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Songs of Dismemberment

Mrrzy 24 Sep 19 - 03:30 PM
GUEST,Fred Maslan 23 Sep 19 - 08:31 PM
GUEST 23 Sep 19 - 08:05 PM
Lighter 23 Sep 19 - 07:41 PM
Howard Kaplan 25 Jul 19 - 10:48 PM
Mrrzy 25 Jul 19 - 05:49 PM
keberoxu 25 Jul 19 - 12:10 PM
GUEST 25 Jul 19 - 10:34 AM
Jack Campin 25 Jul 19 - 07:47 AM
Brian Peters 25 Jul 19 - 07:34 AM
Howard Kaplan 22 Jul 19 - 10:03 PM
Tattie Bogle 22 Jul 19 - 06:58 PM
Jack Campin 22 Jul 19 - 06:16 PM
Joe_F 22 Jul 19 - 05:57 PM
GUEST,Maureen 22 Jul 19 - 02:13 PM
GUEST,Barrie Roberts 07 Apr 05 - 03:44 PM
GUEST,Les 07 Apr 05 - 01:26 PM
GUEST,Art Thieme 06 Apr 05 - 11:36 PM
open mike 06 Apr 05 - 09:18 PM
GUEST,Alexander 06 Apr 05 - 07:19 PM
The Fooles Troupe 06 Apr 05 - 07:18 PM
GUEST,Michael Morris at work 06 Apr 05 - 06:59 PM
Abby Sale 06 Apr 05 - 09:51 AM
Noreen 06 Apr 05 - 07:05 AM
Georgiansilver 06 Apr 05 - 06:35 AM
Big Al Whittle 06 Apr 05 - 05:33 AM
LadyJean 06 Apr 05 - 01:01 AM
GUEST,Nancy King at work 05 Apr 05 - 06:55 PM
Charley Noble 05 Apr 05 - 02:41 PM
robomatic 05 Apr 05 - 11:50 AM
Georgiansilver 05 Apr 05 - 03:03 AM
Jim Dixon 05 Apr 05 - 12:04 AM
Joe_F 21 Jun 03 - 06:24 PM
cobber 21 Jun 03 - 08:09 AM
GUEST,Snook13 20 Jun 03 - 09:52 PM
GUEST,bigjon 20 Jun 03 - 03:13 PM
BuckMulligan 20 Jun 03 - 01:09 PM
GUEST,Philippa 20 Jun 03 - 10:24 AM
Amos 19 Jun 03 - 06:45 PM
Sandy Mc Lean 19 Jun 03 - 04:56 PM
BuckMulligan 19 Jun 03 - 03:16 PM
Amos 19 Jun 03 - 12:41 PM
GUEST 19 Jun 03 - 12:27 PM
GUEST,Philppa 19 Jun 03 - 12:19 PM
DMcG 19 Jun 03 - 05:49 AM
Dave Bryant 19 Jun 03 - 05:37 AM
Gurney 19 Jun 03 - 05:04 AM
Steve Parkes 19 Jun 03 - 03:26 AM
LadyJean 19 Jun 03 - 12:24 AM
robomatic 18 Jun 03 - 08:34 PM
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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Mrrzy
Date: 24 Sep 19 - 03:30 PM

The version of Blood on the saddle (lots more verses) that I had by Ed McCurdy was not to a Stewballesque tune. No dismemberment, also. The head was mashed in but not removed. Great song!


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST,Fred Maslan
Date: 23 Sep 19 - 08:31 PM

"you can't be a pirate with all of your parts."

surprised I didn't see this above


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Sep 19 - 08:05 PM

"The Beheading of a King"
- Amon Amarth

The Danish king was captured, most of his guards were dead, for a ransom he was released, then his people took his head…”


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Lighter
Date: 23 Sep 19 - 07:41 PM

From the movie Husbands ( 1970):

                There was blood on the saddle,
                And blood on the ground,
                Great big buckets
                Of blood all around.

