We're aliens in our own world

[sovay]

Happy birthday, lesser_celery!

The rest of you, happy Halloween! It is bright and falling out there. And at this time of year, you can never have too many murder ballads.


Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer, "Cat-Eye Willie Claims His Lover"

Now, Bonnie, make the bed that you were born in
And turn your daddy's picture to the wall
For you'll not marry Cody come the morning
Tonight old shuffling Willie comes to call

If this one catches you, check out Erik Amundsen's "Blue Vervain Murder Ballad #2: Jack of Diamonds" in Not One of Us #40. It's the second-best murder ballad Trad. never wrote.

David Bowie, "Please Mr. Gravedigger"

There's a little churchyard just along the way
It used to be Lambeth's finest array
Of tombstones, epitaphs, wreaths, flowers, all that jazz
Till the war came along and someone dropped a bomb on the lot

The Decemberists, "Leslie Anne Levine"

Fifteen years gone now, I still wander this parapet
And shake my rattle bone
Fifteen years gone now, I still cling to the petticoats
Of the girl who died with me

Judy Collins, "Anathea"

Anathea, o my sister
Are you mad with grief and sorrow?
He will rob you of your flower
And he'll hang me from his gallows

Kerstin Blodig, "The Cruel Sister"

They made a harp out o her breastbane
(Lay the bent to the bonny broom)
The sound o which would melt a heart o stane
They took three locks o her yellow hair
(Lay the bent to the bonny broom)
And with them strang the harp so fair

Murders cross water in different languages: compare "Horpa (The Harp)," from Norway.

The Killers, "Jenny Was a Friend of Mine"

She said she loved me, but she had somewhere to go
She couldn't scream while I held her close
I swore I'd never let her go

Liz Phair, "Dance of the Seven Veils"

Johnny, my love, get out of the business
The odds are getting fatter by the minute
That I have got a bright and shiny platter
And I am going to get your heavy head

Louise Taylor, "Miriam Bell"

The gun she fixed in his own hand
And leaned to kiss his forehead
The gun she fixed in his own hand
And wiped her lips and fled

Meg Davis, "The Ravens"

And a fortnight later they told me
How a dagger pierced his side
How he fought to the death in the raging sea
And slowly sank and died

Nancy McCallion, "On We Go"

And on we go, and on we go
Can you recall the day we married, oh?
And on we go, and on we go
Wouldn't you be frightened to die alone?
Come a little closer to me, darling-o

PJ Harvey, "White Chalk"

Dorset's cliffs meet at the sea
Where I walked, our unborn child in me
White chalk, coarse scattered land
Scratch my palms—there's blood on my hands

Tom Waits, "Lucinda"

Now her hair was as black as a bucket of tar
Her skin as white as a cuttlefish bone
I left Texas to follow Lucinda
Now I'll never see heaven nor home

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

How can you not have that gorgeous murder ballad Henry Lee??

Am slowly working my way through all the delicious Sam Phillips.

[cucumberseed.livejournal.com]

Here's one in return:

TV on the Radio "Family Tree"
http://www.sendspace.com/file/a1dazb
"In the shadow of the gallows of your family tree,
there's a hundred hearts so free
pumping blood to the roots of evil to keep it young"

One that might not work:

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds "Loverman"
http://www.sendspace.com/file/qyy7hg
"V is for virtue, so I ain't gonna hurt you,
E is for even if you want me to."

[strange-selkie.livejournal.com]

Didn't you have a much, much older version of the cruel sister ballad? With folk guitar?

And where is the lyke-wake dirge? How can we have Halloween without the lyke-wake dirge?

[xterminal.livejournal.com]

Oh, my favorite murder ballad...

'When?' said the moon to the stars in the sky
'Soon' said the wind that followed them all

'Who?' said the cloud that started to cry
'Me' said the rider as dry as a bone

'How?' said the sun that melted the ground
and 'Why?' said the river that refused to run

and 'Where?' said the thunder without a sound
'Here' said the rider and took up his gun

'No' said the stars to the moon in the sky
'No' said the trees that started to moan

'No' said the dust that blunted its eyes
'Yes' said the rider as white as a bone

'No' said the moon that rose from his sleep
'No' said the cry of the dying sun

'No' said the planet as it started to weep
'Yes' said the rider and laid down his gun

(If you are unaware of the source, go here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7V-CW_SUos), and then hie thee to the video store immediate-like)

(And, of course, Mr. Cave's repertoire is chock full of murder ballads...)

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

And, I forgot to say, lesser_celery shares a birthday with my sister.

[timesygn.livejournal.com]

Another - perhaps not quite so well known in the U.S. - would be Chris DeBurgh's "The Painter":

"I'd like you to meet my last queen,
over there large as life
She's been hanging there for almost a week,
my poor late wife ..."

The lyrics go on to recount the tale of a romantic triangle involving a wealthy man, his wife and the painter hired to do her portrait. It ends ... badly.

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

Current music:PJ Harvey, "Broken Harp"

This song has been following me around insistently for a week now.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

You know, for me, "Silver Dagger" by Joan Baez reads as a murder ballad, even though no murder is actually committed--a murder deferred. Although the mother does effectively murder every potential relationship her daughter might ever have...

And on the Nick Cave tip, "The Company of Strangers". Poor...Mary...Bellows.

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

These look absolutely brilliant.

(I just need to get Quicktime installt on this new laptop that I might listen to the entire lot of them. Windows Media Player likes not m4a, alas.)

I hope to get some tracks up soon.