Like numerous other folk songs, "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" was passed on from one generation and locale to the next by word of mouth. The first printed version of the song, compiled by Cecil Sharp, appeared in 1917, and comprised just four lines and a melody. The lines are:
Black girl, black girl, don't lie to me
Where did you stay last night?
I stayed in the pines where the sun never shines
And shivered when the cold wind blows
In 1925, a version of the song was recorded onto phonograph cylinder by a folk collector. This was the first documentation of "The Longest Train" variant of the song. This variant include a stanza about "The longest train I ever saw". "The Longest Train" stanzas probably began as a separate song that later merged into "Where Did You Sleep Last Night". Lyrics in some versions about "Joe Brown's coal mine" and "the Georgia line" may date it to Joseph E. Brown, a former Governor of Georgia, who famously leased convicts to operate coal mines in the 1870s. While early renditions that mention that someone's "head was found in the driver's wheel" make clear that the train caused the decapitation, some later versions would drop the reference to the train and reattribute the cause. Music historian Norm Cohen, in his 1981 book "Long Steel Rail: The Railroad in American Folksong," states the song came to consist of three frequent elements: a chorus about "in the pines", a stanza about "the longest train" and a stanza about a decapitation, though not all elements are present in all versions.[1]
Starting the year following the 1925 recording, commercial recordings of the song were done by various folk and bluegrass bands. In a 1970 dissertation, Judith McCulloh found 160 permutations of the song. As well as rearrangement of the three frequent elements, the person who goes into the pines or who is decapitated has been described as a man, a woman, an adolescent, a wife, a husband or a parent, while the pines have represented sexuality, death or loneliness. The train has been described killing a loved one, as taking one's beloved away or as leaving an itinerant worker far from home.[1]
In variants in which the song describes a confrontation, the person being challenged is always a woman, and never a man. The Kossoy Sisters folk version asks, "Little girl, little girl, where'd you stay last night? Not even your mother knows." The reply to one version's "Where did you get that dress, and those shoes that are so fine?" is "from a man in the mines, who sleeps in the pines."[1] The theme of a woman who has been caught doing something she should not is thus also common to many variants. One variant, sang in the early twentieth century by the Ellison clan (Ora Ellison, deceased) in Lookout Mountain Georgia, told of the rape of a young Georgia girl, who fled to the pines in shame. Her rapist, a male soldier, was later beheaded by the train. Mrs. Ellison had stated that it was her belief that the song was from the time shortly after the U.S. Civil War.
Where Did You Sleep Last Night?
Nirvana Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Tell me where did you sleep last night?
In the pines, in the pines
Where the sun don't ever shine
I would shiver the whole night through
My girl, my girl, where will you go?
I'm going where the cold wind blows
Where the sun don't ever shine
I would shiver the whole night through
Her husband was a hard working man
Just about a mile from here
His head was found in a driving wheel
But his body never was found
My girl, my girl, don't lie to me
Tell me where did you sleep last night?
In the pines, in the pines
Where the sun don't ever shine
I would shiver the whole night through
My girl, my girl, where will you go?
I'm going where the cold wind blows
In the pines, in the pines
Where the sun don't ever shine
I would shiver the whole night through
My girl, my girl, don't lie to me
Tell me where did you sleep last night?
In the pines, in the pines
Where the sun don't ever shine
I would shiver the whole night through
My girl, my girl, where will you go
I'm going where the cold wind blows
In the pines, the pines
The sun don't shine
I'd shiver the whole night through
Thank you
The lyrics of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" are haunting and mysterious. The song is a traditional American folk song that has been covered by many artists, but Nirvana's version is among the most famous. The song is often regarded as a reference to infidelity, but the meaning of the lyrics is somewhat more complex.
The lines "My girl, my girl, don't lie to me / Tell me where did you sleep last night" suggest that the singer is questioning his partner's fidelity. He wants to know where she has been and who she has been with. The repetitive nature of the lyrics adds to the feeling of suspicion and anxiety. The fact that the singer is asking these questions in the middle of the night, when he is shivering and cold, creates a sense of urgency and desperation.
The line "In the pines, in the pines / Where the sun don't ever shine" suggests that the singer's partner has been somewhere dark and remote. The pines could refer to a wooded area, such as a forest or a mountain. The fact that the sun never shines there creates a sense of gloom and foreboding. The imagery of the cold wind blowing also reinforces the idea that the singer's partner has been somewhere inhospitable and uninviting.
Overall, "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" is a song about suspicion, mistrust, and the fear of betrayal. The lyrics are cryptic and open to interpretation, but they convey a sense of unease and tension that is palpable.
Line by Line Meaning
My girl, my girl, don't lie to me
The singer is demanding honesty from their partner.
Tell me where did you sleep last night
The singer is suspicious of their partner's recent whereabouts and wants to know where they have been.
In the pines, in the pines
The partner slept in a forested area.
Where the sun don't ever shine
The area where the partner slept is constantly shaded.
I would shiver the whole night through
The artist is implying that they would find it uncomfortable, even unbearable, to sleep in such a cold place.
My girl, my girl, where will you go
The singer asks where their partner is headed next.
I'm going where the cold wind blows
The partner is going where the weather is cold and unpleasant.
Her husband, was a hard working man
The partner's previous spouse was known for being industrious.
Just about a mile from here
The spouse's disappearance occurred very close to where the artist is currently located.
His head was found in a driving wheel
The spouse's head was discovered near a vehicle's steering wheel.
But his body never was found
The spouse's remains were never located, suggesting that they were either disposed of or never existed in the first place.
The sun, shine
This line is a slight variation of the previous refrain and breaks the pattern of describing a dark and foreboding setting.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Huddie Ledbetter
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@doesnotexist305
“Fuck you all this is the last song of the evening.”
Love that energy.
@jackrobinson3833
Kurt cobain in a nutshell
@Sofia-gy3mz
Ricky Gervais at the Golden Globes kind of energy
@carlneoh5843
Shitposter Kurt
@dontdoit6986
Comedic delivery. Everybody hates saying goodbye. He went around signing autographs after which was totally cool.
@siobhanwalsh6487
I love seeing that humour from him.
@shadiac182
"Leadbelly's guitar for 500,000 dollars"
Kurt, your guitar sold for a record 6 million dollars.
You never know kurt.
We miss you.
@spacematter3645
kurt they killed my friend no please come back
@REZNAP
$6 Million?!
@MisterTwitTwister
We ❤️ u, Kurt, and soon gonna join u too, the Rock Angel! 👼 😇 🤘