                The cowboy was dying,
                The horse was dead too,
                And that’s all the story
                That I ever knew.

The tune resembled "Stewball."


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Howard Kaplan
Date: 25 Jul 19 - 10:48 PM

There is a version of Child Ballad #191, Hughie Graeme, which ends with this verse:

And you may tell my kith and kin,
I never did disgrace their blood;
And when they meet the Bishop's cloak,
Leave it shorter by the hood.


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Mrrzy
Date: 25 Jul 19 - 05:49 PM

He stabbed her and ripped her and cut her in three?


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: keberoxu
Date: 25 Jul 19 - 12:10 PM

Somebody was asking after the name of
the ballad favored by Martin Carthy:

the dismembered character is "Young Andrew,"
which I think is the title.

we shall strip you to the skin,
but the wolves shall strip you to the bone,

say the surviving brothers of
Andrew's dead victim.


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Jul 19 - 10:34 AM

Don't know whether it counts but, just after W.W.2., Liverpool kids used to chant:
    I lost me arm in the Army,
    I lost me leg in the Navy
    I lost me cock in the butcher's shop
    And thy found it in the gravy
Jim Carroll


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Jack Campin
Date: 25 Jul 19 - 07:47 AM

I don't think Philomel (raped and had her tongue cut out before turning into a nightingale) ever made it into British folksong but she features in a fair number of classical songs, from the Renaissance to Milton Babbitt's piece for soprano and electronic tape.


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Brian Peters
Date: 25 Jul 19 - 07:34 AM

Sir Aldingar (Child 59) has the villainous knight confronted by a champion much smaller than himself. Initially contemptuous, Aldingar gets his come-uppance:

'He stroke the first stroke att Aldingar,
He stroke away his leggs by his knee;
        . . . . . .
        . . . . .
Sayes, Stand vp, stand vp, thou false traitor,
And fight vpon thy feete;
For and thou thriue as thou begins,
Of a height wee shalbe meete.'

which I edited down to:

'He struck first at Aldingar, took his legs off at the knee,
"Stand up stand up, you false traitor, now you’re a match for me"'

Sir Aldingar


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Howard Kaplan
Date: 22 Jul 19 - 10:03 PM

There's also By the Hush, a.k.a. Paddy's Lamentation, as discussed in this thread and in this thread. It includes these lines:

General Meagher to us he said
If you get shot or lose your head
Every mother's son of you will get a pension.
In the war I lost me leg
All I've now is a wooden peg
By my soul it is the truth to you I'll mention.


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 22 Jul 19 - 06:58 PM

Can't see that "The Forfar Sodger" has been mentioned?


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Jack Campin
Date: 22 Jul 19 - 06:16 PM

Ae Fond Kiss (and then we sever) aka The Loreena Bobbit Song.


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Joe_F
Date: 22 Jul 19 - 05:57 PM

Climbers' Gory:

There were brains upon the rucksacks, there was blood upon the ropes,
Intestines lay strewn out across the green and grassy slopes,
They scraped them up in baskets after salvaging the ropes,
And they ain't gonna climb no more.


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST,Maureen
Date: 22 Jul 19 - 02:13 PM

What a fabulous collection of gruesome ballads! I found it while searching for a ditty my late grandmother sang to us in the 1950’s—“3 Jolly Consumptives”. I think of it every time I have a nasty, loose cough! If anyone still follows this thread and knows the source, i’d love to hear it!


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Subject: Lyr Add: TEN LITTLE TOES (Barrie Roberts)
From: GUEST,Barrie Roberts
Date: 07 Apr 05 - 03:44 PM

30 years ago or so I was being driven slowly crazy by Rolf Harris' recording of 'Two Little Boys'. In a desperate attempt to exorcise it, I wrote a parody to the same tune:

Ten Little Toes

Words by Barrie Roberts

Two little boys had two little toys,
Each had a crosscut saw,
Gaily they played at sawing away
And the ripped and they tore,
Till poor little Jack had a fearful mishap,
Which chopped off his lefthand leg,
And he hobbled about, screaming and shouting,
Till his young playmate said....

