"In the Pines" (Roud 3421), also known as "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?", "My Girl", "Hey Girl", or "Black Girl", is a traditionalAmericanfolk song originating from two songs, "In the Pines" and "The Longest Train", both of whose authorship is unknown and date back to at least the 1870s. The songs originated in the SouthernAppalachian area of the United States in the contiguous areas of EastTennessee andKentucky, WesternNorth Carolina and NorthernGeorgia.^[1][2]

Versions of the song have been recorded by many artists in numerous genres, but it was most often associated with Americanbluegrass musicianBill Monroe and Americanblues musicianLead Belly, both of whom recorded a version of the song in the 1940s, before achieving wide fame with the grunge bandNirvana.^[3]

In 1964, a version of the song by Englishbeat music groupthe Four Pennies reached the top-twenty in the United Kingdom.^[4] A live rendition by Americangrunge bandNirvana, based on Lead Belly's interpretation, was recorded during theirMTV Unplugged performance in 1993, and released the following year on their platinum-selling album,MTV Unplugged in New York. The song was listed as "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?" on that album.^[5][6]

Some versions includes averse about "The longest train I ever saw". This verse probably began as a separate song that later merged into "In the Pines". Lyrics in some versions about "Joe Brown's coal mine" and "the Georgia line" may refer toJoseph E. Brown, a formerGovernor of Georgia, who famously leased convicts to operatecoal mines in the 1870s. While early renditions which mention the head in the "driver's wheel" make clear that thedecapitation was caused by the train, some later versions would omit the reference to the train and reattribute the cause. As music historian Norm Cohen pointed out in his 1981 book,Long Steel Rail: The Railroad in American Folksong, the song came to consist of three frequent elements: achorus about "in the pines", a verse about "the longest train" and a verse about a decapitation, but not all elements are present in all versions.^[7][8]

Starting in 1926, commercial recordings of the song were made by various country artists. In her 1970 Ph.D. dissertation,Judith McCulloh found 160 permutations of the song.^[9] As well as rearrangement of the three frequent elements, the person who goes into the pines, or who is decapitated, is described as a man, woman, adolescent, husband, wife, or parent, while the pines can be seen as representingsexuality,death, or loneliness. The train is described as killing a loved one, as taking one's beloved away, or as leaving an itinerant worker far from home.^[7]

The folk version by theKossoy Sisters asks, "Little girl, little girl, where'd you stay last night? Not even your mother knows." The reply to the question, "Where did you get that dress/ And those shoes that are so fine?" from one version is, "From a man in the mines/Who sleeps in the pines."^[7]

Bill Monroe's 1941 and 1952 recordings, both under the title "In the Pines", were highly influential on later bluegrass and country versions. Recorded with his Bluegrass Boys and featuringfiddles andyodelling, they represent the "longest train" variant of the song, and omit any reference to a decapitation. However, as Eric Weisbard writes in a 1994 article inThe New York Times, "...the enigmatic train is almost as frightening, suggesting an eternal passage: 'I asked my captain for the time of day/He said he throwed his watch away.'"^[7]

Due to the popularity ofLead Belly's versions, he is often erroneously cited as the song's author, such as byKurt Cobain, who introduced Nirvana's 1993MTV Unplugged rendition as being by his "favorite performer," then telling an anecdote about attempting to purchase Lead Belly's guitar. According to the AmericanfolkloristAlan Lomax, Lead Belly learned the song from an interpretation of the 1917 version compiled byCecil Sharp, and by the 1925 phonograph recording.^[7]

The country duoThe Louvin Brothers recorded "In the Pines" for their debut album,Tragic Songs of Life, from 1956.^[10]

On her debut album,Norma Tanega recorded a version entitled "Hey Girl" (1966).

