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Songs of Dismemberment

11 Oct 01 - 07:28 AM (#569638)
Subject: Songs of Dismemberment
From: John in Brisbane

I'm running a workshop or two later in the year and was looking for an unusual theme. I saw 'dismemberment' mentioned in the Four Wet Pigs theme.

Any suggestions for songs on this theme - having choruses would be nice, but not essential.

Regards, John in Brisbane


11 Oct 01 - 08:29 AM (#569652)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST,Russ

With her head tucked underneath her arm


11 Oct 01 - 08:33 AM (#569655)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: MMario

'Johnny I hardly knew ya'


11 Oct 01 - 08:42 AM (#569658)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST

Any version of Mattie Groves/Little Musgrave where the cuckolded husbands cuts off his wife's head and kicks it against the wall.


11 Oct 01 - 08:42 AM (#569660)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Naemanson

ANGUS HEMPSTEAD, ANNE BOLEYN,LORD THOMAS AND FAIR ELENDER or THE BROWN GIRL, and LADY DIAMOND in the DT.


11 Oct 01 - 08:44 AM (#569662)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST,Russ

The two sisters/the cruel sister. Although the victim is drowned her body parts (hair, breastbone, fingerbones) are later used to construct a musical instrument (fiddle, harp).


11 Oct 01 - 08:44 AM (#569663)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Steve Parkes

The Kerry Recruit (With me toora min ya, etc.)
Lizzie Borden, with an axe ... (not a song as such, but ...)
Pearl Bryan (see here and here).

There ought to be quite a few: it's quite the done thing after murdering someone, to cut off all their sticking-out bits to facilitate disposal.

Steve


11 Oct 01 - 08:47 AM (#569666)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Naemanson

How about the Robert Service poem, The Ballad Of Blasphemous Bill.


11 Oct 01 - 08:57 AM (#569671)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST,Russ

In some versions of Ruben's Train his head was found 'neath the driving wheel and his body has never been found.


11 Oct 01 - 09:07 AM (#569678)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Snuffy

Disembowelling in the original SIX DUKES WENT A-FISHING, and dismemberment in the Kipper Family Parody DOVER STRAND.

Incidentally, all the place names are transcribed wrongly in this one:
Dover strand = Overstrand
Northrups = Northrepps
Southrups = Southrepps
Knaptown = Napton
You'll find them all in NE Norfolk, close to Trunch.

WassaiL! V


11 Oct 01 - 09:21 AM (#569684)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Wolfgang

'John the baptist (John Martyn)

Wolfgang


11 Oct 01 - 09:32 AM (#569693)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Mary in Kentucky

John Barleycorn

And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda


11 Oct 01 - 09:33 AM (#569694)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: wysiwyg

The Lizzie Borden thing is also a song, chantlike but with a tune.

Blasphemous Bill has a tune too, from Debby McClatchy.

Leader of the Pack has a crash in it too awful to describe, so why not assume it includes a dismemberment? Ditto for Dead Man's Curve.

~S~


11 Oct 01 - 10:09 AM (#569719)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Mrrzy

In addition to those mentioned above, like Ann Boleyn and Mattie Groves:

...he stabbed her and ripped her and cut her in three
Then he buried poor Mary beneath the green tree...

It's only a flesh wound! (OK, dismemberment humor, not lyric, but still)

And then he got 'is 'ead cut off, it sp'iled 'is constituti-on...

I'll come back when I think of some others...


11 Oct 01 - 10:49 AM (#569747)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Mary in Kentucky

Haul Away Joe -- King Louis got his head cut off -- and has a fun chorus/response.

Haul Away Joe at the Contemplator site

Haul Away Joe in the DT


11 Oct 01 - 11:40 AM (#569790)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Mary in Kentucky

Admiral Benbow -- Brave Benbow lost his legs by chain shot

Admiral Benbow at the Contemplator site

Admiral Benbow in the DT


11 Oct 01 - 11:48 AM (#569794)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Metchosin

My Son John


11 Oct 01 - 11:51 AM (#569795)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Metchosin

oh, oh and Barrett's Privateers


11 Oct 01 - 12:00 PM (#569799)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Max Tone

Lots of Tom Lehrer songs,

"I hold your hand in mine" "Poisoning pigeons in the Park" "The Irish Ballad"

Ozzie Osbourne and Alice Cooper might also take a hand in the proceedings.
Rob


11 Oct 01 - 12:10 PM (#569804)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: BrimstoneWA

Willie's Fatal Visit - a cheerful Scottish ballad involving Willie being torn into pieces and hung on the church fence.................. Words available on request


11 Oct 01 - 12:12 PM (#569805)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Bill D

Lucy/Lizzie Wan......(search is not working right now)

classic ballad of brother chopping up pregnant sister to 'spare' the shame....


