"Dink's Song" (sometimes known as "Fare Thee Well") is an American folk song played by many folk revival musicians such as Pete Seeger, Fred Neil, Bob Dylan and Dave Van Ronk, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, and Cisco Houston as well as more recent musicians like Jeff Buckley. The song tells the story of a woman deserted by her lover when she needs him the most. History The first historical record of the song was by ethnomusicologist John Lomax in 1909, who recorded it as sung by an African American woman called Dink, as she washed her husband's clothes in a tent camp of migratory levee-builders on the bank of the Brazos River, a few miles from Houston, Texas. Lomax and his son, Alan Lomax were the first to publish itincluding it in American Ballads and Folk Songs, published by Macmillan in 1934. Lyrics As with many traditional songs, there are numerous versions of the lyrics. The version published in American Ballads and Folk Songs is rendered in an approximation of African American vernacular English. Notable versions Libby Holman recorded "Dink's Song" (as "Fare Thee Well") with guitar accompaniment by Josh White in 1942. White also recorded the song as "Fare Thee Well" in 1945. It appeared on his first album, Songs by Josh White, for Asch Records (A 348). (Asch Records was the predecessor of Folkways Records). Like the rest of the songs on the album, it was performed solo, with guitar. White re-recorded the song at least once later in his career, as "Dink's Blues". It appears on the 1957 Mercury album, Josh White's Blues (MG 20203). In the 1946 film Cloak and Dagger, the character played by Lilli Palmer sings a verse of the song to Gary Cooper's character, explaining she learned it from an American airman from "New Arizona" and adding she didn't have the chance to learn the rest of it. The song was performed by Mary "Mississippi" Brown (Peggy Castle) on the television show Cheyenne, in the episode "Fury at Rio Hondo", which aired April 17, 1956. Ken Curtis crooned an abbreviated version of the song on the show Have Gun - Will Travel, in the episode "Love's Young Dream" (Season 4, Episode 2). Bob Dylan recorded a driving rendition of the song on the unreleased 1961 Minnesota Hotel Tape. After his performance, he suggests he had originally heard the song from Dink, personally. The