It's a Shame To Beat Your Wife On A Sunday

Little Sadie
Tom Dooley
Banks Of The Ohio
Willow Garden
Pretty Polly
Delia

Miss Otis Regrets
Frankie And Johnny
Monongahela Sal

I have, at one time or another sung all of these songs. I stopped singing the first one many years ago, but I hate to give up some of the really great murder ballads. In the first six murder ballads, the man murders the woman. They are all in the first person and he doesn't give much of a reason, BUT he does end up sitting in prison or hanging. When I sing these songs, I don't approve of the actions, I'm playing a character.

The last three are murder ballads where the woman kills the man. They are all in the third person and, though their reasons don't justify murder, we don't feel too sorry for the scumballs they murder.

I'd put Slap Her Down Again Pa in the same group as It's A Shame To Beat Your Wife On A Sunday. I don't sing them for the same reason I don't tell nor laugh at racist jokes.