Murder ballad

This article is about a genre of songs. For the Nick Cave album, see Murder Ballads.

Murder ballads are a sub-genre of the the traditional ballad form, the lyrics of each being a narrative song, which present a story, using a series of recognisable formulas, structures and language forms. In this case, a murder. Traditional ballads are independent from broadsheet ballads insofar as the typical broadsheet form does not use the same formulas or structures and is rooted in a literate society: traditional ballads flourished within non-literate groups within society.

Description of the genre

A broadsheet murder ballad typically recounts the details of a mythic or true crime — who the victim is, why the murderer decides to kill him or her, how the victim is lured to the murder site and the act itself — followed by the escape and/or capture of the murderer. Often the ballad ends with the murderer in jail or on their way to the gallows, occasionally with a plea for the listener not to copy the evils committed by the singer.

Some murder ballads tell the story from the point of view of the murderer, or attempt to portray the murderer in a somewhat sympathetic light, such as "Tom Dooley". A recording of that song sold nearly four million copies for The Kingston Trio in 1958. Other murder ballads tell the tale of the crime from the point of view of the victim, such as "Lord Randall", in which the narrator takes ill and discovers that he has been poisoned. Others tell the story with greater distance, such as "Lamkin", which records the details of the crime and the punishment of the criminals without any attempt to arouse sympathy for the criminal. Supernatural revenge wrought by the victim upon the murderer sometimes figures in murder ballads such as "The Twa Sisters" (also known as "Binnorie," Child Ballad #10).

History of murder ballads

Murder ballads make up a notable portion of traditional ballads, many of which originate in Scandinavia, England and Scotland. In those, while the murder is committed, the murderer usually suffers justice at the hands of the victim's family, even if the victim and murderer are related (see "Edward / Son David", 'The Cruel Brother" and "The Two Sisters" for good examples. In these ballads murderous women usually burn while males hang - see the "Lamkin" and some Scottish versions of "The Two Sisters".

Often the details and locales for a particular murder ballad change as it is sung over time, reflecting the audience and the performer. For example, "Knoxville Girl" is essentially the same ballad as "The Wexford Girl" with the setting transposed from Ireland to Tennessee - the two of them are based on "The Oxford Girl", the original murder ballad set in England.

American murder ballads are often versions of older Old World ballads with any elements of supernatural retribution removed. For example, the English ballad "The Gosport Tragedy" of the 1750s had both murder and vengeance on the murderer by the ghosts of the murdered woman and her unborn baby, who call up a great storm to prevent his ship sailing before tearing him apart. In contrast, the Kentucky version, "Pretty Polly", is a stark murder ballad ending with the murder and burial of the victim in a shallow grave.

Modern murder ballads

Nick Cave's 1996 album Murder Ballads contains both traditional and original music of this form. Mick Harris (Scorn) and Martyn Bates (Eyeless in Gaza) also released an album with the same name.

Other examples of modern CDs featuring murder ballads include Alasdair Roberts' 2005 album No Earthly Man and Kristin Hersh's 1998 album Murder, Misery and Then Goodnight. Another contemporary example of a murder ballad is Billy Roberts' widely covered popular song "Hey Joe", the most famous version being the one recorded by Jimi Hendrix in 1967.

List of murder ballads

• "1913 Massacre" - Woody Guthrie
• "Banks of the Ohio" - Johnny Cash, The Carter Family, Monroe Brothers, Doc Watson
• "Binnorie"
• "Child Owlet" - Steeleye Span
• "The Cruel Mother," also known as "Carlisle Hall" and "Fine Flowers in the Valley" - Joan Baez
• "Edward" - Steeleye Span
• "El Paso" - Marty Robbins, Grateful Dead
• "Frankie and Johnny" - Mississippi John Hurt, Brook Benton, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash
• "I Hung My Head" - Sting, Johnny Cash
• "Jellon Grame"
• "Knoxville Girl" - Louvin Brothers, Wilburn Brothers
• "Lamkin" - Martin Carthy, Steeleye Span
• "Lily of the West" - Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, The Chieftains

• "Little Sadie," also known as "Cocaine Blues" - Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Hank Thompson, Uncle Tupelo, Merle Travis, Woodie Guthrie, George Thorogood
• "Lizie Wan" - Kate Bush
• "Lord Randall"
• "Omie Wise," also known as "Poor Little Omie Wise" - Clarence Ashley, Dock Boggs, Roscoe Holcomb, Shirley Collins, Pentangle
• "Pretty Polly" - Judy Collins, Ralph Stanley, Kristin Hersh, Bert Jansch, Sandy Denny, Dock Boggs
• "Stagger Lee," also known as Stagolee, Stackerlee, Stack O'Lee, Stack-a-Lee - Mississippi John Hurt, Ma Rainey, Sidney Bechet, Duke Ellington, Memphis Slim, Woody Guthrie, Fats Domino, Lloyd Price, Nick Cave
• "Tom Dooley" - Kingston Trio, Lonnie Donegan, Doc Watson
• "The Twa Sisters," also known as "Cruel Sister" and "The Two Sisters" - Clannad, Pentangle

See also

• List of songs about killers
• Teenage tragedy song

Further reading

• Olive W. Burt, American Murder Ballads and their Stories, Oxford University Press, New York, 1958.
• Olive W. Burt, "Murder Ballads of Mormondom", Western Folklore, 18:2, April 1959, pp.141-156.
• Olive W. Burt, "The Minstrelsy of Murder", Western Folklore, 17:4, October 1958, pp.263-272.
• Michael E. Bush, "Murder Ballads in Appalachia", (thesis) Marshal University, Huntington, West Virginia, 1977.
• Daniel A. Cohen, "The Beautiful Female Murder Victim: Literary Genres and Courtship Practices in the Origins of a Cultural Motif, 1590-1850", Journal of Social History, 31:2, Winter 1997, pp.277-306.
• Chet Flippo, "Nashville Skyline: The Subject Was Murder", CMT.com, February 5, 2004.
• Ellen L. O'Brien, "The Most Beautiful Murder: The Transgressive Aesthetics of Murder in Victorian Street Ballads", Victorian Literature and Culture, 28, 2000, pp.15-37.
• Will Robinson Sheff, "The Dark Side of Folk: Songs about Murder", Audiogalaxy.
• Kenneth D. Tunnel, "99 Years is Almost for Life: Punishment for Violent Crime in Bluegrass Music", The Journal of Popular Culture, 26:3, Winter 1992, pp.165-181.

Further listening (recorded compilations)

• Blood Booze 'n Bones, Sung by Ed McCurdy, banjo accompaniment by Erik Darling, Electra Records, 1956 (includes 12 page booklet).
• Bloody Ballads: Classic British and American Murder Ballads, Sung by Paul Clayton, Ed. by Kenneth S. Goldstein, Riverside Records, New York, 1956 (includes cover notes).
• Murder Ballads, by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Mute Records, 1996.