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A Parody about Judge Clarence Thomas based on the song Tom Dooley, as made famous by The Kingston Trio. Lyrics by David Cohen. Performance by Don Caron. Executive Producers Don Caron and Jerry Pender SUPPORT Visit CONTRIBUTE to the PROJECT BTC: 33W8cvkCKupG77ChtTFXeAFmEBCaLcjsBJ ETH: 0x1f36edE7A4F06830D0e3d675776607790a2ce636 SHOP Parody Project Store: PATRONAGE To become a Patron of Parody Project please visit our Patreon Page MAILING LIST (Never Shared) LYRICS By David Cohen Hang up your robe, Judge Thomas Hang up your robe and cry It's time you paid the piper For kickbacks you can’t deny We watched your confirmation Listened to your swill And when it was over We believed Anita Hill Hang up your robe, speak truly Step down and just comply Tell us why your wife, “Ginni” Texted Meadows on the sly This time tomorrow Please give us a sign Will you be recusing? Or better yet resign Hang up your robe, speak truly Your grifting was not as planned Hang up your robe, speak truly It’s high time you should be banned Hang up your robe, speak truly Hang up your robe don’t lie Hang up your robe, speak truly Your gravy train is dry This time tomorrow What we’d like to see Removal from the SCOTUS Then heading in to cop a plea Hang up your robe, speak truly Hang up your robe and cry Hang up your robe, speak truly Looks like, your life’s a lie Well now, Judge Hang up your robe, speak truly Hang up your robe and cry Hang up your robe, speak truly Looks like, your time is nigh Looks like, your time is nigh Looks like, your time is nigh Looks like, your time is nigh ABOUT THE ORIGINAL SONG “Tom Dooley“ is a traditional North Carolina folk song based on the 1866 murder of a woman named Laura Foster in Wilkes County, North Carolina by Tom Dula (whose name in the local dialect was pronounced “Dooley“). One of the more famous murder ballads, a popular hit version recorded in 1958 by The Kingston Trio, which reached No. 1 in Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, and also was top 10 on the Billboard R&B chart, and appeared in the Cashbox Country Music Top 20. The song was selected as one of the American Songs of the Century by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the National Endowment for the Arts, and Scholastic Inc. Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time. “Tom Dooley“ fits within the wider genre of Appalachian “sweetheart murder ballads“. A local poet named Thomas Land wrote a song about the tragedy, titled “Tom Dooley“, shortly after Dula was hanged. In the documentary Appalachian Journey (1991), folklorist Alan Lomax describes Frank Proffitt as the “original source“ for the song, which was misleading in that he did not write it. There are several earlier known recordings, notably one that G. B. Grayson and Henry Whitter made in 1929, approximately 10 years before Proffitt cut his own recording. The Kingston Trio took their version from Frank Warner's singing. Warner had learned the song from Proffitt, who learned it from his aunt, Nancy Prather, whose parents had known both Laura Foster and Tom Dula. In a 1967 interview, Nick Reynolds of the Kingston Trio recounts first hearing the song from another performer and then being criticized and sued for taking credit for the song. Supported by the testimony of Anne and Frank Warner, Frank Proffitt was eventually acknowledged by the courts as the preserver of the original version of the song, and the Kingston Trio were ordered to pay royalties to him for their uncredited use of it. In 1866, Laura Foster was murdered. Confederate veteran Tom Dula, Foster's lover and the father of her unborn child, was convicted of her murder and hanged May 1, 1868. Foster had been stabbed to death with a large knife, and the brutality of the attack partly accounted for the widespread publicity of the murder and subsequent trial received. Anne Foster Melton, Laura's cousin, had been Dula's lover from the time he was twelve and until he left for the Civil War – even after Anne married an older man named James Melton. When Dula returned, he became a lover again to Anne, then Laura, then their cousin Pauline Foster. Pauline's comments led to the discovery of Laura's body and accusations against both Tom and Anne. Anne was subsequently acquitted in a separate trial, based on Dula's word that she had nothing to do with the killing. Dula's enigmatic statement on the gallows that he had not harmed Foster but still deserved his punishment led to press speculation that Melton was the actual killer and that Dula simply covered for her.
