Murder Ballad Monday“Pills of White Mercury” (Unfortunate Rake, Part One) - Page 2
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“Pills of White Mercury” (Unfortunate Rake, Part One) — 4 Comments

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  3. Thanks for this great start on The Unfortunate Rake! The song has special meaning to me. I was Kenny Goldstein’s student and research assistant. When he was recording the Unfortunate Rake album, he got not only singers but also folklorists to sing some of the songs, including Jan Brunvand, Roger Abrahams, and Barre Toelken. For one song, a lumberjack’s version from Shoemaker’s “Mountain Minstrelsy of Pennsylvania,” Kenny couldn’t find anyone to sing it so he sang it himself, which was quite unusual for him. When Kenny died in 1995, I was one of the pallbearers at his funeral. Later, I taught the folksong courses at Penn for several years, essentially as Kenny’s successor. One year, I decided to lecture on “The Unfortunate Rake,” and to use examples from the Folkways album, as Kenny had often done. When his familiar voice came out of the speakers, singing “So beat your drum lowly, and play your fife slowly, and play the Dead March as you carry me along,” it was quite an eerie experience! I had to sit down, and then explain to my students that I was hearing a voice from beyond the grave, that I had in fact “carried him along” to his burial. It’s one instance where modern technology strongly accentuated one aspect of the song’s meaning….

    • Thanks, Stephen, for sharing this memory. Quite eerie indeed. I’m glad you enjoyed the piece. There’s so much terrain to cover, for which Kenny Goldstein provided a very helpful map. It’s terrific to be connecting to that legacy in some small way, and a real treat to learn about this personal connection of yours. Thanks again.