Christopher Orlet: Whatever Happened to the Murder Ballad?
[Christopher Orlet writes from Belleville, Illinois.]
Hearing the song "Lillie Shull" the other day made me wonder whatever became of murder ballads. A century ago there was scarcely a small town murder that wasn't memorialized in song. This was especially true of the non-literate musically inclined mountain folk of the Border States. It was a trait they carried with them from Scotland, but one that has not survived modernization, which is too bad.
Murder ballads seem to have died out around the time of the Great Depression. The genre underwent a brief resurgence during the '60s folk revival -- who hasn't heard the Kingston Trio's maudlin version of "Tom Dooley"? -- though few new ballads were written. From time to time, murder ballads are dusted off by contemporary singer-songwriters, which is how I learned about "Lillie Shull."
Murder ballads were cautionary tales, usually taking the point of view of the condemned man on the gallows as he expressed remorse for his awful deed. "Lillie Shull" is typical of the genre with its dire warnings against greed, lust, drink and infidelity....
Read entire article at American Spectator
Hearing the song "Lillie Shull" the other day made me wonder whatever became of murder ballads. A century ago there was scarcely a small town murder that wasn't memorialized in song. This was especially true of the non-literate musically inclined mountain folk of the Border States. It was a trait they carried with them from Scotland, but one that has not survived modernization, which is too bad.
Murder ballads seem to have died out around the time of the Great Depression. The genre underwent a brief resurgence during the '60s folk revival -- who hasn't heard the Kingston Trio's maudlin version of "Tom Dooley"? -- though few new ballads were written. From time to time, murder ballads are dusted off by contemporary singer-songwriters, which is how I learned about "Lillie Shull."
Murder ballads were cautionary tales, usually taking the point of view of the condemned man on the gallows as he expressed remorse for his awful deed. "Lillie Shull" is typical of the genre with its dire warnings against greed, lust, drink and infidelity....