Movie Music Monday – I’m A Man of Constant Sorrow

Actor George Clooney turns 63 today. While he is known for some TV work (ER, The Facts of Life, Roseanne, and Downton Abbey), he has also made quite a name for himself in the movies. His films include Hail Caesar, Catch 22, Leatherheads, The Thin Red Line, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Monuments Men, The Perfect Storm and Ocean’s Eleven (and the sequels).

For Movie Music Monday, I chose a cut from his film O Brother, Where Art Thou? The film is set in 1937 in Mississippi and Clooney plays one of three convicts who escape from a chain gang and are looking for treasure. They are naturally pursued by law enforcement and are on the run.

In their travels, they come across a young man who says he has “sold his soul to the devil” so that he could play guitar. The four men (who need some money) stop at a radio station and record a song as “The Soggy Bottom Boys.” Little do they know, the record becomes a HUGE hit. The song – I’m a Man of Constant Sorrow.

Origins of the song vary but it seems that it was first published in 1913 and it was called “The Farewell Song.” It is credited to writer Dick Burnett, however, even he wasn’t sure he did. In an 1973 interview he was asked:

“What about this “Farewell Song” – ‘I am a man of constant sorrow’ – did you write it?” To which he replied, “No, I think I got the ballad from somebody – I dunno. It may be my song …”

The Stanley Brothers recorded it in 1950, and Ralph Stanley said this about the song’s origin: “Man of Constant Sorrow” is probably two or three hundred years old. But the first time I heard it when I was y’know, like a small boy, my daddy – my father – he had some of the words to it, and I heard him sing it, and we – my brother and me – we put a few more words to it, and brought it back in existence. I guess if it hadn’t been for that it’d have been gone forever. I’m proud to be the one that brought that song back, because I think it’s wonderful.

In 2001, radio stations began to get requests for the bluegrass song and it didn’t take long for the Mercury Nashville label to send it out as a single. Stations were divided on whether to play the song because of its “old” sound. I was on a country station at the time and I remember when we added it to the playlist. Did it stick out when it played? It sure did. Did we get countless requests for it? We sure did? It was an unexpected hit.

Of course, some folks really believed that George Clooney sang the lead on the song, which is just not true. The lead vocals were sung by Dan Tyminski, who was actually a member of Union Station (Alison Krauss’s band).

The song received a CMA Award for “Single of the Year” in 2001 and even won a Grammy for “Best Country Collaboration with Vocals” in 2002. The song was also named Song of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association in 2001. It peaked at No. 35 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.

Man of Constant Sorrow

I am a man of constant sorrow
I’ve seen trouble all my days
I bid farewell to old Kentucky
The place where I was borned and raised
(The place where he was borned and raised)

For six long years I’ve been in trouble
No pleasure here on earth I find
For in this world I’m bound to ramble
I have no friends to help me now
(He has no friends to help him now)

It’s fare thee well my own true lover
I never expect to see you again
For I’m bound to ride that northern railroad
Perhaps I’ll die upon this train
(Perhaps he’ll die upon this train)

You can bury me in some deep valley
For many years where I may lay
Then you may learn to love another
While I am sleeping in my grave
(While he is sleeping in his grave)

Maybe your friends think I’m just a stranger
My face you’ll never will see no more
But there is one promise that is given
I’ll meet you on God’s golden shore
(He’ll meet you on God’s golden shore)