I don't ask for much in life but an ability to sing is a wish that I'll never have granted. I'm not even asking for a killer voice, just one that can hold a note so that I can sing in the shower without scaring the neighbours into locking their pets away for safety. And if I could pick just one tune to be able to sing then 'Down In The Valley' would probably be it. It's an old folk classic with the best known adaptation coming from Leadbelly who re-wrote a few lines to take account of his own prison experiences. Folk historian, civil rights activist and all round good egg Pete Seegers sings the Leadbelly version here with an even more stripped down performance, his guitar picking rising above a loud whisper only at the end of the tune. Beautiful.
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