'Did you think I would leave you hobbling?'
And he sawed off the right leg too,
'Climb up here, Jack, a bit of cobbling
And you'll be just as good as new.
When we grow up we'll both be lumberjacks
And we'll hack down the trees in rows,
Do you think we will ever remember, Jack,
When you had ten little toes?'

Long years past, lumberjacks at last
Both of the lads became,
Chopping away until one fatal day
When the forest was all aflame.
Joe got caught, struggled and fought,
But he could not get away,
He'd resigned himself to a fiery death
When he heard Jack say...

'Did you think I would leave you frying?'
And he hacked off Joes legs too,
'Climb up here, Joe, and lets be going,
For my tin feet'll see us through,
You see that I'm all a-trembling,
Do you think its the fires glow?
No, Joe, I'm remembering
When I had ten little toes'.

Trust this paen to brotherly affection fits the canon.


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST,Les
Date: 07 Apr 05 - 01:26 PM


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 11:36 PM

There is a great song Steve Goodman used to sing about a three legged man bein' chased around the country by a one-legged fool. A guy wnt to steal a fellows artificial leg and, in the dark, stole his good one by mistake.

I do wish I knew it. (Sorry. Guess I'm stumped again!!)

Art Thieme


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: open mike
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 09:18 PM

someone should write a song about this guy, Aron Ralston.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/04/04/cnn25.tan.ralston/
in 2003 while hiking alone in a remote canyon in Utah,
he had a boulder roll and pin him....he was stuck there
fro 5 days and decided the olnly way he was going to live
was to amputate his own hand...and he lived to tell..

a cautionary tale...


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST,Alexander
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 07:19 PM

Tom Lehrer again from memory: This might not be absolutely correct, but turn on your speakers and I'll sing for you:

Oh, her mother she just couldn't stand
Singing rickety, tickety, tin
Oh, her mother she just couldn't stand
So a cyanide soup was what she planned
And her mother died with the spoon in her hand...
And her face in a hideous grin, a grin, a grin, a grin...
Her face in a hideous grin

She tied her brother up with stones
Singing rickety, tickety, tin
She tied her brother up with stones
And sent him down to Davy Jones....
And all they ever found were some bones....
And occasional pieces of skin, of skin, of skin, of skin...
Occasional pieces of skin

She set her sister's hair on fire
Singing rickety, tickety, tin
She set her sister's hair on fire
And danced around the funeral pyre,
Playing a violin, 'olin, 'olin, 'olin...
Playing a violin


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 07:18 PM

Tom Leher gave us 'I hold your hand in mine'...


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST,Michael Morris at work
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 06:59 PM

"Pearl Bryan" is based upon a real life decapitation, and many versions go into considerable detail of the dastardly act.


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Abby Sale
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 09:51 AM

LadyJean: Yes, called "Around the Corner" on my record. And I thought I was the only person in the world that sings that.

Hmm, I also sing "Chylde Owlet." (I wonder if that's symptomatic of anything.) MacColl writes that the event of family members killing each other by any & all means is common enough in Ballads. However...
"There's something off-beat about having one's nephew torn to pieces by wild horses but, as Professor Child has observed, 'the last two stanzas are unusually successful.'"


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Noreen
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 07:05 AM

"Childe Owlett" (Child 291)
CHYLDE OWLET in the DT:

They've put a horse to ilka foot
and ain tae ilka hand
And sent them oot ower Elkin Moor
As fast as they could gang

There wasnae grass nor heather knowe
Nor broom nor bonnie whin
But drappit wi' Chylde Owlet's blood
And pieces o' his skin

There wasnae stane on Elkin Moor
Nor yet a piece o' rush
But drappit wi' Chylde Owlet's blood
And pieces o' his flesh


A nasty death, and a chilling song!


