'Long Black Veil' - The Chieftains featuring Mick Jagger

"Long Black Veil" is a 1959 country ballad, written by Danny Dill and Marijohn Wilkin and originally recorded by Lefty Frizzell. A saga song, "Long Black Veil" 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 gravesite, wearing a long black veil and enduring a wailing wind. Ten years ago on a cold dark night there was Someone killed 'neath the town hall lights There were few at the scene, but they all agreed That the slayer who ran, looked a lot like me Now she walks these hills, in a long black veil She visits my grave, when the cold winds wail Nobody knows, nobody sees Nobody knows, but me The scaffold is high, and eternity's near She stood in the crowd, and shed not a tear But some times at night, when the cold wind moans In a long black veil, she cries over my bones Now she walks these hills, in a long black veil She visits my grave, when the night winds wail Nobody knows, nobody sees Nobody knows, but 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 I'd been in the arms of my best friends wife Now she walks these hills, in a long black veil She visits my grave, when the night winds wail Nobody knows, nobody sees Nobody knows, but me Nobody knows, nobody sees Nobody knows, but me