11 Oct 01 - 12:22 PM (#569814)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST,JohnB

Baretts Privateers, Tralee Bay, Rickety Tickety Tin (or whatever it is really called. JohnB


11 Oct 01 - 12:27 PM (#569819)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Metchosin

I think there are a number of Bobbitt ballads too.


11 Oct 01 - 12:28 PM (#569821)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST

Any song about 9/11.


11 Oct 01 - 12:35 PM (#569827)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST,chanteyranger

Variants of the already mentioned My Son John - Mrs. McGrath, and My Son Tim.


11 Oct 01 - 12:48 PM (#569835)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: brid widder

the band played Waltzing Matilda


11 Oct 01 - 01:51 PM (#569878)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Mudlark

Cruel Mother ("she wiped the blade against her shoe...the more she wiped the redder it grew).
Tom Leher's Rickity Tickity Tin (One day when she had nothing to do, she cut her baby brother in two, and served him up as an Irish stewwwwww....and invited the neighbors in),
Black Girl (My Daddy worked on the railroad line, he was killed bout a mile from town...They found his body by the engine car, but his head was never found).


11 Oct 01 - 04:01 PM (#569990)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Willa

Brown Adam


11 Oct 01 - 04:07 PM (#569999)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST

I left my heart in San Franscisco ( grin)


11 Oct 01 - 04:13 PM (#570004)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST,Russ

Long Lankin


11 Oct 01 - 05:09 PM (#570054)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Susanne (skw)

I could give you a German song about three knights abducting a young girl. As they can't agree on who is to get her they matter-of-factly 'put her on a table and cut her up like a fish'. Sends shivers down my spine every time I hear it!


11 Oct 01 - 05:18 PM (#570059)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Snuffy

The boy stood on the burning deck
His heart was all a-quiver
He gave a cough
His leg dropped off
And floated down the river


11 Oct 01 - 05:27 PM (#570063)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: The Walrus

I seem to recall that the late Kenny Everett had a "Worst song in the world" slot on one of his shows, which included the song "I want my baby back" involving a car crash
"...And over there was my baby,
"And over there was my baby
"And waaaaay over there was my baby....."

(sorry, I can't remember it)

Walrus


11 Oct 01 - 05:32 PM (#570066)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: dick greenhaus

And there's a bunch of what I call "dismembered bride" songs: The unfortunate man, Side by Side (parody), the Old Maid and the Burglar......


11 Oct 01 - 06:48 PM (#570110)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST

Dry bones "Diconnected dem bones, dem dry bones...."


11 Oct 01 - 07:04 PM (#570124)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Gareth

Cosher Bailey brother Matthew,
He do like to climb up statues,
When he climb up statue of Venus,
He fell down and broke his elbow.

Have you ever Saw etc.

Cosher Bailey brother Rupert,
He do play fly-half for Newport,
On the day they play Porthcwl, (Prn Porth Call) They kicked him in the finger.

Have you ever Saw etc.

Don't worry, I've plenty more

Gareth ( Actually this should have been posted in the LLanstock II Thred ) ;>)


11 Oct 01 - 07:14 PM (#570130)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Deda

"A Very Unfortunate Man", about the poor lawyer named Clay who did not get a warranty deed. (Actually I think this has been mentioned.) It's not exactly dismemberment, but the bride on the wedding night removes her wig, her wooden leg, her glass eye, etc.