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 06:35 AM

Beautiful house it is too Al..on Dalton Square. Wicked story of double murder and seems to be known by all the locals in spite of it being a long time ago.
Best wishes. Mike.


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 05:33 AM

children's song from lancaster to the tune of Red Sails in the Sunset

Red stains on the carpet
red stains on your knife
Oh doctor Buck Ruxton
You chopped up your wife

the maidservant saw you
you thought she would tell
oh doctor buck ruxton
you chopped her up as well

I believe the good Doctor's house is awarded pride of place in Lancaster's website for tourists!


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: LadyJean
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 01:01 AM

My sister and I quite happily learned an old Marias and Miranda song called, "Waiting for Emily" that included the line, "For my Emily proved fickle. So I used my sharp old sickle. Now the blood beneath the berry tree doth trickle..trickle..trickle."

There's also a charming French song, "Perrine Etait Servante" wherein Perrine's boyfriend is eaten by rats, and they make his skull into a holy water font, and his leg bones into candlesticks. The McGarrigle sisters recorded it.


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST,Nancy King at work
Date: 05 Apr 05 - 06:55 PM

Wasn't it Spike Jones who gave us the incomparable "LEP-ro-seee, my god I've got leprosy -- there goes my right arm..." etc.?


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Charley Noble
Date: 05 Apr 05 - 02:41 PM

Jim-

Your long ballad is clearly a precursor to all "The Very Unfortunate Man" songs in this thread.

Now no one, no one at all, has mentioned Steve Goodman's "Chicken Cordon Blues."

Cheerily,
Charley Noble


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: robomatic
Date: 05 Apr 05 - 11:50 AM

A lady of similar parts as represented in the two above posts was traveling by overnight train. As she prepared for bed, she removed her wig, her glass eye, her false front, an arm and a leg. Just as she was about to turn from her mirror, she saw a face watching her from the top bunk. A drunk had passed out there and not been noticed until this moment.
The lady espostulated: "What do you want?"

"Lady, you know what I want. Unscrew it and toss it up here!"


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 05 Apr 05 - 03:03 AM

Have you seen the time?
It's a quarter past nine.
I think it is bedtime,
Don't you?
So she rose from the chair,
Took off her false hair.
Her white pearly teeth,
came out too.
One leg made of wood,
One eye was a dud.
Her nose she began
to unscrew!
I cried with dismay,
As her bust fell away.
Am I wasting my time
On you?


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Subject: Lyr Add: NEWS FROM HYDE-PARK (from Bodleian)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 05 Apr 05 - 12:04 AM

The Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads has 6 copies of this song. This transcription is based mainly on Don. b.13(67).

NEWS FROM HYDE-PARK
Or,
A very merry Passage which happen'd betwixt a North Country Gentleman, and a very gaudy gallant Lady of Pleasure, whom he took up in the Park, and conducted her (in her own Coach) Home to her Lodgings : And what chanced there, if you'll venture Attention, the Song will declare. Tune of, The Cross'd Couple. Licens'd and Enter'd.
[Printed in London between 1663 and 1674.]

One evening, a little before it was dark,
      Sing tan tara rara tan-tivee,
I called for my gelding and rid to Hyde Park,
      On tan tara rara tan-tivee.
It was in the merry month of May
When meadows and fields were gaudy and gay,
And flowers appareled as bright as the day,
      I got upon my tan-tivee.

The park shone brighter than the skies,
      Sing tan tara rara tan-tivee,
With jewels and gold and ladies' eyes
      That sparkled and cried, "Come see me."
Of all parts of England, Hyde Park hath the name
For coaches and horses and persons of fame.
It looked at first sight like a field full of flame,
      Which made me to ride up tan-tivee.

There hath not been seen such a sight since Adam's
      For periwig, ribbon, and feather.
Hyde Park may be termed the Market of Madams,
      Or lady-fair, choose you whether.
Their gowns were a yard too long for their legs.
They showed like the rainbow cut into rags,
A garden of flowers, or a navy of flags,
      When they all did mingle together.

