Halpert was compiling a series of field recordings for the Library of Congress in Byhalia, Mississippi, when he ran across Walter Shipp, a minister, and his wife Mary, a choir director of a local church.
Halpert recorded Shipp's daughters, Katherine and Christine, singing a spare version of "Sea Lion Woman" that defined the basic rhymes and rhythm of the song.
[3] Most versions of the song cover Nina Simone's lyrics and arrangement with syncopated hand-claps (or percussion) and more than one back-up voice for the response.
An early cover of Simone's version was recorded in 1967 by the Australian beat band the Easybeats as the closing track for their album Good Friday.
In 1987, Irish rock band Hothouse Flowers released a live recording of the song (credited only to G. H. Bass) on a 12" maxi edition of their first single, "Love Don't Work This Way", a year before their first album.
A remix of the seldom used original recording of the traditional song performed by the Shipp sisters was produced by Greg Hale Jones and Russell Ziecker entitled "She Began to Lie"; it became part of the soundtrack for the 1999 feature film The General's Daughter.
A house version of the song with samples of Nina Simone's recording by was produced by French DJ Bob Sinclar for his 2013 album Paris by Night.