Show #98: Black is the Color: Unusual Song, Interesting History

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Rhiannon Giddens’ reimagines the classic, “Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair,” on her solo debut, Tomorrow is My Turn.

Singer Rhiannon Giddens, a member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, a group specializing in old-timey music, just released her first solo album. On it is her amended cover of a well-known classic that goes way back in time, “Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair.” Giddens new version is uptempo, feel-good, and infectious. Her solo debut is auspicious; she is a fabulous singer with a bright future ahead of her.

<!-- missing image http://blogs.kcrw.com/music/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/English-Folk-Songs-From-the-Southern-Appalachians-210x300.jpg -->Hearing “Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair” again reminds me of its colorful history. Most of us are familiar with fellow North Carolinian Nina Simone’s soulful 1964 rendition. As one of her most popular standards, the song has been associated with Nina ever since. However, this timeless classic has an intriguing history that can actually be traced much further back.

Famed folklorist and musicologist, the late Alan Lomax, attributes “Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair” to Scottish origin, sometime during the 19th century. There’s a line in the original version of the song: “I go to the Clyde to mourn and weep / But satisfied I could never sleep,” referring to the River Clyde in Scotland. The folk tune made its way across the Atlantic, probably in the company of Scottish immigrants, many of whom settled in North Carolina and Appalachian America. The song was first collected by English folk music archivist, Cecil Sharp, who notated and recorded it during a 1916 trip to North Carolina, which he then published in his English Folk Songs of the Southern Appalachians (1917).

John Jacob Niles’ variation of “Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair,” which rooted itself in the traditional American folk music canon. At his father’s request, Niles adapted the lyrics, which he set to a new melody, featured in his 1941 album, John Jacob Niles Sings American Folk Songs, and it’s his version that has inspired countless artists since.

Still, the most famous version of them all, is Nina Simone’s 1964 classic recording for the Philips label. In covering this timeless standard, successive artists have shifted the song’s point of view back-and-forth to tell their own personal story, and, therein lies the beauty of “Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair”:  female vocalists sing this ballad to their men; the men dedicate it to their enamoradas.

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Other versions include an adaptation by Italian composer Luciano Berio, sung by soprano Cathy Berberian in a suite called Folk Songs, released by RCA in 1972. I’ve also decided to feature three other early versions of the song: a 1962 recording by Karen James; and an a cappella one by the late Pete Seeger. Both James and Seeger were part of the folk revival of the 1950–60s.

418+FzAD95L._AA160_Next we have an overdubbed choral version by Peter Hollens, an artist I just discovered while researching this post. I also came across a version by The Hi-Lo’s, an all-male a cappella quartet, who do a nice four-part harmony in their rendition of “Black is…,” (The Hi-Lo’s were a big influence on Herbie Hancock.) We’ll also listen to Baez herself singing a cover from the folk revival movement of the early 1960s.

Finally, let’s end with another choral version of “Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair” by the wonderful Dale Warland Singers, a group I featured over the years that I love. Anyhow, with so many other versions of this American standard, I’m curious to know what your favorite version is!

Rhythm Planet Playlist for 03/13/15

  1. John Jacob Niles / “Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair” / An Evening with John Jacob Niles: The Tradition Years / Empire Music Works
  2. Nina Simone / “Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair” / Jazz Masters 17: Nina Simone / Verve/Polygram Records
  3. Luciano Berio & Cathy Beberian / “Black is the Color” / Folk Songs / RCA
  4. Peter Hollens / “Black is the Color”Peter Hollens / Portrait/Sony Masterworks
  5. Pete Seeger / “Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair” / American Favorite Ballads / Smithsonian Folkways
  6. Rhiannon Giddens / “Black is the Color” / Tomorrow is My Turn / Nonesuch
  7. Karen James / “But Black is the Color—Black is the Colour”Through Streets Broad & Narrow, Vol. 2 / Smithsonian Folkways Records
  8. The Hi-Lo’s / “Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair” / The Hi-Lo’s Happen to Bossanova & Folk Songs / Reprise
  9. Joan Baez / “Black is the Color” / Rare Live & Classic / Vanguard Years
  10. The Dale Warland Singers / “Black is the Color”Blue Wheat: A Harvest of American Folk Songs / American Choral Classics

Nina Simone’s “Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair”—Lyrics

Black is the color of my true love’s hair / His face so soft and wondrous fair / The purest eyes /
And the strongest hands / I love the ground on where he stands / I love the ground on where he stands / Black is the color of my true love’s hair / Of my true love’s hair / Of my true love’s hair /
Oh, I love my lover / And well he knows / Yes, I love the ground on where he goes / And still I hope /
That the time will come / When he and I will be as one / When he and I will be as one / So black is the color of my true love’s hair / Black is the color of my true love’s hair / Black is the color of my true love’s hair

A lovely version of Peter Hollens and Avi Kaplan doing an a cappella choral version with overdubbed parts.

The incomparable Nina Simone, performing the song on a Russian piano.

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