The Long Black Veil
Verse 1
Ten years ago on a cold dark nightSomeone was killed 'neath the town hall lightThere were few at the scene but they all agreedThat the slayer who ran looked a lot like meChorus
She walks these hills in a long black veilShe visits my grave when the night winds wailNobody knows, nobody seesNobody knows but meVerse 2
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 lifeFor I'd been in the arms of my best friend's wifeVerse 3
Now the scaffold is high, and eternity's nearShe stood in the crowd but she shed not a tearBut some times at night when the cold wind moansIn a long black veil, she cries o'er my bonesChorus
She walks these hills in a long black veilShe visits my grave when the night winds wailNobody knows, nobody seesNobody knows but meOutro
Nobody knows, nobody seesNobody knows but meWhat the song means
The song is told by a man facing execution for a murder he did not commit. Ten years earlier someone was killed under a town hall light, and the witnesses believed the fleeing killer looked like the narrator. When the judge asks for an alibi, he refuses to speak, because the only proof of where he was would be his affair with his best friend's wife. He chooses death rather than expose her and his friend.
The mood moves from the cold, bitter injustice of the courtroom to the quiet sorrow of the grave. In the last verse the scaffold is near, and the woman in the crowd shows no emotion in public. Later, at night, she mourns him while walking the hills. The black veil is the key image: it traditionally signals mourning, but it also suggests secrecy, since she hides both her grief and her guilt. The refrain, which insists that nobody knows the truth but him, emphasizes his isolation, because the truth dies with him and is shared only with the woman he protects. The wind wailing over his grave stands for the grief that the world never sees.
Key phrases explained
- 'neath the town hall light
- under the town hall's light — the setting of the crime, a public place lit at night
- slayer
- killer, murderer — a formal, old-fashioned word for the person who committed the murder
- long black veil
- a symbol of mourning and secrecy — the central image: a traditional sign of grief that also hides her feelings
- alibi
- proof of being elsewhere — the judge asks for it, and his silence keeps the affair secret
- shed not a tear
- did not cry — she hides her emotions in public, showing her restraint and guilt
- cries o'er my bones
- weeps over my remains — her private grief after his execution, shown through the image of his bones
Song info
- Release date
- 1965-02-01
- Album
- Orange Blossom Special
- Written by
- Marijohn Wilkin, Danny Dill
- Produced by
- Frank Jones, Don Law
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