"Where Did You Sleep Last Night"
Promotional single byNirvana
from the albumMTV Unplugged in New York
Released	1995
Recorded	November 18, 1993
Studio	Sony Music Studios in New York City
Genre	Alternative rock,blues rock
Length	5:08
Label	DGC Records
Songwriter	Anon
Producers	Alex Coletti,Scott Litt, Nirvana
Nirvana singles chronology
"The Man Who Sold the World" (1995) "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" (1995) "Lake of Fire" (1995)
MTV Unplugged in New York track listing
13 tracks "About a Girl" "Come as You Are" "Jesus Doesn't Want Me for a Sunbeam" "The Man Who Sold the World" "Pennyroyal Tea" "Dumb" "Polly" "On a Plain" "Something in the Way" "Plateau" "Oh, Me" "Lake of Fire" "All Apologies" "Where Did You Sleep Last Night"

Kurt Cobain ofNirvana played guitar on the version that appears onMark Lanegan's 1990 albumThe Winding Sheet. It is likely that Cobain drew from Lead Belly's 1944 Musicraft version for his interpretation of the song; Lanegan owned an original 78 rpm record of this version,^[7] and it is the one that Cobain's version most closely resembles in terms of form, title and lyrics, including the "Shiver for me" interjection before the instrumental verse. In a 2009MTV article,Kurt Loder remembers discussing the song's title with Cobain, with Cobain insisting, "But the Leadbelly version is called 'Where Did You Sleep Last Night,'" and Loder preferring the "In the Pines" title used by Bill Monroe (as well as Lead Belly).^[11]

The first officially released version by Nirvana was recorded during the band'sMTV Unplugged appearance, on November 18, 1993, atSony Music Studios in New York City. This version was originally sanctioned to be released, under the title "Where Did You Sleep Last Night (In the Pines)," as ab-side to the band's "Pennyroyal Tea" single in 1994, but the single was cancelled following Cobain's death in April 1994. It was insteadposthumously released as simply "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" on the band'sMTV Unplugged in New York album in November 1994, and as apromotional single from the album,^[12] receiving some airplay on US rock and alternative radio in 1994–95.^[13][14] The song also received some airplay in Belgium and France,^[15] as well as in Australia and Iceland.^[16][17]

Nirvana'sMTV Unplugged version of the song has earned Cobain acclaim from critics and other musicians and artists. In 1994, American poetAllen Ginsberg recalled that "a couple weeks ago, one of my students gave me a mixed tape of Kurt Cobain and there was a version of 'Black Girl' of great artistry. Great vocal control and subtlety, it's almost as good as Leadbelly's."^[18] Canadian musicianNeil Young described Cobain's vocals during the final screamed verse as "unearthly, like a werewolf, unbelievable."^[19] In 2013, Andrew Wallace Chamings ofThe Atlantic wrote that "it ranks among the greatest single rock performances of all time."^[19] The show's producer,Alex Coletti, recalled Cobain declining his suggestion to perform an encore after "Where Did You Sleep Last Night," which was the final song of the set, telling him that "I don’t think we can top the last song," at which point Coletti relented.^[20]

