Song of the Day: Man of Constant Sorrow

We’re going way back this Monday morning with a tune almost everybody has heard, “Man of Constant Sorrow.” It’s from the great movie Oh Brother Where Art Thou and performed by the fictional band The Soggy Bottom Boys in the movie. The voices behind the famous fictional band are Dan Tyminski (lead vocals) and his bluegrass buddies from Nashville, Pat Enright and Harley Allen. The song itself goes all the way back to 1913 when it was published by Kentucky fiddler Dick Burnett. Many versions have since been recorded where lyrics and melodies have been altered, with the most popular one arguably from The Stanley Brothers in the 1950s. Bob Dylan even recorded a version of the song in the 60s. For fun, I have included the movie version, The Stanley Brothers version, and Bob Dylan's version for you to compare and see which one you like the best. I couldn’t find Dick Burnett’s original version, which was then titled, “Farewell Song.”

Garett