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Dark as a Dungeon

"Dark as a Dungeon" is a song written by singer-songwriter Merle Travis. It is a lament about the danger and drudgery of being a coal miner in a shaft mine. It has become a rallying song among miners seeking improved working conditions.

For the episode of Justified, see Dark As a Dungeon (Justified).

"Dark as a Dungeon"

1946 (1946)

Country, folk

Merle Travis

The song achieved much of its fame when it was performed by Johnny Cash in his Folsom Prison concert (At Folsom Prison). During this live performance, one of the prisoners in the background was laughing, and Cash started to chuckle. He gently admonished the man, "No laughing during the song, please!" The man yelled something about "Hell!" and Cash answered, "I know, 'hell'!" When he finished the song, Cash made a comment that was largely repeated, somewhat out of context, by Joaquin Phoenix in the 2005 film Walk the Line: "I just wanted to tell you that this show is being recorded for an album released on Columbia Records, so you can't say 'hell' or 'shit' or anything like that."[1]

on Folk Songs of the Hills, 1946

Merle Travis

1950

Maddox Brothers and Rose

Early 1950s

Cisco Houston

(1955)

Tennessee Ernie Ford

on "The Many Moods of Belafonte" (1962)

Harry Belafonte

and Terry Whelan on Two Tones at the Village Corner, 1962

Gordon Lightfoot

1963

Grandpa Jones

1963

The Big 3

studio version as the b-side of "Understand Your Man" single (1964)

Johnny Cash

on "Foggy Dew" -as "Down in the Mines" (1965)

Wolfe Tones

on "In Concert" (1966)

The Twiliters

Johnny Cash, live version on "" (1968)

At Folsom Prison

with The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on Will the Circle Be Unbroken (1972)

Merle Travis

on The Garden Of Love

Peter Grudzien

on 9 to 5 and Odd Jobs (1980)

Dolly Parton

on Together Again (1980)

The Weavers

on In our Liverpool Home as "Lure of the Mines" (1983)

The Spinners

1985

Patrick Sky

on Seven Days in Sammystown (1985)

Wall of Voodoo

with Charlie Waller on 15th Anniversary Celebration (1988)

The Seldom Scene

on Tyranny and the Hired Hand (1989)

Frank Tovey

on Sonny (1992)

Souled American

duet with Guy Clark, on Friends of Mine (1998)

Ramblin' Jack Elliott

with Vince Gill on Down the Old Plank Road: The Nashville Sessions (2002)

The Chieftains

Marley's Ghost on Ghost Country (1996)

2005 [2]

Queens of the Stone Age

(recording as Sparklehorse) MOJO Magazine Tribute CD to Johnny Cash (2006)

Mark Linkous

on Sings Murder Ballads and Disaster Songs (2008)

Charlie Louvin

on Coal (2008)

Kathy Mattea

on Country Music (2010)

Willie Nelson

on the Lee C. Camp & Friends specialty album, Tokens 9: "Back to Green" (2010) [3]

Amy Grant

1950

Maddox Brothers and Rose

of The Mountain Goats on The Front Porch Sessions (The Front Porch Festival, 2012)

John Darnielle

recorded a version of Dark as a dungeon in 1998 on the Your excuse EP

Slobberbone

The Journeymen on Coming Attraction - Live (1962)

on "songs from the mud" (2004)

Brock Zeman

The Rebel on Krot (2014)

Fret! on the "Killing Nico EP" (2016)

(2000) Self-titled CD for Sugar Hill Records

John Cowan

(2017)[4]

John Mellencamp

Heather Pierson Acoustic Trio (2017) on Singin'

on the archival release The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Live Recordings

Bob Dylan

on the archival release Joni Mitchell Archives – Vol. 1: The Early Years (1963–1967) (2020)

Joni Mitchell

Being a well-documented song publicised by ,[5] and Mainly Norfolk,[6] the song was recorded by Jon Boden and Oli Steadman for inclusion in their respective projects A Folk Song A Day and 365 Days Of Folk.[7]

EFDSS

page 145

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