• King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band recordedWhere Did You Stay Last Night? in 1923, the b-side to "Dippermouth Blues".^[24]
• Dock Walsh recordedIn the Pines for Columbia Records in 1926.
• Arthur Smith & His Dixie Liners released their version of "In the Pines" in 1938.
• TheKossoy Sisters recorded the song on their 1956 albumBowling Green and Other Folk Songs From the Southern Mountains.
• Joan Baez's version appears on the live albumVery Early Joan Baez (1982) that was originally recorded between 1961 and 1963.
• The New Christy Minstrels (1962) included a version on their debut albumPresenting the New Christy Minstrels.
• The Kentucky Colonels recorded their version, performed live at the 1964Newport Folk Festival, on their albumLong Journey Home.
• Marianne Faithfull recorded the song on her 1965 albumsCome my Way andThe Collection.
• Roscoe Holcomb recorded the song on his 1965 albumThe High Lonesome Sound.
• Norma Tanega recorded a version under the title "Hey Girl" on her 1966 albumWalkin' My Cat Named Dog.^[25]
• Fred Neil's 1967 song "Merry Go Round" is loosely based on the traditional song.^[26]
• Long John Baldry's version appears on his 1971 albumIt Ain't Easy.
• Frank Sinatra Jr. recorded a version of the song, titled "Black Night", on his 1971 albumSpice.
• Dolly Parton's version appears on her 1994 albumHeartsongs: Live from Home.^[7]
• Anna Domino (as Snakefarm) recorded a version on the 1999 albumSongs From My Funeral.
• Carl Rutherford recorded a version on his 2001 album,Turn Off the Fear.^[27]
• Bill Callahan (as Smog) recorded a version on his 2005 albumA River Ain't Too Much to Love.
• Martin Simpson recorded a version titled "In the Pines" on his 2011 albumPurpose + Grace.
• Laura Gibson's version appears as a B-side on her single 2012La Grande.^[28]
• Kid Cudi andDot da Genius, collectively known asWZRD, recorded a rendition of the song for their 2012self-titled debut album.^[29]
• Fantastic Negrito recorded his rendition of the song for his 2016 album,The Last Days of Oakland.
• Jake Blount's version appears on his 2020 debut solo album,Spider Tales.
• Danielle Balbuena, also known as070 Shake, recorded a version of the song for her 2020 debut album,Modus Vivendi.
• Khemmis recorded a version in 2021, which appears on their 2023 mini-EP "Where the Cold Wind Blows".
• The Curse of K.K. Hammond self-released her version as a non-album single titled "In The Pines" in 2021.^[30]
• Loretta Lynn's version appears on the 2016 albumFull Circle.
• Sleigh Bells recorded a version in 2019 as a stand-alone single.^[31]

• In 2007, Czech-American writer-singerNatálie Kocábová used astrophe of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" for the opening of hernovellaRůže: Cesta za světlem... ("Rose: A Way to the Light").^[32]
• "Shiver in the Pines" is the basis of a short story of the same name byManly Wade Wellman, originally published in February 1955. The story is part of theJohn the Balladeer series.

Since 2019, several different covers of “Where Did You Sleep Last Night” have been featured on the podcastOld Gods of Appalachia.

• A rendition byJared Emerson-Johnson andJanel Drewis is played during the closing credits ofThe Walking Dead: Season Two - Episode 2: A House Divided released in 2014.^[33] It is reprised in the fourth and final season of the game series.
• A version of the song, as of yet unidentified, can be found playing in certain parts of the Ubisoft video gameFar Cry 5, released on March 27, 2018.^[34]

• InThe Defenders, an instrumental version ofNirvana's cover of the song plays in the cold open of episode 7, "Fish in the Jailhouse"
• InBlindspotting (2018), a version byFantastic Negrito plays during the protagonist Collin's first day out of probation.^[35]
• Another version appears in the fashion brandDiesel’s 2020 TV commercial,Francesca, directed by Francois Rousselet. The story follows the journey of a young Italian student, assigned male at birth (played bytransgender model Harlow Monroe), who transitions into a woman and ultimately becomes aChristian nun.^[36]
• The movieGirl ends with "The Pines" playing during the credits.
• A version byBrian Reitzell appears in the TV seriesAmerican Gods.
• A version by Wanda Davis appears in episode 8 of season 1 of the TV seriesBad Sisters.
• A portion of the Nirvana Unplugged recording is played in theBBC drama serialHappy Valley, series 3 episode 4.
• In the filmCoal Miner's Daughter,Sissy Spacek asLoretta Lynn sings the song while taking a walk through the woods ofButcher Hollow, Kentucky before being interrupted by a gunshot from nearby hunters.
• An uncredited version is used as a theme tune for some episodes of Finnish thriller A Good Family^[37]
• TheSleigh Bells version was used inThe Penguin episode "A Great or Little Thing".
• TheNetflixlimited series,Wayward heavily features several renditions.^[38]

• List of train songs

EnglishWikisource has original text related to this article:

Where Did You Sleep Last Night

• 1870s songs
• Appalachian folk songs
• Lead Belly songs
• Live singles
• Nirvana (band) songs
• Songs about trains

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