Interlude: The Murder Ballad (1938)
Today’s post is an “Interlude” post, because we take a break from our normal cycle of exploring individual songs or song themes, and take a look at related works of art in other performance media. Although today’s post involves a landmark song of its own, “Murder Ballad” by Jelly Roll Morton, Becky focuses our attention today on a recent dance performance inspired by Morton’s song. – Ed.
REDCAT NOW I 7-26-2012
I recently heard about a dance piece, The Murder Ballad (1938), to be performed at the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater (REDCAT) in Los Angeles. I had to see it, of course. Experimental theatre and murder ballads? That is like a peanut butter cup of awesome in my book. The piece is a two-person dance performance choreographed to Jelly Roll Morton’s dirty, 30-minute, “Murder Ballad,” which was originally recorded by Alan Lomax in a whiskey-soaked session with Morton in 1938. The Murder Ballad was created by the Los Angeles-based theater collective, Poor Dog Group, “a collective of theater makers committed to collaboratively developing original theater through critiques of history and found source material that speaks to the current political and social landscape.”
They certainly deliver in this instance. Here’s what PDG has to say about The Murder Ballad:
“With a murky mix of desire, jealousy and emancipatory yearning, Poor Dog Group’s latest movement-based work gives forceful physical life to Jelly Roll Morton’s legendary 1938 recording. Originally performed in the brothels of New Orleans’ steamy Storyville district, Morton’s song revels in the nastiness of its heroine’s voice, whose feral physical energy lays claim to the violent impulses of a woman betrayed. The Murder Ballad delves into the myth of female madness and racialized representations of sexuality.”
Other murder ballad-based theater or performance art productions I’ve seen present very straightforward approaches to the material. Poor Dog’s work was much more nuanced, and gave it a reason to be theatricalized. They didn’t turn it into a living room drama, or stage a music video showing you what happened as the words tell you the same information. They did what they set out to do – critique current political and social landscapes.
Morton’s “Murder Ballad” – NSFW
Before we go any further about the dance production, let me say a few words about the song itself; not a normal MBM “deep dive,” but enough to prepare you for what’s ahead, and to understand what Poor Dog achieves in their performance.
I first listened to “Murder Ballad” alone, over headphones. The song starts hot, sweaty, and slow; like you’re settling onto a brothel bar stool waiting for a good long story to unfold. You nod along, stirring smoke with your whiskey numb head, toes tapping along for balance. It’s nice, sexy, but only temporarily so.
Very soon, you realize that the lyrics in the song pull no punches. If you don’t like profanity, don’t listen. If you can’t handle vulgarity, this song’s not for you … pearls will be clutched! But, if you like a good nasty story that’s not afraid to go deep blue … hold onto your curls, girls. Jelly Roll uses the C word. The C word! IN 1938! What happened to ‘Horsefeathers!’?! The first time I heard the F word, I kind of wasn’t sure I actually did. “Excuse me? Was that …? I must have heard that wrong. Oh. Oh yeah. He definitely said the F word.” And the B word, and well, then its pretty much every other word is a curse. It gets downright pornographic. Just that was an interesting experiment in composure, to share this listening experience with an audience.