“In the Pines” is a traditional American folk song with deeply tangled origins. The song as it survives today descends from at least two distinct older songs — “In the Pines” and “The Longest Train” — both with unknown authors and both dating to at least the 1870s. The songs originated in the southern Appalachians, in the contiguous regions of east Tennessee, eastern Kentucky, western North Carolina, and northern Georgia.
By the 20th century the song’s modern form had branched into two distinct lineages, both recorded in the 1940s: Bill Monroe’s bluegrass version (recorded 1941 and 1952), framed as a tender high-lonesome song about a mysterious train and a heartbreak; and Lead Belly’s stark blues-folk version, often titled “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” or “Black Girl,” framed as a bleak murder-ballad treatment emphasizing isolation and death. Lead Belly is sometimes erroneously cited as the song’s author; he was a transmitter, not the originator.
Other titles in the family include “My Girl” and “Hey Girl.” The song reached its widest contemporary audience through Nirvana’s 1993 MTV Unplugged performance of the Lead Belly version, which has shaped the song’s popular reception since. In bluegrass settings the Monroe lineage prevails; in folk and rock settings the Lead Belly lineage tends to dominate.