Amongst all these ladies I singled out one
      To prattle of love and folly.
I found her not coy, but jovial as Joan,
      Or Betty, or Margret, or Molly.
With honours and love, and stories of chances,
My spirits did move, and my blood she advances.
With twenty conundrums, and fifty fine fancies,
      I'd have been at her tan-tivee.

We talked away time until it grew dark.
      The place did begin to grow privy.
For gallants began to draw out of the park.
      Their horses did gallop tan-tivee.
But finding my courage a little to come,
I sent my bay gelding away by my groom
And proffered my service to wait on her home.
      In her coach we went both tan-tivee.

I offered and proffered but found her strait-laced.
      She cried, "I shall never believe ye."
This armful of Satan I bravely embraced
      And fain would have been at tan-tivee.
Her lodging was pleasant for scent and for sight.
She seemed like an angel by candlelight,
And like a bold archer, I aimed at the white
      Tan-tivee, tan-tivee, tan-tivee.

With many denials, she yielded at last,
      Her chamber being wondrous privy;
That I all the night there might have my repast
      To run at the ring tan-tivee.
I put off my clothes and I tumbled to bed.
She went in her closet to dress up her head,
But I peeped in the keyhole to see what she did,
      Which put me quite beside my tan-tivee.

She took off her head-tire, and showed her bald pate.
      Her cunning did very much grieve me.
Thought I to myself, if it were not so late,
      I would home to my lodgings, believe me.
Her hair being gone, she seemed like a hag.
Her bald pate did look like an ostrich's egg.
This lady, thought I, is as right as my leg.
      She hath been too much at tan-tivee.

The more I did peep, the more I did spy,
      Which did unto amazement drive me.
She put up her finger and out dropped her eye.
      I prayed that some power would relieve me.
But now my resolve was never to trouble her,
Or venture my carcass with such a blind hobbler.
She looked with one eye just like Hughson the cobbler,
      When he used to ride tan-tivee.

I peeped and was still more perplexed therewith.
Thought I, though 't be midnight, I'll leave thee.
She fetched a yawn and out fell her teeth.
      This quean had intents to deceive me!
She drew out her handkerchief, as I suppose,
To wipe her high forehead, and off dropped her nose,
Which made me run quickly and put on my hose.
      The devil is in my tan-tivee!

She washed all the paint from her visage, and then
      She looked just (if you will believe me)
Like a Lancashire witch of fourscore and ten,
      And, as the devil did drive me,
I put on my clothes and cried "Witches and whores!"
I tumbled downstairs and broke open the doors,
And down to my country again to my bores,
      Next morning I rid tan-tivee.

You North-Country gallants that live pleasant lives,
      Let not curiosity drive ye
To leave the fresh air and your own tenant wives,
      For Satan will sadly deceive ye.
For my part, I will no more be such a Meacock,
To deal with the plume of a Hyde-Park peacock,
But find out a russet-coat wench and a haycock,
      And there I will ride tan-tivee.


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Joe_F
Date: 21 Jun 03 - 06:24 PM

Baby, baby, naughty baby,
Hush, you squalling thing, I say.
Peace this moment, peace, or maybe
Bonaparte will pass this way.

Baby, baby, he's [a] giant,
Tall and black as Rouen steeple,
And he breakfasts, dines, rely on't,
Every day on naughty people.

Baby, baby, if he hear you
As he gallops past the house,
Limb from limb at once he'll tear you,
Just as pussy tears a mouse.

And he'll beat you, beat you, beat you,
And he'll beat you all to pap,
And he'll eat you, eat you, eat you,
Every morsel snap, snap, snap.

-- In _The Annotated Mother Goose_. I do not know the tune, but for added _frisson_ "Deutschland ueber Alles" might be pressed into service.


