This inevitable topic came up at last night's Bluegrass jam. What are your favorites? For the lawyers (like me), and other nitpickers please define "murder" to include any killing including "homicide", "manslaughter", "criminally negligent homicide", "justifiable homicide", "accidental killing" or "state sponsored execution".
Have fun!
Regards,
Charlie Carr
New Orleans (The Nations Murder Capital)
Banks of the Ohio (The "Three Picker" version is sweet!)
Pretty Polly
Frankie and Johnny (Doc and Dawg's version!)
Cocaine Blues
Tom Dooley
Lady Margaret and Omie Wise are my favorites. Hoping to learn some new ones from this thread.
Jamie
There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want; and, after that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second. Logan Pearsall Smith, 1865 - 1946
+ Give Blood, Save a Life +
The one-sided prenuptial agreement Banks of the Ohio and Little Sadie come to mind immediately.
"bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--Jim Garber
rain and snow(mccoury version)
long black veil
kirk
I’ll throw in Mississippi John Hurt - Lewis Collings & Nobody’s Dirty Business
I do have a soft spot for murder ballads, Great stuff.
Long Black Veil---I love the song, but does it count as a murder ballad?
Not trying to be picky just wondering!
How about "Poor Ellen Smith" and "Eli Renfrow"
Stanley
Great Granpas are just Antique little boys.
Pick up a STORM
Forgot one:
Never Let The Devil Get The Upper Hand Of You
Long Black Veil is a murder song, somebody got murdered, the guy that hangs for it just didn't do the crime.
"bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--Jim Garber
Caleb Meyer
Dreadful Wind and Rain
Cruel Willie
Down in the Willow Garden--Tim O'Brien's version gets me every time!
"...while a great mandolin is a wonderful treat, I would venture to say that there is always more each of us can do with the tools we have available at hand. The biggest limiting factors belong to us not the instruments." Paul Glasse
Stumbling Towards Competence
Only a few that could be considered "bluegrass".
"Jim Jones" #(trad. Australian) (Martyn Wyndham Read - Ned Kelly & That Gang) (stated intent of mass mayhem)
"Buffalo Skinners" trad. (John Renbourn - Faro Annie) (vengenance/payback)
"Les Trois P'tits Frères de Pontoise" - Gabriel Yacoub (Trad. Arr.) (execution, followed up with a reprisal #slaughter of the entire town)
"Lowlands of Holland" - trad (Steeleye Span - Hark The Village Wait)
"In Germany Before The War" - Randy Newman (Little Criminals) (serial murder)
"Murder In The Red Barn" - Tom Waits (Bone Machine) (serial murder)
"A Little Rain" - Tom Waits (Bone Machine)
"Dark Night" - The Blasters (Hard Road) (racial murder)
"Poor Will & The Jolly Hangman" - Richard Thompson/Fairport Convention (gov execution-hanging)
"Dirt In The Ground" - Tom Waits (Bone Machine) (govt. execution-hanging)
"Let Him Dangle" - Elvis Costello (Spike) (gov. execution-hanging)
"Hanging Blues " - Sons Of The Pioneers (JEMF album) (hanging)
"My Main Trial Is Yet To Come" - Stanley Bros. (execution-electrocution)
"Stone Walls & Steel Bars" - Stanley Bros. (execution)
"Danny Deaver" - Peter Bellamy/Rudyard Kipling (Barrack Room Ballads) (military execution-hanging)
"Romeo Is Bleeding" - Tom Waits (Blue Valentine) (robbery gone bad)
"Stagger Lee" - Lloyd Price
"Hey Joe" - Jimi Hendrix
"Machine Gun" - Hendrix (Band of Gypsies)
"Me & My Uncle" - Grateful Dead (skull & roses)
"Mexicali Blues" - Bob Weir/Grateful Dead (Bob Weir - Ace)
"Smackwater Jack" - Carole King (Tapestry)
"Midnight Rambler" - Rolling Stones (Gimme Shelter)
NH
Catalog of instructional books/CDs, Mandocrucian's Digest issues, etc.
Niles interviewed
"Free your mind, your hands will follow." "It was a new day yesterday, but it's an old day now."
