"Dark as a Dungeon" is a song written by singer-songwriter

Merle Travis Merle Robert Travis (November 29, 1917 – October 20, 1983) was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born in Rosewood, Kentucky, his songs' lyrics were often about the lives and the economic exploitation of Ameri ...

. It is a lament about the danger and drudgery of being a coal miner in a shaft mine. It has become a rallying song among miners seeking improved working conditions. The song achieved much of its fame when it was performed by

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...

in his Folsom Prison concert (''

At Folsom Prison ''Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison'' is the first live album by American singer-songwriter Johnny Cash, released on Columbia Records on May 6, 1968. It comprises recordings of performances by Cash and his band at Folsom State Prison, California, on J ...

''). During this live performance, one of the prisoners in the background was laughing, and Cash started to chuckle. He gently admonished the man, "No laughing during the song, please!" The man yelled something about "Hell!" and Cash answered, "I know, 'hell'!" When he finished the song, Cash made a comment that was largely repeated, somewhat out of context, by

Joaquin Phoenix Joaquin Rafael Phoenix ( ; ; born October 28, 1974) is an American actor. Widely described as one of the most preeminent actors of his generation and known for Joaquin Phoenix filmography, his roles as dark, unconventional and eccentric charact ...

in the 2005 Cash biographical film ''

Walk the Line ''Walk the Line'' is a 2005 American biographical drama film directed by James Mangold. The screenplay, written by Mangold and Gill Dennis, is based on two autobiographies by the American singer-songwriter Johnny Cash: '' Man in Black: His Own ...

'': "I just wanted to tell you that this show is being recorded for an album released on

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

, so you can't say 'hell' or 'shit' or anything like that."

Recorded versions

on '' Folk Songs of the Hills'', 1946 *

Maddox Brothers and Rose The Maddox Brothers and Rose were an American country music group active from the 1930s to 1950s, consisting of four brothers, Fred, Cal, Cliff, and Don Maddox, along with their sister Rose; Cliff died in 1949 and was replaced by brother Henry. Or ...

, 1950 *

Cisco Houston Gilbert Vandine "Cisco" Houston (August 18, 1918 – April 29, 1961) was an American folk singer and songwriter, who is closely associated with Woody Guthrie due to their extensive history of traveling and recording together. Houston was a reg ...

, Early 1950s * Tennessee Ernie Ford, 1955 *

Harry Belafonte Harry Belafonte ( ; born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927 – April 25, 2023) was an American singer, actor, and civil rights activist who popularized calypso music with international audiences in the 1950s and 1960s. Belafonte ...

on '' The Many Moods of Belafonte'' (1962) *

Gordon Lightfoot Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. (November 17, 1938 – May 1, 2023) was a Canadian singer-songwriter who achieved worldwide success and helped define the singer-songwriter era of the 1970s. Widely considered one of Canada's greatest songwriters, ...

and Terry Whelan on ''Two Tones at the Village Corner'', 1962 *

Grandpa Jones Louis Marshall Jones (October 20, 1913 – February 19, 1998), known professionally as Grandpa Jones, was an American banjo player and Old-time music, old time/country music, country music singer. He was inducted as a member of the Country Musi ...

, 1963 * The Big 3, 1963 *

, studio version as the b-side of " Understand Your Man" single (1964) *

Wolfe Tones The Wolfe Tones are an Irish rebel music band that incorporate Irish traditional music in their songs. Formed in 1963, they take their name from Theobald Wolfe Tone, one of the leaders of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, with the double meaning of ...

on ''The Foggy Dew'' -as "Down in the Mines" (1965) * The Twiliters on ''In Concert'' (1966) *

, live version on ''

'' (1968) *

with The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on '' Will the Circle Be Unbroken'' (1972) * Peter Grudzien on ''The Garden of Love'' (2007) *

Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actress, and philanthropist, known primarily as a country music, country musician. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton's debut album ...

on '' 9 to 5 and Odd Jobs'' (1980) *

The Weavers The Weavers were an American folk music quartet based in the Greenwich Village area of New York City originally consisting of Lee Hays, Pete Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert, and Fred Hellerman. Founded in 1948, the group sang traditional folk songs from ...

on ''Together Again'' (1980) * The Spinners on ''In our Liverpool Home'' as "Lure of the Mines" (1983) *

Patrick Sky Patrick Sky (born Patrick Linch; October 2, 1940May 26, 2021) was an American musician, folk singer, songwriter, and record producer. He was of Irish and Native American ancestry, and played Irish traditional music and uilleann pipes in the ...

on '' Through a Window'', 1985 *

Wall of Voodoo Wall of Voodoo was an American rock band from Los Angeles, California who were active from 1977 until disbanding in 1989. Though largely an underground act for the majority of its existence, the band came to prominence when its 1982 single " ...

on '' Seven Days in Sammystown'' (1985) * The Seldom Scene with Charlie Waller on '' 15th Anniversary Celebration'' (1988) * Frank Tovey on ''Tyranny and the Hired Hand'' (1989) *

Souled American Souled American is an American alternative country band from Chicago that was active mostly in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The band started in 1986 with a quartet of musicians from Illinois. The initial lineup consisted of rhythm guitar/sin ...

on '' Sonny'' (1992) *

Ramblin' Jack Elliott Ramblin' Jack Elliott (born Elliott Charles Adnopoz; August 1, 1931) is an American folk singer, songwriter and story teller. Life and career Elliott was born in 1931 in Brooklyn, New York City, the son of Florence (Rieger) and Abraham Adno ...

