In the pines, Where the sun don’t ever shine, I would shiver the whole night through

These lyrics are most often associated with Nirvana’s Where Did You Sleep Last Night, recorded during their MTV unplugged session in 1993. While their version of the song is definitely the most popular, most people are unaware of the hundreds of other people who have sung the same if not similar variations of the lyrics over the last couple of centuries, with the oldest known recording created in 1917.

Dating back to 1870s Appalachia, In the pines was a folk song telling the story of a woman in the pines, whose husband was killed near the train tracks. Most variations mention “in the pines” “the longest train” “where the sun don’t shine” and “cold winds blow” with the singer talking to “my girl”, “little girl” or  “black girl”. Different themes shine through from version to version such as loss, infidelity, murder and loneliness with the girl sometimes murdering her husband and hiding in the woods, or her finding her husband decapitated by a train and being driven to insanity with grief. Over the centuries however, the key ideas have endured and remained at each version’s core with the pines always being the story’s backdrop, representing, according to Adia Victoria who released her version in 2022  “human suffering, engulfment, mischief, disorientation.”

It’s thought that over time In the pines merged with another song The Longest Train which is assumed to be where the mentions of the train came from. Variations that lean more into the  train element of the story often mention Georgia Line and Joe Brown’s coal mine, which likely references Joseph Brown, former governor of Georgia who famously leased convicts to work in coal mines in the 1870s. References such as these aren’t rare in murder ballads such as In the Pines, with many reporting the events of real life murder cases that took place. Tom Dooley’s lyrics; “Hang down your head Tom Dooley, Hang down your head and cry, Killed poor Laura Foster, You know you’re bound to die” were based on the 1866 case where Tom Dula murdered his pregnant lover.

The concept of murder ballads originated in the British Isles where the tradition stems all the way back to the 1500s. They often romanticized the murder of young women while subtly warning girls to lead “respectable” lives as a common theme of these songs was unwanted pregnancies out of wedlock. Upon their arrival in the United States however, murder ballads were soon integrated into Appalachian culture famous for its bluesgrass and jazz music. As a result, In the pines is a rich cultural blend of both anglo-celtic and african american influences. Over the years these lyrics have separated themselves from their bluegrass origins and have been incorporated into many different genres such as rock and pop, demonstrating the endurance of a compelling story over time and the blending of old and new music.