Well, that takes care of the body count competition!Originally Posted by (mandocrucian @ May 22 2007, 08:21)
"...while a great mandolin is a wonderful treat, I would venture to say that there is always more each of us can do with the tools we have available at hand. The biggest limiting factors belong to us not the instruments." Paul Glasse
Stumbling Towards Competence
Psycho Killer
Say something once, why say it again.
2012 Ford Escape
Fender Medium Guitar Pick
3 Cats & 1 Worn-Out Dog
I was about to nominate Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You", but then I realised that the thread wasn't about people murdering ballads
"Hey Joe" - Hendrix
"I shot the Sheriff" - lots of versions
"Dic Penderyn" - Martyn Joseph
"The Keeper" - Steve Knightley (technically about World War One, but blurs the boundaries between war and murder).
Simon.
"Trust me, I speak with the utter confidence of someone who knows absolutely nothing about the subject."
David Oddy Cello-Mandolin
Fylde Touchstone Mandolin
Moon 10-string Bouzouki
TAMCO OM
"Little Glass of Wine"
"Little Omie Wise" (Omie Wise/Naomie Wise)
Wes
"i gotta fever...and the only prescription is more cowbell!!"
'87 Flatiron A5-JR/'25 Gibson A-JR
Hey, Chuck Norris' tears can cure cancer - too bad he never cried!
2012 Ford Escape
Fender Medium Guitar Pick
3 Cats & 1 Worn-Out Dog
That could be a whole new thread.
"bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--Jim Garber
The Girl behind the Bar
Charles Guiteau
Whitehouse Blues
Anyone list Knoxville Girl?
Define "ballad", please.
Well, did you know the chief export of Chuck Norris is pain?
back to the programming- would "Stagger Lee" be a murder ballad, or song?
Wes
"i gotta fever...and the only prescription is more cowbell!!"
'87 Flatiron A5-JR/'25 Gibson A-JR
Here's my list of mostly recent recordings of traditional songs and a few newer ones:
1. "Down In The Willow Garden": I like Tim O'Brien's version on "The Crossing".
2. "Mollie Bawn": Alison Krause does a really haunting version with The Chieftans on "Down The Old Plank Road".
3. "Louis Collins": The old Mississippi John Hurt song that David Grisman and Jerry Garcia recorded on "Shady Grove".
4. "Buffalo Skinners": Tim O'Brien must like these ballads alot there are three on "Fiddler's Green" alone.
5. "Fair Flowers of the Valley": Tim O'Brien again on "Fiddler's Green", along with "Long Black Veil".
6. "Hey Joe" the Hendrix Classic which I'll include here because Jerry Douglas does it with Tim O'Brien (him again!?) on the "Slide Rule Album".
7."Henry Brown": from Old School Freight Train's "Run".
8. "Tennessee Stud" - 'I pulled my gun and he fell with a thud, and I rode away on the Tennessee Stud'.
9. "Down by the River": Neil Young - Cause I liked so much when I was a kid.
Some that haven't been mentioned;
Lily Of the West
Step It Out Nancy - Robin & Linda Williams' re-write of Step It Out Mary
Polly Von - accidental killing, not really murder (this has been mentioned as Mollie Bawn)
Frankie Silver
Tom Dooley - of course, but the Doc Watson version that says Dula was innocent
Lord Thomas and Fair Ellender
Two Sisters
Katie Dear - does a double suicide count?
Henry Lee
Long Lankin - if you can stand the murder of an infant
Bonnie Susie Cleland
The Three Butchers/Jinkson Johnson - whatever you call it
Litte Sadie
One thing that traditional music teaches us, is that women should never date men named "Willy." How many ballads have Willy killing off his girlfriend?
Allen Hopkins
Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
Natl Triolian Dobro mando
Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
H-O mandolinetto
Stradolin Vega banjolin
Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
Flatiron 3K OM
Chuck Norris wrote, sung and starred in all of these murder ballads!
2012 Ford Escape
Fender Medium Guitar Pick
3 Cats & 1 Worn-Out Dog
Killington Hill - Mitch & Mickey
Irish Ballad - Tom Lehrer
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