Pop Song 179 'Man of Constant Sorrow' Dick Burnett 1913

Pop Song 179 'Man of Constant Sorrow' Dick Burnett 1913

Public interest in the song was renewed after the release of the 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, where it plays a central role in the plot, earning the three runaway protagonists public recognition as the Soggy Bottom Boys. The song, with lead vocal by Dan Tyminski, was featured on the film's highly successful, multiple-platinum-selling soundtrack. That recording won a Grammy for Best Country Collaboration at the 44th Annual Grammy Awards in 2002.

The song was first published in 1913 with the title "Farewell Song" in a six-song songbook by Dick Burnett, titled Songs Sung by R. D. Burnett—The Blind Man—Monticello, Kentucky. There exists some uncertainty as to whether Dick Burnett is the original writer. In an interview he gave toward the end of his life, he was asked about the song:

Charles Wolfe: "What about this "Farewell Song" – 'I am a man of constant sorrow' – did you write it?" Richard Burnett: "No, I think I got the ballad from somebody – I dunno. It may be my song

A number of similar songs were found in Kentucky and Virginia in the early 20th century. English folk song collector Cecil Sharp collected four versions of the song in 1917–1918 as "In Old Virginny", which were published in 1932 in English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians.The lyrics were different in details from Burnett's but similar in tone. In a version from 1918 by Mrs Frances Richards, who probably learned it from her father, the first verse is nearly identical to Burnett's & Arthur's lyrics, with minor changes like Virginia substituting for Kentucky