The Drunkard's Hell
First recording and first release by Vernon Dalhart (December 11, 1925 / 1926)
- Written by
- [Traditional]
- Language
- English
- Tags
- public domain
- Comments
-
This traditonal song goes by various names including "Drunkard's Hell", "Drunkard's Doom" or "Drunkard's Dream" and generally begins "It was on a dark and stormy night....". It is more familiarly known as "Drunkard's Doom" after the Louvin Brothers 1960 performance on their landmark album Satan Is Real. The actual songwriters are unknown. "The Drunkard's Hell" was published in John A. Lomax's 1910 book Cowboy Ballads, and Other Frontier Songs, P. 395. Vernon Dalhart's 1925 release credited Knoles - Jeffries - Jenkins (Jenkins is probably the Rev. Jenkins credited on the flip-side Kinnie Wagner). Most of the ensuing performances usually credited themselves or traditional since it was in the public domain.
As stated above this song can be named "Drunkard's Dream". There is another work on SHS called The Drunkard's Dream that has performances from the 1920s that begin "Oh don't you look much better now your clothes are neat and clean.."
There is another similarly themed song first recorded in 1928 by Ted Chesnut called The Drunkard's Doom that is typically known as I Saw a Man at the Close of Day after Grayson & Whitter's 1929 recording. - Licensing
- Request a synchronization license