Ken Bigger is a writer based in the Midwest. He co-founded Murder Ballad Monday in 2012.
Despite the fact that I think there was some “hourglass moment” where this song slipped through a narrow channel to flow back out again, there is still so much diversity to the lyrics of this song that a “close … Continue reading →
“As our American culture advances, it may be that classes will take up the Frankie songs as seriously as a play by Molière or a Restoration comedy or the Provençal ballads of France….While the Frankie story deals with … Continue reading →
We’ll start today’s posts with some news accounts, to begin thinking about whether and how the facts matter to the song, and how the facts leave their traces, often in indirect ways, in the songs. For the moment at least, … Continue reading →
The Frankie and Johnny mural in the House Lounge at the Missouri State Capitol “Frankie and Johnny” or “Frankie and Albert” is the most popular and commercially successful murder ballad. I can’t think of a song that really comes remotely … Continue reading →
Here is Dylan Tuccillo’s award-winning short film, “Omie Wise — A Folktale.” It presents another contribution to the legend, I suppose, with a modern, if not entirely realistic setting. I’ll keep my thoughts, when I add them, to the comments … Continue reading →
“Omie Wise” has been with us a long time, and been “folk processed” in a number of different directions. That it is still with us is evidence of its power to move and affect the singer and the listener. That … Continue reading →
Elvis Costello appeared five or six years ago as part of “The Harry Smith Project,” a musical renewal of the songs collected by Smith in the Anthology of American Folk Music, providing his proposed resolution of the Omie Wise tale. … Continue reading →
Harry Smith’s Anthology incorporated his somewhat idiosyncratic, news-brief style summaries for the songs he included. The brief on “Ommie Wise” reads as follows: GREEDY GIRL GOES TO ADAMS SPRING WITH LIAR; LIVES JUST LONG ENOUGH TO REGRET IT … Continue reading →
This week’s installment is a decidedly American contribution to the genre, and one not completely shrouded in the mists of history, but only partly so. The events of “Omie Wise” can be pinned down to a known historical event—the drowning … Continue reading →
Here we have Ewan MacColl’s version of Child #73, from his Classic Scots Ballads. Thanks, Pat, for mentioning it. The song is sung in Scots, and there are a few passages which I have yet to understand clearly, but the … Continue reading →