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Subject: Lyr Add: BLOOD ON THE SADDLE
From: cobber
Date: 21 Jun 03 - 08:09 AM

What about "Blood on the saddle"?
There was blood on the saddle, blood on the ground
And a great big pool of blood of around
And the cowboy lay in it all covered in gore
And he ain't gonna ride them broncos no more

Oh pity the cowboy, all bloody and red
Cos a bronco fell on him and mashed in his head
There was blood on the saddle and blood on the ground
And a great big pool of blood all around

I love it. Another favourite is "As you see the hearse go by"

As you see the hearse go by
Think you may be the next to die

They put you in a wooden box
And cover you with a heap of rocks

All goes well for about a week
Then your coffin begins to leak

The worms go in, the worms go out
They go in thin and they come out stout

Pus oozes out like thick rich cream
Your liver turns a ghastly green

Your eyes fall in and your teeth fall out
Your brains come trickling down your snout (sniff)

The moral of this story needs no explanation
It's really much better to have a cremation

Then of course there's the song "Someone tied a love-knot in the parachutists chord" with the lovely line "They scraped him off the tarmac like a blob of strawberry jam"


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST,Snook13
Date: 20 Jun 03 - 09:52 PM

Has any one mentioned "The Ballad of Parcy Ried"?

They fell upon him all at once, they handled him most cruely. They Hacked off his hands and feet, and left him lieing on the lee.

I heard this one sung to a strangely up beat, almost cheerfull tune on a (Scottish/english) border ballad cd.


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST,bigjon
Date: 20 Jun 03 - 03:13 PM

how about the bold keepers the line his body was quarterd and the grave was denied


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: BuckMulligan
Date: 20 Jun 03 - 01:09 PM

Somewhere, there is a song (unable to find lyrics at the moment) about the "murdered maiden" of Pembroke New Hampshire, Josie Langmaid. A true (and interesting) story from 1875 or so. Plug "josie langmaid" into google for more.


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST,Philippa
Date: 20 Jun 03 - 10:24 AM

Amos has reminded us about the Unfortunate Man. That song was mentioned in this thread back in 2001 (!) but I'm not going to search to see whether these related songs have also been mentioned already:
Damsel of 19 years old, Kempy Kay, Old Maid and the Burglar (all can be found at Mudcat)


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Amos
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 06:45 PM

Kedall does a WUNNERFUL rendition of a song concerning a three-legged man being chased by a one legged fool... or maybe its the other way 'round.

A


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 04:56 PM

How about Hank Snow's "The Night I Stole Old Sammy Morgan's Gin":
Someone else had took my head and left an elephant's there instead
On the morning after drinking Sammy's gin.

Or Ryan Fancy's "Bright Silvery Light Of The Moon":
There upon a chair sat her teeth and golden hair
      or in another verse....
There upon a peg there hung a wooden leg
      Or as it ends.......
It would break a million hearts for to see all her spare parts
By the bright silvery light of the moon.


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Subject: Lyr Add: FALL RIVER HOEDOWN (Michael Brown)
From: BuckMulligan
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 03:16 PM

Besides the "Lizzie Borden took an axe" chant, there's also this (it's in the DT)

FALL RIVER HOEDOWN (Lizzie Borden)
(Michael Brown)
(From Chad Mitchell Trio Recording)

Yesterday in old Fall River, Mr. Andrew Borden died
And he got his daughter Lizzie on a charge of homicide.
Some folks say she didn't do it, and others say she did
But they all agree Miss Lizzie B. was a problem sort of kid

'Cause you can't chop your poppa up in Massachusetts
Not even if it's planned as a surprise
No you can't chop your poppa up in Massachusetts
You know how neighbors love to criticize.

She got him on the sofa where he'd gone to take a snooze
And I hope he went to heaven' cause he wasn't wearing shoes
Lizzie kind of rearranged him with a hatchet, so they say
And then she got her mother in that same old-fashioned way,

But you can't can't chop your momma up in Massachusetts
Not even if you're tired of her cuisine
No, you can't chop your momma up in Massachusetts
You know it's almost sure to cause a scene.

Well, they really kept her hoppin' on that busy afternoon
With both down and upstairs chopping while she hummed a ragtime tune:
They really made her hustle and when all was said and done
She'd removed her mother's bustle when she wasn't wearing one.

Oh you can't chop your Momma up in Massachusetts
And then blame all the damage on the mice,
No you can't chop your Momma up in Massachusetts
That kind of thing just isn't very nice.

Now, It wasn't done for pleasure and it wasn't done for spite
And it wasn't done because the lady wasn't very bright,
She'd always done the slightest thing that mom and dad had bid
They said, "Lizzie cut it out! " so that's exactly what she did.

But you can't chop your poppa up in Massachusetts
And then get dressed and go out for a walk,
No, you can't chop your poppa up in Massachusetts
Massachusetts is a far cry from New York.

You can't chop your poppa up in Massachusetts---

[Shouted] Shut the door and lock and latch it
Here comes Lizzie with a brand new hatchet!

You can't chop your poppa up in Massachusetts---

[shouted] Such a snob I heard it said,
She met her pa and cut him dead!

You can't chop your poppa up in Massachusetts---

[shouted] Jump like a fish, jump like a porpoise
All join in in a habeas corpus.

No, you can't chop your poppa up in Massachusetts---
Massachusetts is a far cry from New York!

Note: Originally a production number in New Faces of 1952
(This rendition from Chad Mitchell Trio Recording, Mighty Day on Campus)
Copyright Michael Brown


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Amos
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 12:41 PM

And The Very Unfortunate Man, concerning the fate of a poor lawyer who failed to get a warranty deed on his prospective bride...


A


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 12:27 PM

Mudcat searches for those key words will lead you to The Night of the King's Castration, The Castration of the Strawberry Roan (horse), Gelding the Devil


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST,Philppa
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 12:19 PM

so it's not about losing your membership cookie!

there are lots of songs of beheading; some of the ones I thought of have already been mentioned, but I don't see "Gil Morice", which you can find in the Mudcat DT (Digital Tradition).

what about songs references to castration / gelding?
There is a verse in the "Folksinger" thread


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: DMcG
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 05:49 AM

Billy Connolly did a Country and Western spoof which fits in. Here's a link


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 05:37 AM

Oh mother dear, what is that stuff that looks like strawbery jam ?
Hush, hush my child, it is Papa run over by a tram.

I didn't see this thread when it first appeared, what a pity because many of my favourites ("Sweeney Todd", "The Sexton and the Carpenter", "The Dying Aviator", "The Yarn of the Nancy Bell") are mentioned here.


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Gurney
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 05:04 AM

Did I miss 'The Derby Ram?'

how graphic a line.... all the women of Derby, to roll away his stones...


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 03:26 AM

After the ball was over
She sat on the sofa and sighed,
She stood her cork leg in the corner
And took out her lovely glass eye,
She put her false teeth in salt water,
And hung up her wig on the wall;
Then the rest of her went to bye-bye
After the ball!


Recorded by the Ian Campbell Folk Group, no less.

What about the Burglar Man who hid under the old maid's bed? A very similar story, but not at all pc.

Steve


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: LadyJean
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 12:24 AM

I would reccomend the John Jacob Niles version of Lambkin. I learned it when I was 15. It's one of the things that turned me on to Child ballads. Or, of course there's "Weelah Waalya", or "What'll I Do With This Baby Oh", with verses like "What'll I do when this baby squalls? Throw him up against the wall, scrape him off and watch him fall." Yes I do like children. But I've spent too much of my life babysitting.
My sister was in a show called "Lend an Ear", and she sang a "Ballade" where one Sir Richard chopped off the raven haired girl's head and kicked it about on the green.


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Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: robomatic
Date: 18 Jun 03 - 08:34 PM

Close but maybe no SEE-GAR:

Warren Zevon's "Excitable Boy":

After ten long years they let him out of the home
Excitable boy they all said
And he dug up her grave and built a cage with her bones
Excitable boy they all said
He's just an excitable boy


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