The Box & The Heel
You can almost smell the coffee. Itâs morning, youâve just pulled up a gravel road to sit at a kitchen table and listen to your friend June Carter Cash, or to your friend Wanda Jackson. Youâre here to listen to another broken-hearted woman tell you in a rough hewn voice what she coulda done, what she shoulda done, and probably what she outta done. For now youâll commiserate, hear her out, bang a fist on the Formica and listen to a familiar fantasy, the fantasy of smokinâ that chump. Iâm not sure why, but in a few of my favorite murder ballads, the murder hasnât happened ⌠yet.
I wanted to write about âThe Box That It Came Inâ and âThe Heelâ as murder ballads because the Sturm und Drang is all there. The passion is palpably dangerous. These women have strong motives (even more so than some more popular murder ballads. Iâm looking at you, âKnoxville Girlâ), but the murder doesnât âgetâ to happen. Why does that aspect of these songs interest me?
An initial thought that came to mind when considering these songs, was that I donât know any fantasy (deed not done) murder ballads sung by men, off the top of my head. I could look. I could find. But Iâm interested in why I canât think of one right away. This speaks volumes to me about a history of women not feeling free, even artistically, to use anger or violence. Is it that women have been told they shouldnât express rage? Historically, it has been hard for women to own their anger without being considered âhysterical,â or more egregiously disparaging terms.
And some more food for thought⌠both songs were written by men. (Gasp!) Is this why the ladies in these songs donât kill? Maybe these men just couldnât see a woman going through with it, a woman being her own savior? Or were the writers simply tapping into a more common narrative of a woman scorned? Knowing that both songs were penned by men, why do the songs all of a sudden feel like a celebration of male infidelity for me?
If June and Wanda felt they were good enough stories to tell, then I can listen. But itâs definitely a cloud that looms over both songs.
âThe Box That it Came Inâ by Wanda Jackson, 1965 â Written by Vic McAlpin
And Iâm a walking on cardboard in my last dollar dress
I looked in the closet for my wedding gown
But the box that it came in was all that I found
He took everything with him that wasnât nailed down
Bet heâs got a new sweetheart to fill my wedding gown
But somewhere Iâll find him then Iâll have peace of mind
And the box he comes home in will be all satin lined
He took everything with him âŚ