Lefty Frizell - Long Black Veil

First performance: 26/04/2006

Coverinfo

Bruce covered this song all during the Seeger Sessions Tour. Matt Orel wrote in the issue #86 (Spring 2007) of Backstreets magazine that 'Long black veil' was considered for inclusion on the American Land Edition of the We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions album.

Seeger Sessions Tour Rehearsals :
In preparation for The Seeger Sessions Tour, Long black veil was performed during one of the tour's four public warm-up rehearsal shows that took place in April 2006 in Asbury Park. The song is also known to have been practiced during at least one of the private rehearsals that took place in Mar-Apr 2006 in Asbury Park prior to the tour's first leg, and during at least one of the private rehearsals that took place in September 2006 in Asbury Park prior to the tour's second European leg.
 
 
 
Bruce covered the song 10 times:

2006-03-21- PARAMOUNT THEATER , ASBURY PARK
private rehearsal: Final public rehearsal show for the upcoming tour. A stunning version of "Long Black Veil" opens and "The Daring Young Man On The Flying Trapeze" closes the set, both in their first ever Springsteen performances.

2006-09-20- PARAMOUNT THEATER , ASBURY PARK
private rehearsal: Tour rehearsals with The Sessions Band. "Long Black Veil" was run through multiple times. 

2006-05-08 - HAMMERSMITH APOLLO, LONDON, ENGLAND
First tour performance and European debut of "Long Black Veil". 
 
2006-05-17 - FESTHALLE, FRANKFURT, GERMANY
2006-05-21 - HOVET, STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
2006-06-11 - XCEL ENERGY CENTER, ST. PAUL
2006-06-13 - FIRST MIDWEST BANK AMPHITHEATER, TINLEY PARK, IL
2006-06-20 - TWEETER CENTER AT THE WATERFRONT, CAMDEN, NJ
2006-06-25 - PNC BANK ARTS CENTER, HOLMDEL, NJ
2006-10-10 - PALALOTTOMATICA, ROME, ITALY
 

Songinfo

"Long Black Veil" is a 1959 country ballad, written by Danny Dill and Marijohn Wilkin and originally recorded by Lefty Frizzell. It is told from the point of view of an executed man falsely accused of murder. He refuses to provide an alibi, since on the night of the murder he was having an affair with his best friend's wife, and would rather die and take their secret to his grave than admit the truth. The chorus describes the woman's mourning visits to his grave site, wearing a long black veil and enduring a wailing wind. The writers later stated that they drew on three sources for their inspiration: Red Foley's recording of "God Walks These Hills With Me", a contemporary newspaper report about the unsolved murder of a priest, and the legend of a mysterious veiled woman who regularly visited Rudolph Valentino's grave. Dill himself called it an "instant folksong."
 
 
 

Bruce on the artist

Lyrics

Ten years ago on a cold dark night
There was someone killed 'neath the town hall light
There were few at the scene but they all agreed
That the slayer who ran looked a lot like me

The judge said son what is your alibi
If you were somewhere else then you won't have to die
I spoke not a word though it meant my life
For I had been in the arms of my best friend's wife

She walks these hills in a long black veil
She visits my grave where the night winds wail
Nobody knows, nobody sees
Nobody knows but me

The scaffold was high and eternity near
She stood in the crowd and shed not a tear
But sometimes at night when the cold wind moans
In a long black veil she cries on my bones

She walks these hills in a long black veil
She visits my grave where the night winds wail
Nobody knows, nobody sees
Nobody knows but me
Nobody knows but me
Nobody knows but me