| "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Bob Dylan | |
| from the album The Times They Are a-Changin' | |
| Released | February 10, 1964 |
| Recorded | October 23, 1963 |
| Genre | Folk |
| Length | 5:48 |
| Label | Columbia |
| Songwriter(s) | Bob Dylan |
| Producer(s) | Tom Wilson |
"The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" is a topical song written by the American musician Bob Dylan. Recorded on October 23, 1963, the song was released on Dylan's 1964 album The Times They Are a-Changin' and gives a generally factual account of the killing of a 51-year-old African-American barmaid, Hattie Carroll (née Curtis; March 3, 1911 – February 9, 1963),[1] by then 24-year-old William Devereux "Billy" Zantzinger (February 7, 1939 – January 3, 2009), a young man from a wealthy white tobacco farming family in Charles County, Maryland, and of his subsequent sentence to six months in a county jail, after being convicted of assault.
The melody of the chorus is largely taken from a folk song called "Mary Hamilton". The lyrics are a commentary on 1960s racism. When Carroll was killed in 1963, Charles County was still strictly segregated by race in public facilities such as restaurants, churches, theaters, doctor's offices, buses and the county fair. The schools of Charles County were not integrated until 1967.[2]