Cain
“Cain and Abel,” by Titian When I wrote last year about Jesus and the murder ballad, I thought I would finish that week by looking back to other Biblical stories that also provided symbols for music in this genre. I … Continue reading →
Ken Bigger
Ken Bigger is a writer based in the Midwest. He co-founded Murder Ballad Monday in 2012.
And his mama cries: In the Ghetto
Elvis Presley, 1970 In considering Chris Smither’s song “Every Mother’s Son” in preparation for this week’s first post, I kept being drawn to the contrast between it and Elvis Presley’s blockbuster “In the Ghetto.” The two songs appeared within three … Continue reading →
Every Mother’s Son
Chris Smither I envisioned our December break as a chance for me to dip into some other interests and, perhaps, generate some new ideas for the blog through unrelated reading. It hasn’t exactly worked out that way. I pay attention … Continue reading →
On the lam
Scene from The Shawshank Redemption (1994) Greetings, faithful Murder Ballad Monday readers! Greetings, completely new readers who have just stumbled on to the blog! We are now on a temporary hiatus. It’s time to let the field lie fallow. It’s time … Continue reading →
The Mariner’s Revenge Song
Mariner’s Revenge Song (photo by Alicia J. Rose) In its epic sweep and scope, and with its literary shades of Poe, Dickens, Shakespeare, and Melville, “The Mariner’s Revenge Song,” by The Decemberists could probably give us enough material for a … Continue reading →
My Fondest Childhood Memories
Macy Gray We continue this week’s “Vengeance of the ‘Inner Child’” series with Macy Gray‘s “My Fondest Childhood Memories.” Earlier this week, we gave a listen to Jim White’s “The Wound That Never Heals,” the musically-framed story of a damaged … Continue reading →
Baby, why don’t you cry?
Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct (1992) We have discussed here and there in previous weeks how children encounter murder ballads–what role such songs may have played in children’s upbringing in earlier times, and how that role may or may not be … Continue reading →
I remember it as just a short time ago
The Tragedy, Pablo Picasso One of the things that I happily now spend less time explaining when I describe this blog to someone for the first time, is that our primary purpose is to discuss the creation of meaning through … Continue reading →
Crying for water: an interview with Michael Lewis
The Men that Man the Life Boat by John Morgan Michael Lewis was kind enough to spend some time with us for a phone interview about his song “Nantucket Sleighride/The Essex,” which we introduced in the previous post, and also … Continue reading →
The Essex
The Essex of Nantucket Last week was the 161st anniversary of the publication of Herman Melville‘s The Whale, or, Moby Dick. The novel was a critical and commercial failure at first. It essentially ended Melville’s career as a novelist, but it … Continue reading →