside-Book-of-Folk-Songs, p. 115, "Lonesome Road" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #824
RECORDINGS:
Luther B. Clark [or Blue Ridge Highballers], "Wish to the Lord I Had Never Been Born" (Columbia 15096-D, 1926) [note: tentative identification; I have not heard the recording]
Gaither Carlton, "Look Down That Lonesome Road" (on ClassOT)
Delmore Brothers "Look Up, Look Down That Lonesome Road" (Bluebird B-7383, 1938)
J. Paul Miles, "County Jail" (on AFS, pre-1940)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Long Lonesome Road" (on NLCR06)
Kilby Reeves, "County Jail" (on Persis1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "More Pretty Girls than One" (tune)
cf. "Lonesome Stream"
cf. "Old Alec Brown" (lyrics)
cf. "In the Pines" (lyrics)
NOTES [19 words]: Not to be confused with the (non-traditional) blues by Will Nash, "Goin' Down that Long Long Lonesome Road." - RBW
Last updated in version 6.4
File: San322

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography