Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: GUEST,Paul Slade
Date: 19 Jun 12 - 02:28 PM

Please do, Mary. I hope we'll get the other version in due course too, but that just adds to the fun as far as I'm concerned.

You''l find the full lyrics for The Sister & The Serpent, plus my own research on the true story that inspired it here: http://www.planetslade.com/broadside-ballads-sister-and-serpent.html

If I can be any help, you can always reach me here: paul (at) planetslade (dot) com.

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: Mary Humphreys
Date: 19 Jun 12 - 01:14 PM

As I live in Cambridgeshire I should like to have a go at the Sister &the Serpent, even though I see someone else has claimed it.

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: GUEST,Paul Slade
Date: 19 Jun 12 - 07:00 AM

Just to be clear, any of the 16 songs is available to anyone who wants to tackle it, whether or not someone else has already nominated it or even done a recording.

With the best will in the world, I'm sure some of the people who've already offered to do songs won't get a chance to tackle them in the end. It's been well over three months in some cases now, and I don't want anyone to feel those songs have been taken off the table for good.

Personally, I think it's quite fun when we get two "rival" versions of the same song, as that offers a chance to compare and contrast different approaches.

I've yet to receive recordings of any song on the list below, so please consider them all still up for grabs. And I'm still very much hoping all the offers already in will materialise, of course. I hope no-one will think I'm being ungrateful or impatient here, but I want to be be sure we keep the project moving.

Mary Arnold
Cruel Lizzy Vickers
The Sister & the Serpent
The Murdered Maid
Nataniel Mobbs
The Liverpool Lodger
Jones & Harwood

Full lyrics and background stories here: http://www.planetslade.com/broadside-ballads-songs.html

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: GUEST,Paul Slade
Date: 27 May 12 - 01:10 PM

Hi, Richard. I do have someone else working on The Liverpool Lodger at the moment - another Liverpudlian as a matter of fact - but please don't let that put you off.

We've already got two versions of The Old Baby Farmer up on the site, and it's possible that we'll get another Jealous Annie too. Personally, I've got no problem with that at all, as I think it's often quite interesting to compare and contrast the way two different artists treat the same set of lyrics and the same story. Let a thousand flowers bloom, that's what I say.

The Sister & The Serpent's original 1850 sheet, for them as don't know, suggests its lyrics be sung to an air called The Waggon Train, which I've never been able to track down. I don't know if Irene ever tried to trace it or not, but she did tell me she was using a tune of her own for the recording.

I'd still be very interested to know more about The Waggon Train if any Mudcatters can shed light on it. The tune intended must have already been popular by 1850, and suitable for the lyrics here: http://www.planetslade.com/broadside-ballads-sister-and-serpent.html

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: Richard from Liverpool
Date: 27 May 12 - 12:41 PM

Paul, I'm still tempted to take you up on your suggestion that I cover The Liverpool Lodger. Only reason I haven't said yes absolutely is because I'm massively busy with work until July and I need to make sure I have time to work out a tune, do a proper recording (rather than my usual slapdash efforts) etc. But if it's still not taken then, I might stick my hand up, I just don't want to stand in the way of someone who can do it better and in a more timely fashion.

Will be interested to see what Irene Shettle makes of The Sister and the Serpent. I live in Cambridge at the moment, and I think if I was going to try any other song, it would likely be that one! Did you ever track down the tune The Waggon Train? Or has Irene Shettle managed to track it down?

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: GUEST,Paul Slade
Date: 25 May 12 - 08:56 AM

I've just run Andy's message through Google's Spanish to English translator, which produces this:

"yes yes, the 'golden earrings' are the most espuetndos! Dutch beat gods agree, its better days were in the 60 and did not taste at all radar love, of course. but they made some very real things in the evenings year 60 (and, like the 45 in the year 1970 as well) I can not mention all these years the songs I like, because they are so many! my favorite hurry hurry hurry now this, from my awful spanish 1968.please excuse, it've Been A Long Time since i had to write or say something in That language (and sorry For all those years, my keyboard does Have the n with with swung the little dash above it). thanks for commenting!"

(I think he may have the wrong forum.)

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: GUEST,Paul Slade
Date: 21 May 12 - 04:59 AM

Gallows Ballads Project.

The PlanetSlade page above is now updated with links to all ten of our free, downloadable recordings so far.

The current state of play is this:

Now On-line
Elsa Lanchester: Mrs Dyer.
Hammond School: Gallows Child.
Tim Radford: The Old Baby Farmer.
Sean Breadin (Sedayne): The Silent Grove.
Rob Wahl: Streams of Crimson Blood.
Foxen: The Unnatural Murder.
KingBrilliant: The Foreigner's Downfall.
Pete Morton: Jealous Annie.
Big Al Whittle: Life & Trial of Palmer.
Ernest Johnson: Murder at Westmill.

Promised Soon
Simeon Peebler: Mary Arnold.
The Jetsonics: Cruel Lizzy Vickers.
Irene Shettle: The Sister & The Serpent.
Elisa Flynn. The Murdered Maid.
Cowboy Slim: Jealous Annie.

Unclaimed So Far
The Execution of Nataniel Mobbs.
The Liverpool Lodger.
Jones & Harwood.

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 20 May 12 - 10:48 PM

Please disregard the previous Youtube link. I realized the vocal was way too high in the mix, and the new version can be heard at The Murder at Westmill

Thanks!

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 18 May 12 - 06:49 PM

View the Youtube video at

Murder at Westmill

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: GUEST,Paul Slade
Date: 18 May 12 - 06:21 PM

We've also created a Soundcloud page for Big Al's Death of William Palmer recording, which allowed us to add a free download option there too.

Death of William Palmer
(Soundcloud version)

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 18 May 12 - 02:33 PM

Updated and downloadable new Soundcloud link

Murder at Westmill

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: GUEST, Paul Slade
Date: 18 May 12 - 06:11 AM

Thanks very much for that - it's another good 'un. I particularly like the harmonica break, which I would call Dylanesque if it weren't for the fact that you play the thing so much better than he does.

I'll get the links up on PlanetSlade in the next few days. Would you prefer to be credited there as "Lonesome EJ" or "Ernest Johnson"? Whichever option you prefer is fine with me, so please just let me know.

Also, would it be possible to enable the download option on that Soundcloud page? They have a really confusing tick-box on the upload form which makes it look like that option's switched on when it isn't. I'd sooner rely on the Soundcloud link, as I think people are more accustomed to using that site, and it's that bit better designed than most of its rivals.

I ask about the download option because I'd like to give people the chance to collect all the Gallows Ballads Project tracks on their own iTunes file and keep them together as one tidy package. That's what I've been doing - with the help of your Mediafire link - and I imagine others might like to do it too.

Thanks so much for doing this. I'll set about plugging your track on the three other message boards I've been using now - that's fRoots, Mojo and No Depression.

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 17 May 12 - 08:58 PM

The Westmill Murder on Soundcloud

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 17 May 12 - 07:53 PM

I'll do my best - although I don't find Myspace terribly easy to use.

NaturallY I will cooperate anyway I can

al

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: GUEST,Paul Slade
Date: 17 May 12 - 04:49 PM

Actually, that Myspace link seems to work fine whether you're a member or not, so I'd encourage everyone to nip over there and have a listen to Big Al now. It's very nice work indeed, Al, with some lovely little guitar flourishes. Thanks so much for doing it.

I've tweeted this new addition with the appropriate links to my modest collection of Twitter followers and plugged it on the usual handful of message boards. I'll get the link up on PlanetSlade itself in the next few days. If there's anything you'd like to tell people about why you chose this particular song or the approach you took to covering it, please just let me know, and I'll add your comments to the project's Sleevenotes page forthwith.

Finally, would it be possible to add a download button to this song on your Myspace page, as others here have done with their Soundcloud contributions above? I've been building up a personal GBP compilation in my iTunes file, and I imagine quite a lot of other people would like to have that option too.

Don't want a lot, do I? Seriously though, Al, thanks again for doing this - I really am chuffed with the result.

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: GUEST,Paul Slade
Date: 17 May 12 - 03:55 PM

Woo hoo! Things is moving again!

Dear Al - I'm DEFINITELY interested! You can reach me here: paul(at)planetslade.com. There's an e-mail link on this page too.

I'm going to try your myspace link now, but I'm not a member, so I'm not sure if it'll let me in or not.

Dear Lonesome EJ - Murder at Westmill is completely unclaimed so far, so it's all yours. Please drop me a line at the same address if I can be any help.

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 17 May 12 - 12:51 PM

Paul, I'd like to take a crack at Murder at Westmill (no pun intended).
Ernie

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 17 May 12 - 11:13 AM

I've put it on myspace - if anyone's interested.

http://www.myspace.com/566916480

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 17 May 12 - 10:30 AM

I've just finished doing a version of the William Palmer Song. I can't see an e-mail on your website to send it to you Paul.

al

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: GUEST,Paul Slade
Date: 30 Apr 12 - 10:27 AM

More fresh audio:

Jealous Annie, by Pete Morton.
Audio (Soundcloud).
Background (PlanetSlade).

Many thanks to Pete for doing this.

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: GUEST,Paul Slade
Date: 28 Apr 12 - 11:14 AM

Pete Morton dropped round with his guitar this morning to record Jealous Annie at my kitchen table.

His performance uses the original 1848 lyrics, set to Pete's own music, and I'll have the audio up on-line next week. I've been listening to the minidisc all afternoon, and I can confirm it's another good 'un.

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: GUEST,Paul Slade
Date: 12 Apr 12 - 04:35 AM

PlanetSlade's Tracklist page and Sleevenotes pages are both now up to date. You'll find links to seven GBP performances there so far, with (I hope) plenty more to come.

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: GUEST, Paul Slade
Date: 09 Apr 12 - 05:41 PM

Thanks for that, KingBrilliant, and thanks for adding the download button too.

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: KingBrilliant
Date: 09 Apr 12 - 05:05 PM

Sleeve-note thing:

The Foreigner's Downfall is a murder ballad, but it is also a love song, a song of regret, and a song of exile. I like the fact that the song is written from Dedie's perspective, and that rather than focus exclusively on the harsh facts of the murder it dwells on his love for Caroline and the comfort he got from the drawings he made of the girls during his incarceration. It seems that he is resigned to swing on the gallows, and is more sorry for himself than remorseful for his crime. He draws comfort from the pictures, as if he feels that the girls are supporting him through his trials. It fascinates and chills me that he has love but no empathy. But a point in his favour: he has such a wonderfully singable name..
I chose to set the lyrics to the traditional tune of The Nightingale (ish) because that is also a love song involving a soldier, and because it is likely that the broadsides were sung to familiar trad tunes.

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: KingBrilliant
Date: 09 Apr 12 - 02:05 PM

Cheers for the kind comments Paul.
I am new to Soundcloud so didnt know about adding button - will hie me off & do it now.

Oh no! I am such twattage!!! I saw that download option thing & thought the big "x" meant it was selected, eeek - I sometimes wonder about my choice of career - don't think I should be let near computers....

Anyway - download option is there now.

Also - am loving RTim's Baby Farmer recording. I live a couple of streets away, and most days I cycle past Mrs Dyer's house & over "the clappers" (the local name for the weir from which she is said to have thrown the babies). Amelia Dyer is definitely still part of the local conciousness.

Looking forward to hearing all the songs when they are all up on the site.

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: GUEST, Paul Slade
Date: 09 Apr 12 - 01:33 PM

Oh, and one other thing, KingBrilliant. Would you object to adding a "Download" button to the song on your Soundcloud page as Tim and Suibhne have above?

I ask for selfish reasons as much as any, because I've been collecting all the tracks into a single album on my own computer's iTunes file. Other people might like to do the same.

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: GUEST,Paul Slade
Date: 09 Apr 12 - 01:20 PM

That's just gorgeous, KB - definitely one of my favourite Gallows Ballads Project tracks so far. I'll get all the relevant links up on PlanetSlade next week and give it a plug on the other message boards too.

If you should feel like letting me have a few comments for the project's Sleevenotes page, please do and I'll post them up there with the others. My feeling is that people might quite enjoy reading why everyone chose their particular track and how they settled on the treatment used.

Elsewhere in the forest, Irene Shettle tells me her setting of The Sister & The Serpent went down well when she tried it out at a Guildford folk club recently, and promises a recording soon. The Jetsonics were planning to have their first bash at Cruel Lizzie Vickers over the holiday weekend, so things are happening there too.

CS? Big Al? Anything to report?

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: KingBrilliant
Date: 09 Apr 12 - 12:59 PM

I know its a murder - but its also a bit of a love story, so I've set it to the Nightingale tune (ish).

The Foreigner's Downfall

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: GUEST,Paul Slade
Date: 02 Apr 12 - 10:14 AM

No-one's yet claimed The Foreigner's Downfall, KingBrilliant, so do go ahead and tackle it by all means. You'll find all the details here.

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: KingBrilliant
Date: 02 Apr 12 - 09:16 AM

I'd love to have a go at The Foreigner's Downfall if I may?

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: GUEST,Paul Slade
Date: 02 Apr 12 - 05:24 AM

We have some more fresh audio, this time featuring John and Margaret Foxen performing The Unnatural Murder.

The lyrics are taken from the original ballad sheet, but the tune is John's own. He wrote it with Margaret's soprano vocals very much in mind, and adds his own guitar, fiddle and concertina to accompany her.

You'll find the audio at the Tindeck page here, and the background story on the PlanetSlade page here.

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: GUEST,Paul Slade
Date: 18 Mar 12 - 01:02 PM

Hi, CS. The current state of play is as follows:

Now on-line
1.        Mrs Dyer (x2)
2.        Gallows Child.
3.        The Old Baby Farmer.
4.        The Silent Grove.
5.        Streams of Crimson Blood.

Tunes selected, recording on the way
6.        Mary Arnold.
7.        Jealous Annie.
8.        The Unnatural Murder.
9.        Cruel Lizzy Vickers.
10.        The Sister & The Serpent.
11.        The Murdered Maid.
12.        Life & Trial of Palmer.

Unclaimed so far
14.        The Execution of Nataniel Mobbs.
15.        The Liverpool Lodger.
16.        Murder at Westmill.
17.        Jones & Harwood.
18.        The Foreigner's Downfall.

Please drop me a line care of PlanetSlade or add another note here when you've decided which one you'd like to tackle. I'm trying to keep a central list of songs and contributors together so we know where we are.

There's lots of talented people here, so I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding a collaborator. Failing that, why not add an existing ballad or hymn tune to one of the lyrics - as The Hammond School did with Gallows Child?

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: GUEST,CS
Date: 18 Mar 12 - 11:50 AM

What's left Paul?
I could record one of the untaken songs on my little Zoom but might have to ask advice of Mudcatter's for some guidance about tune as I only sing.

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: GUEST,Paul Slade
Date: 14 Mar 12 - 06:55 PM

Sounds great to me, Al - I'll mark The Life & Trial of Palmer down against your name, and look forward to hearing your recording very much.

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 14 Mar 12 - 03:07 PM

Okay I'll have a blast at the William Palmer song if no one else has nabbed it. I' ll record a version in about two weeks - my sister is coming to see me tomorrow - so I'll be occupied while she's here for a few days but I can rehearse it - record it when she's gone.


Does that seem okay?

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: GUEST,Paul Slade
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 04:52 PM

Apologies for the double post - could one of the mods please rectify it. Thanks.

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: GUEST,Paul Slade
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 04:49 PM

No more new audio to report just yet, I'm afraid – although I have received a work-in-progress demo of The Unnatural Murder which John and Margaret Foxen are hoping to finish ready for posting soon.

What I do have is an intriguing bit of trivia. Cassandra Clare is the author of the best-selling teen fiction series The Mortal Instrumemts and its prequel trilogy The Infernal Devices. The books follow the reliable Twilight formula of mixing supernatural creatures with hormone-soaked teen romance, and are shifting by the truckload as a result.

Book two of The Infernal Devices is 2011's The Clockwork Prince, and it's set in Victorian London. On page 191, we find this paragraph: "The carriage came to a stop at an unprepossessing corner. Across the street, the lights of an open public house spilled out onto the street, along with a steady stream of drunkards, some with women leaning on their arms, the women's brightly colored dresses stained and dirty and their cheeks highly rouged. Somewhere someone was singing 'Cruel Lizzie Vickers'."

Now, Cruel Lizzie Vickers is a title I bestowed on that particular song, the original sheet being simply headed "Horrid Murder". I posted my page about it in October 2010, by which time Clare must have been well on her way to completing The Clockwork Prince's manuscript, but it seems safe to assume from the title she's used that she found the song on PlanetSlade. I'm impressed she went the extra mile to find a real Victorian song for her characters to overhear at this point, and chuffed to see it score a passing mention in such a popular book.

The Jetsonics have already offered to do a modern cover version of Cruel Lizzie Vickers, and I'm going to drop them a line with news of the Clockwork Prince connection in a moment. All we need now is a time machine written into the plot, and one of Clare's future volumes could reveal it was them singing it outside her Victorian pub all along.

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: GUEST,Paul Slade
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 04:45 PM

No more new audio to report just yet, I'm afraid – although I have received a work-in-progress demo of The Unnatural Murder which John and Margaret Foxen are hoping to finish ready for posting soon.

What I do have is an intriguing bit of trivia. Cassandra Clare is the author of the best-selling teen fiction series The Mortal Instrumemts and its prequel trilogy The Infernal Devices. The books follow the reliable Twilight formula of mixing supernatural creatures with hormone-soaked teen romance, and are shifting by the truckload as a result.

Book two of The Infernal Devices is 2011's The Clockwork Prince, and it's set in Victorian London. On page 191, we find this paragraph: "The carriage came to a stop at an unprepossessing corner. Across the street, the lights of an open public house spilled out onto the street, along with a steady stream of drunkards, some with women leaning on their arms, the women's brightly colored dresses stained and dirty and their cheeks highly rouged. Somewhere someone was singing 'Cruel Lizzie Vickers'."

Now, Cruel Lizzie Vickers is a title I bestowed on that particular song, the original sheet being simply headed "Horrid Murder". I posted my page about it in October 2010, by which time Clare must have been well on her way to completing The Clockwork Prince's manuscript, but it seems safe to assume from the title she's used that she found the song on PlanetSlade. I'm impressed she went the extra mile to find a real Victorian song for her characters to overhear at this point, and chuffed to see it score a passing mention in such a popular book.

The Jetsonics have already offered to do a modern cover version of Cruel Lizzie Vickers, and I'm going to drop them a line with news of the Clockwork Prince connection in a moment. All we need now is a time machine written into the plot, and one of Clare's future volumes could reveal it was them singing it outside her Victorian pub all along.

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: GUEST,Paul Slade
Date: 03 Mar 12 - 08:52 AM

Streams of Crimson Blood

Many thanks to Artful Codger, whose splendid recording of Streams of Crimson Blood can now be heard at the Tindeck link above. He sings it unaccompanied, adding just the right touch of Victorian horror and melodrama to the tale in his delivery. Music copyright © 2012 by Robert Wahl. All rights reserved.

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: GUEST,Paul Slade
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 11:52 AM

Thanks very much, Tim - that's much appreciated. I've just had a note from Simeon in Chicago too, who confirms he's cracking on with his version of Mary Arnold, so we're still ticking along nicely.

There's still loads of songs up for grabs, Al. You'll find links to all the 16 ballads' lyrics and stories here.

So far, no-one's offered to tackle these:
The Execution of Nataniel Mobbs (Whitechapel, 1853)
The Life & Trial of Palmer (Staffordshire, 1856)
The Liverpool Lodger (Liverpool, 1849)
Murder at Westmill (Hertfordshire, 1848)
The Murdered Maid (Devon, 1832)
Cruel Lizzie Vickers (Brixton, 1853)
Jones & Harwood (Surrey, 1851)
The Sister & The Serpent (Cambridgeshire, 1850)
The Foreigner's Downfall (Kent, 1857)

If you've got your heart set on one of the others, I've no objection to including two rival versions of the same song, so go right ahead. If you want a song all to yourself, though, those listed above are your best bet. I wouldn't presume to advise anyone which song to choose, so please just pick whichever one suits your style and interests best.

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 11:19 AM

Have you got anything left you'd like me to have a go at?

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: RTim
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 10:40 AM

Paul - I have made the change you requested.

Tim Radford

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: GUEST, Paul Slade
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 09:19 AM

OK, the two new PlanetSlade pages are up there now. The first is a tracklist giving links to all the recordings received so far, and the second has a set of sleevenotes drawn from the contributor's own comments.

All we need now is some more of the promised recordings. Artful? Simeon? John? Any progress to report?

Oh, and Tim: would you consider adding a download button to your recording, as Sedayne has done on his own Soundcloud page? I'd love to add your track it to the personal GBP compilation I'm building up in my iTunes file, and I imagine quite a lot of other people would like to have that option too. Thanks.

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: GUEST,John Foxen
Date: 18 Feb 12 - 02:44 PM

Re: The Unnatural Murder
I'll try to get something sorted in the next week or so.
If you need to you can contact me at
[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: GUEST,Paul Slade
Date: 18 Feb 12 - 01:25 PM

That'd be great, John - thank you very much.

As I say in my background piece about this song, there are quite a few theatrical versions knocking around, including George Lillo's The Fatal Curiosity in 1736, Camus' play of 1944 and Donald Rawe's Murder at Bohelland in 1991. I think it's just one of those rattling good yarns that bobs to the surface every few decades, sometimes presented as fact, sometimes as fiction.

I've just looked up the L'Etranger episode you mention, and Wikipedia has this: "The plot of Le Malentendu partially resembles the article of a newspaper that the protagonist of The Stranger finds and excessively reads in his prison cell: the story of a man who became rich abroad and comes home to his village where his sister and mother have a hotel. He doesn't unveil his personality (in order to surprise them later), and books a room as a guest. Because he is wealthy, his mother and sister murder him while sleeping."

Perhaps Camus saw a real newspaper clipping like this, and took his inspiration for the play from that report? Mary Arnold seems to have produced some very similar press coverage, so that's certainly one route by which the ballad's tale may have been transmitted. It's one of those stories that's too good to check, and I bet the newspapers would have found a way of recycling it somehow.

I'm working on a new PlanetSlade page now to pull together links to all this project's new music in a single tidy list, but it's going to take a few days to get that organised properly, so please bear with me.

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: GUEST,John Foxen
Date: 18 Feb 12 - 12:52 PM

I'd like to have a go at The Unnatural Murder.
The story must be quite widespread as Camus based his play Le Malentendu on it and I seem to remember it crops up in L'Etranger.

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: GUEST,Paul Slade
Date: 16 Feb 12 - 10:39 AM

I've just written a piece about Pretty Polly, including comments from both Kristin Hersh and Jon Boden. They both remarked (quite independently) how that song benefits from the contrast between its gory subject matter and its very jolly tune.

My own view is that you can easily squeeze all the life out of these songs by approaching them in too pious a way. They were written in a spirit of cheerful vulgarity, and I think they're generally at their best when a bit of that attitude creeps into the performance too.

On Matt's point, I always wonder what it must be like for writers who produce a weighty tome on a particularly squalid murderer such as Fred West. Researching and writing a long, conscientious book on that subject - as Gordon Burn did in 1998 - means inviting West into your head for as long as a couple of years, and I don't suppose it's all that easy to expunge his presence afterwards.

I spent only a week researching and writing my own short Mrs Dyer piece, but even then I wanted to take my brain out and give it a good scrub with disinfectant and a wire brush afterwards.

Oh, and Matt? I realise I'm in danger of stepping over the line from enthusiast to stalker here, but if it's any help, I'd be delighted to come and meet you anywhere in the UK to record you doing The Liverpool Lodger on my BBC-approved mini-disc recorder. I could take care of everything from there and, as my Feb 11 Pete Morton link above shows, even this fuss-free method can produce surprisingly good results!

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: matt milton
Date: 16 Feb 12 - 09:37 AM

"I think one thing we've lost these days is that crimes are reported, but we never get the full story, much less a song about them (though there were at least two going the rounds about Raoul Moat). In folklore, you still get stories, gossip, and jokes (in especially extreme cases)."

The closest thing to that these days would be the cult of True Crime. Websites, magazines and dashed-off "airport" paperbacks. The latter being very much a modern, novelistic equivalent of a broadside or a penny-dreadful.

I had to edit a dashed-off, hastily written True Crime book once and it was a very strange experience: having to find out all about serial killers like Jeffrey Dahmer, Peter Sutcliffe et al in order to fact-check and edit what had been written about them. A weird couple of months: I'd frequently feel quite literally nauseous. I remember doing the picture research for the book, and looking at these newspaper photographs online from press photographers of the crime scenes of the Sutcliffe murders: they were really well-constructed, beautiful examples of the photographer's craft, and you had to keep reminding yourself that they were documentary depictions of something truly horrible.

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 16 Feb 12 - 09:21 AM

Cheery indeed, Charley...

Giving it a bit more thought - mostly in order to justify my approach to my wife last night who quizzed me about the ostensible jollity of the thing (though I agree with Paul about the psychotic element) I was thinking very much of the 19th Century street singer performing to a mixed audience in terms of age / social class so the song is merry enough for the dancing tots (whose concentration spans would have given up on the narrative by verse 4) but it carries the darkness at its core for the attentive adults, perhaps being made all the more appalling to the more sensitive Bourgeoisie by the brightness of the tune; beguiled by so subversive a dichotomy (and thus beguiled does the Dodger dip their pockets). You don't have to over egg these things in terms of pathos; the formulaic morphology (both in narrative as well as structure) works as basic reportage in an age when Broadside Ballads were mass media. Of course a more Grand Guignol approach would do just as well, but I've been immersed in Broadsides, Edward Gorey (interviews as well as books) and Poe all year, so maybe that's just where my head is at right now.

I think one thing we've lost these days is that crimes are reported, but we never get the full story, much less a song about them (though there were at least two going the rounds about Raoul Moat). In folklore, you still get stories, gossip, and jokes (in especially extreme cases). I remember barely legible photocopies doing the rounds in factories and offices, though these days it's more likely to be texts. People love crime drama - they revel in the details by way of a very genuine catharthis - they need the MMO to contextualise the horror - which is something the Gallows Ballads give us in spades.

Where's Pip on this one anyway? As our resident Folk Singing Criminologist one would have thought it would have right up his dark back alley...

Subject: RE: Musicians Wanted: The Gallows Ballads Project
From: Charley Noble
Date: 16 Feb 12 - 08:33 AM

Sean-

You've certainly done a fine job of delivering this chilling ballad to the 21st century. It's just the kind of song to "brighten up" a session!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble