Murder ballads

**C. Carr** · May-22-2007, 8:17am

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)

**tkdboyd** · May-22-2007, 8:33am

Banks of the Ohio (The "Three Picker" version is sweet!)
Pretty Polly
Frankie and Johnny (Doc and Dawg's version!)
Cocaine Blues
Tom Dooley

**JEStanek** · May-22-2007, 8:33am

Lady Margaret and Omie Wise are my favorites. Hoping to learn some new ones from this thread.

Jamie

**MikeEdgerton** · May-22-2007, 8:41am

The one-sided prenuptial agreement Banks of the Ohio and Little Sadie come to mind immediately.

**kirkw101** · May-22-2007, 8:48am

rain and snow(mccoury version)
long black veil

kirk

**KennyR** · May-22-2007, 8:51am

I’ll throw in Mississippi John Hurt - Lewis Collings & Nobody’s Dirty Business

I do have a soft spot for murder ballads, Great stuff.

**tkdboyd** · May-22-2007, 8:56am

Long Black Veil---I love the song, but does it count as a murder ballad?

Not trying to be picky just wondering!

**Stanley Cox** · May-22-2007, 8:57am

How about "Poor Ellen Smith" and "Eli Renfrow"

Stanley

**tkdboyd** · May-22-2007, 9:05am

Forgot one:
Never Let The Devil Get The Upper Hand Of You

**MikeEdgerton** · May-22-2007, 9:06am

Long Black Veil is a murder song, somebody got murdered, the guy that hangs for it just didn't do the crime.

**Walter Newton** · May-22-2007, 9:20am

Caleb Meyer
Dreadful Wind and Rain
Cruel Willie

**jasona** · May-22-2007, 9:20am

Down in the Willow Garden--Tim O'Brien's version gets me every time!

**mandocrucian** · May-22-2007, 9:21am

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

**jasona** · May-22-2007, 9:22am

Originally Posted by (mandocrucian @ May 22 2007, 08:21)

"Les Trois P'tits Frères de Pontoise" - Gabriel Yacoub (Trad. Arr.) (execution, followed up with a reprisal slaughter of the entire town)

Well, that takes care of the body count competition!

**mandopete** · May-22-2007, 9:29am

Psycho Killer

Say something once, why say it again.

**Mandovark** · May-22-2007, 9:32am

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).

**cooper4205** · May-22-2007, 9:37am

"Little Glass of Wine"

"Little Omie Wise" (Omie Wise/Naomie Wise)

**mandopete** · May-22-2007, 9:40am

Hey, Chuck Norris' tears can cure cancer - too bad he never cried!

**MikeEdgerton** · May-22-2007, 9:41am

Originally Posted by

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

That could be a whole new thread.

**Peter Hackman** · May-22-2007, 9:42am

The Girl behind the Bar

Charles Guiteau

Whitehouse Blues

Anyone list Knoxville Girl?

Define "ballad", please.

**cooper4205** · May-22-2007, 9:42am

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?

**C. Carr** · May-22-2007, 9:46am

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.

**allenhopkins** · May-22-2007, 10:17am

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?