Murder & Outlaw Ballads
Posted by shanoah on March 7, 2008
Hmmm… An awful lot of commotion over there.
*shrugs*
Oh well, I’m sure it’s nothing important.
Today, I’ll touch on a topic I’m sure I’ll return to multiple times – Murder Ballads & songs about Outlaws. There are an awful lot of songs out there detailing the crimes of a criminal, usually including murder. A good deal of them detail people who really existed, and their crimes.
Some, you’ve probably even heard of. Who hasn’t heard the song “Tom Dooley“? Though you likely heard the Kingston Trio version, not the better, more detailed Doc Watson version. (And these days, a lot of people think Tom Dula may actually not have killed Laurie Foster, as this clip mentions.)
One good example of a murder ballad is an English song, “Captain Kidd”. The version I have here is sung by The Rakish Rogues. I actually prefer it being sung by Joni Minstrel, which can be found on the free PiratePalooza 2007 Booty Music album.
Another example is the song “Wild Colonial Boy“, a song both the Irish and the Australians claim as their own, with slightly different versions. This is the Irish version. sung by the Clancy Brothers. Unfortunately, I didn’t see a good version of the Australian version, though I really like StoneRing’s version on the cd Samhain.
