Danse Macabre (the first installment)

âThe Dance of Deathâ by Michael Wolgemut (1493)
from the Liber Chronicarum
Murder ballads made for dancing
The Corriesâ performance of âThe Massacre of Glencoeâ on our Facebook page several days ago prompted one reader to comment that older songs like it differed with more recent âhardcoreâ music in that the tenderness of the music contrasted with the grimness of the story. I had been thinking recently about a different kind of contrast, one where the music felt made for dancing.
I thought it might be illuminating to gather some of the songs weâve explored side by side, rather than dive deep into one, as is our wont. âDanse Macabreâ provides our theme, as a medieval French allegory for the idea that death unites us allârich and poor, powerful and powerless. If thatâs not a reason to get dancing, I donât know what is.
Although ballads per se rarely lend themselves to dancing, music and dancing are inseparable for many people and cultures. In that sense, we have no real reason to be surprised that a heavy theme might come with a stirring beat. A friend of mine once gave me a mix-CD with Miriam Makeba and the Skylarkâs âUile Ngoanâa Batho,â a breezy âWimoweh-ishâ number that always felt uplifting. I didnât understand the lyrics, and only later discovered that the title appears to translate to âOur Child is Gone.â
Iâll keep the text brief and the music up-tempo. Along the way, weâll hear artists deliver their grim themes in ways designed to get us moving, if not outright shaking bootiesâby ourselves, in pairs, and with whole stadiums full of people. Iâll add some thoughts here and there about why they might arrange the songs the way they do.
Hereâs our list, in no particular order. In case you werenât already aware, our lists âgo to eleven.â
11. âBanks of the Ohioâ performed by Snakefarm
Snakefarm could offer multiple tracks to include on this list. Anna Domino and Michel Delory deliver a slow, lounge groove to âBanksâ to get us going. Their version is also lyrically innovative in deftly diminishing the songâs typically fraught gender dynamics.
10. âStagger Leeâ performed by Lloyd Price
Priceâs version of this American standard was made, and then re-made, for pop acceptability. Dick Clark urged Price to bowdlerize the lyrics for play on American Bandstand. As author Paul Slade has discussed, the song revs up with an energy that effectively urges this âBad Manâ on, chanting âGo! Stagger Lee! Go! Stagger Lee!,â which reflects for Slade a change in the tenor of the timesâeven though the âBandstandâ version proves non-lethal. For more on âStagoleeâ click here for some of Patâs great posts.
9. âStone Cold Dead in the Marketâ (various)
We listened to this Calypso hit a few years ago, and we saw how this song of domestic violence may have played a role for listeners renegotiating gender roles in after World War II. One of our bloggers, Rebecca, suggested the Dixie Chicksâ âGoodbye Earlâ for todayâs list, which is definitely an up-tempo, worthy successor to âStone Cold,â in more ways than one. Ella Fitzgerald and others have offered great performances of this song, but weâll go with Gracie Barrieâs version here to deliver on the dancing.