 Note: This is Part 4 of a 4 part series â see also Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. My good friend and co-writer for this blog is visiting here this weekend, and heâs just gone off to bed, so … Continue reading →
Note: This is Part 3 of a 4 part series â see also Part 1, Part 2, and Part 4 This weekâs first post introduced us to the ballad âEdwardâ in Ireland and America. Â My second post this week introduced … Continue reading →
Note: This is Part 2 of a 4 part series â see also Part 1, Part 3, and Part 4 We saw in the introductory post for the week that in the murder ballad âEdwardâ, or Child 13, at least … Continue reading →
 Cain Leadeth Abel to Death â Chromolithograph book plate, James Tissot, 1904 Note: This is Part 1 of a 4 part series â see also Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 This week weâre back in to the Child Ballads.  Itâs been … Continue reading →
As weâve noted all along, our âmissionâ at Murder Ballad Monday is to explore both the interior and the periphery of the murder ballad.  We discuss how music helps interpret intense, often violent and/or deadly experience.  Having started out the … Continue reading →
Canadian Soldiers (date unknown) In the song, âHarris and the Mare,â our protagonist reminds Harris that he was a âconshie in the War.â Â In all the years I have listened to the song, I took that mention merely to be … Continue reading →
With Pancho having met his match in the deserts down in Mexico, this week we turn to the north country, and an Ontario mill town, and a song inspired by a story overheard in a bar. Â Stan Rogers, penned âHarris … Continue reading →
Panchoâs StepchildrenâPancho and Leftyâ has been a foray into a more Western genre of murder ballad, building on Patâs discussion of âJack Straw,â I suppose.  The Wikipedia entry on murder ballads cites Olive Burtâs 1958 article, âThe Minstrelsy of Murder,â which … Continue reading →
Steve Earle and Townes Van Zandt After such a long post last time, I plan for this one to be long on music and short on text. Â If thereâs a narrative to capture here, itâs that I think âPancho and … Continue reading →
Walking Man, by Alberto Giacometti A Work of Betrayal Iâm about to spill a good bit of ink, figuratively speaking, on a song that is only around 270 words long (including repeated words). Â I want to (re)introduce you to âPancho … Continue reading →
