and from the department of non-Oxford links

[angevin2]

eMusic has an article up called The 13 Grisliest Murder Ballads of All Time.

Now, this includes both traditional songs and not (Eminem's "Stan" is on there), But seriously, any list of the grisliest murder ballads that includes legitimate folk songs but not Long Lankin or Child Owlet -- possibly the most violent of the Child canon -- is not to be

Comments

[keestone]

Not exactly a grisly murder ballad and more of a devil-seducer ballad, but Buffy Sainte-Marie's version of The House Carpenter probably would top my list for creepy just because of the way she sings it. (And honestly, I can't believe the list chose The Lighthouse over Nickel Creek's rendition of the same.) I don't think anyone does chilling quite like Buffy Sainte-Marie.

On a semi-related note, anyone have any good suggestions for a traditional ballad to give to ickle firsties who are sort of freaked out by having to analyze the form of a poem? I want to show them exactly where the "ballad form" comes from (they were given Keats's "La Belle Dame Sans Merci"), and common meter would probably be a good thing.

[angevin2]

For your purposes, I'd suggest Lord Randal -- it's not in common meter, but it has a lot of the other features I imagine you'd want to illustrate, including the killing and the unpleasant death and the dialogic nature of the lyrics and the repetition and the hey-hey it hurts.

[keestone]

I actually had that open in another tab as a possibility. I'll definitely give it a close look. :D

[kindkit]

"The House Carpenter" is an awesome song. I haven't heard the Buffy Sainte-Marie version, but I used to have one by Daithi Sproule (who occasionally plays with Altan) that I adored. *pouts* Stupid cassettes and their tendency to wear out.

[keestone]

You probably would believe how badly I'm missing my mom's LP record collection. If I had a record player here, I'd probably take half of it with me the next time I got to visit the family home.

http://youtu.be/Ko4OL6SHipk
(let's see if it embeds...)