, duet with

Guy Clark Guy Charles Clark (November 6, 1941 – May 17, 2016) was an American folk and country singer-songwriter and luthier. He released more than 20 albums, and his songs have been recorded by other artists, including Townes Van Zandt, Jerry Jeff ...

, on '' Friends of Mine'' (1998) *

The Chieftains The Chieftains were a traditional Irish folk band formed in Dublin in 1962, by Paddy Moloney, Seán Potts and Michael Tubridy. Their sound, which is almost entirely instrumental and largely built around uilleann pipes, has become synonymous w ...

with

Vince Gill Vincent Grant Gill (born April 12, 1957) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He played in a number of local bluegrass music, bluegrass bands in the 1970s, and from 1978 to 1982, he achieved his first mainstream attention after ta ...

on '' Down the Old Plank Road: The Nashville Sessions'' (2002) * Marley's Ghost on ''Ghost Country'' (1996) *

Queens of the Stone Age Queens of the Stone Age (commonly abbreviated as QOTSA or QotSA) is an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1996. The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme shortly before he returned to his native Palm Desert, California. ...

, 2005 *

Jerry Garcia Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician who was the lead guitarist and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence during the counterculture of the 196 ...

and David Grisman on '' Been All Around This World'' (2004) * Mark Linkous (recording as Sparklehorse) on the ''

MOJO Mojo may refer to: * Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in Hoodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * ''Mojo'' (2017 film), a 2017 Indian Kannada drama film written and directed by Sreesha Belakvaadi * '' ...

'' magazine tribute album ''Cash Covered'' (2004) * Charlie Louvin on ''Sings Murder Ballads and Disaster Songs'' (2008) *

Kathy Mattea Kathleen Alice Mattea (born June 21, 1959) is an American country music and bluegrass singer. Active since 1984 as a recording artist, she has charted more than 30 singles on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs charts, including four that reac ...

on ''

Coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

'' (2008) *

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...

on ''

Country Music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

'' (2010) *

Amy Grant Amy Lee Grant (born November 25, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She began her music career in contemporary Christian music (CCM) before crossing over to pop music in the mid-1980s. Grant has been referred to as "Honorific ...

on the Lee C. Camp & Friends specialty album, ''Tokens 9: "Back to Green"'' (2010) *

1950 * John Darnielle of

The Mountain Goats The Mountain Goats are a United States band formed in Claremont, California, Claremont, California, by singer-songwriter John Darnielle. The band is currently based in Durham, North Carolina, Durham, North Carolina. For many years, the sole me ...

on ''The Front Porch Sessions'' (The Front Porch Festival, 2012) *

Slobberbone Slobberbone is an American alt-country band from Denton, Texas, led by singer-songwriter Brent Best, Cody Garcia, Tony Harper, and Brian Lane. Best continues to tour as a solo act, performing both songs by Slobberbone and The Drams, and songs fro ...

on the EP ''Your Excuse'' (1998) * The Journeymen on Coming Attraction - Live (1962) * Brock Zeman on ''Songs from the Mud'' (2004) * The Rebel on ''KROT'' (2014) * Fret! on the ''Killing Nico'' EP (2016) * John Cowan on his self-titled album for Sugar Hill Records (2000) *

John Mellencamp John J. Mellencamp (born October 7, 1951), previously known as Johnny Cougar, John Cougar, and John Cougar Mellencamp, is an American singer-songwriter. He is known for his brand of heartland rock, which emphasizes traditional instrumentation ...

for the soundtrack of the documentary ''From the Ashes'' (2017) * Heather Pierson Acoustic Trio on ''Singin (2017) *

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

on the archival release '' The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Live Recordings'' (2019) *

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan Mitchell (née Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and painter. As one of the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitch ...

on the archival release '' Joni Mitchell Archives – Vol. 1: The Early Years (1963–1967)'' (2020) *Being a well-documented song publicized by EFDSS, and Mainly Norfolk, the song was recorded by Jon Boden and Oli Steadman for inclusion in their respective projects '' A Folk Song A Day'' and ''365 Days of Folk''.

Published versions

Rise Up Singing ''Rise Up Singing'' is a popular folk music fake book containing chords, lyrics, and sources. There are 1200 songs in the 2004 edition. The book does not include notation of the songs' melodies (with the exception of the two sections on round ...

page 145

References

Johnny Cash songs Merle Travis songs Songs written by Merle Travis 1946 songs {{1940s-country-song-stub