An inherent instability in meaning…
Note: This is Part 4 of a 4 part series – see also Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. My good friend and co-writer for this blog is visiting here this weekend, and he’s just gone off to bed, so … Continue reading →
Why dois your brand sae drap wi bluid?
Note: This is Part 3 of a 4 part series – see also Part 1, Part 2, and Part 4 This week’s first post introduced us to the ballad “Edward” in Ireland and America. My second post this week introduced … Continue reading →
It’s all about a little holly bush…
Note: This is Part 2 of a 4 part series – see also Part 1, Part 3, and Part 4 We saw in the introductory post for the week that in the murder ballad “Edward“, or Child 13, at least … Continue reading →
Edward / What Put the Blood? / The Blood on His Shirt Sleeve
Cain Leadeth Abel to Death – Chromolithograph book plate, James Tissot, 1904 Note: This is Part 1 of a 4 part series – see also Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 This week we’re back in to the Child Ballads. It’s been … Continue reading →
I’ve got no more fight in me
As we’ve noted all along, our “mission” 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 →
Blessed be the tie that binds
Canadian Soldiers (date unknown) In the song, “Harris and the Mare,” our protagonist reminds Harris that he was a “conshie in the War.” In all the years I have listened to the song, I took that mention merely to be … Continue reading →
Harris and the Mare
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. Stan Rogers, penned “Harris … Continue reading →
I’m looking for my fortune and it ain’t in Illinois
Pancho’s Stepchildren“Pancho and Lefty” has been a foray into a more Western genre of murder ballad, building on Pat’s discussion of “Jack Straw,” I suppose. The Wikipedia entry on murder ballads cites Olive Burt’s 1958 article, “The Minstrelsy of Murder,” which … Continue reading →
Outlaws, Bandits, and Troubadours
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. If there’s a narrative to capture here, it’s that I think “Pancho and … Continue reading →
Pancho and Lefty
Walking Man, by Alberto Giacometti A Work of Betrayal I’m about to spill a good bit of ink, figuratively speaking, on a song that is only around 270 words long (including repeated words). I want to (re)introduce you to “Pancho … Continue reading →