# Please help me identify this song

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-song/541206>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [May 29, 2010, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-song/541206 "2010-05-29T17:24:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![History\_Monk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/67e7ee/32.png) [@History\_Monk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/History_Monk)\
**Post date:** [May 29, 2010, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-song/541206/1 "2010-05-29T17:24:59Z")

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This is probably too little to guess from, but still…I heard it at a local bluegrass jam session, and I remember the chorus (sort of).

“I was standing by that river, that cold dark river, and I heard a lonesome voice calling me/Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on.”

So far my Google-fu has failed me. The tune is hard to describe, but it’s sort of haunting, and the notes have that pulled-out sound that some mournful Bluegrass songs have. Any Dopers ever heard it?

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**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\
**Post date:** [May 29, 2010, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-song/541206/2 "2010-05-29T17:44:54Z")

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[“Cold Dark River”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y-1Kb6uxk8) by Minnie Driver?

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**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\
**Post date:** [May 29, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-song/541206/3 "2010-05-29T17:49:39Z")

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Well, since the words “lonesome” and “river” both appear in about 40% of all bluegrass tunes, I’m gonna suggest you get in touch with the people who put on the jam and ask them. I mean, someone organized it, right?

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**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\
**Post date:** [May 29, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-song/541206/4 "2010-05-29T18:12:33Z")

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> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#):
>
> [“Cold Dark River”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y-1Kb6uxk8) by Minnie Driver?

Wow, I don’t think I knew she sang. She sounds a lot (in voice and in style) like Natalie Merchant.

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**Author:** ![History\_Monk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/67e7ee/32.png) [@History\_Monk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/History_Monk)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-song/541206/5 "2010-05-30T04:33:38Z")

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That’s not the one, but thanks anyway. Maybe the singer remembers. (More like 50%, I’d say. :p)

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**Author:** ![banjoDavid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3d9bf3/32.png) [@banjoDavid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/banjoDavid)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-song/541206/6 "2010-05-30T16:42:35Z")

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Odetta used to sing a gospel song “Hold On”

“Paul and Silas locked in jail, had no one to go their bail  
Keep your hand on the plow, Hold On”

Maybe a variation of that?

David