11 Oct 01 - 07:31 PM (#570139)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: robomatic

Allan Sherman: "You went the wrong way old King Louie"

Monty Python: "Oliver Cromwell"

King Missile: "Detachable Penis"


11 Oct 01 - 07:51 PM (#570149)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Max Tone

Deda,
There's a similar parody of
"After the Ball was over"......
First she took out her glass eye.........
my mum used to sing it to us over 30 years ago, so that's all I can remember.
Rob


11 Oct 01 - 09:04 PM (#570186)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Blackcatter

You know,

I clicked on this thread thinking originally that there couldn't be many songs that fit the title. Then, looking through the posts I discovered that not only are there many songs, that I SING SEVERAL OF THEM on a regular basis!

I love this place!

pax (piece) yall


11 Oct 01 - 10:33 PM (#570213)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Bert

You put your right foot in...


11 Oct 01 - 11:39 PM (#570241)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Peter Kasin

"I Left My Heart..." Good one, GUEST. Wit is always welcome here, so join up, or in any case, keep 'em coming.


11 Oct 01 - 11:54 PM (#570246)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST,Cat (a wet-behind ears newbie if ever there

Can't think of any new songs but there's a folk-tale Mr Fox/The Robber's Bride (and other versions) where the plot turns on the prospective victim catching her predecessor's hand (or finger). "Be bold, be bold, but not too bold ..."

Probably not what you're looking for though.

Cheers


12 Oct 01 - 12:29 AM (#570259)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST

Check song #101 in the Rugby Football thread for dismemberment


12 Oct 01 - 12:44 AM (#570265)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Sourdough

There's another Tom Leher song: (In waltz time:)

I hold your hand in mine, dear,
I press it to my lips.
I take a healthy bite from
Your dainty finger tips.
My joy would be complete , dear,
If you were only here.
But Still I hold your hand as
A precious souvenir.

And that's just his first verse!

Sourdough


12 Oct 01 - 08:40 AM (#570418)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Mary in Kentucky

There is a song about The Headless Horseman from the musical The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I didn't include it here because I've never heard it. You can find the words on a Google search.


12 Oct 01 - 12:13 PM (#570553)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: pavane

Not really dismemberment - but the Three Cripples (or Five Cripples in another version) from London. They got free drinks by scaring the pub customers when they removed all their false parts!

Also Martin Carthy sang a ballad in which someone had all his limbs broken and was then put out for the wolves. Can't remember the title at present.

Also Little Musgrave/Matty Groves


12 Oct 01 - 12:16 PM (#570559)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: pavane

Maybe I should clarify Musgrave - in some versions, after killing Musgrave, he turns on his wife. 'He cut the paps from off her breast, great pity it was to see...' - Version sung by Martin Carthy again, I think.


12 Oct 01 - 12:23 PM (#570568)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: pavane

'Ahmed and Abdullah' - parody of Obla Di, Obla Da

'Just to keep the Friday show from being dull You see them separate poor Ahmed from his hand'

Not sure if this song has been posted though. Maybe one day... Probably of interest only if you have lived in Saudi.


12 Oct 01 - 12:25 PM (#570571)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST,Celtic Soul

Cannonball/Mrs. McGraw

Or, if you'd like something a little more modern, go try to find the lyrics/tune for "DOA" by a band called "Bloodrock". It was a one shot wonder hit in the very early 70's.


12 Oct 01 - 02:11 PM (#570673)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: weepiper

Hey Pavane, I was going to post about that one where he gets put out for the wolves, my mum used to sing it. I think it's called 'The Death Of Young Andrew'. It's pretty grisly on several levels. I think the story was Andrew mistreated a girl (who then died of exposure when her stepmother wouldn't let her in after he'd stripped her naked and sent her home?), so the girl's brothers avenged her by breaking Andrew's arms and legs and binding him to a rock then leaving him for the wolves. Great song which I haven't heard for years


12 Oct 01 - 02:27 PM (#570692)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Little Hawk

There's some humorous song about Rippy the Gator (went chomp! chomp! chomp!)...the alligator in question bites off little Billy's arms, legs, and head in successive verses. I think the Arrogant Worms or someone like that did it.

- LH


12 Oct 01 - 02:32 PM (#570700)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Metchosin

A lot of songs by the Swedish group Garmarna qualifies. Songs about werewolves ripping the arms and legs off maidens and other nordic tales of blood and gore.


12 Oct 01 - 04:23 PM (#570759)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Deda

"Bang bang Maxwell's silver hammer came down on her head"

We don't actually hear about lopped off body parts, but I think it belongs in the general ballpark anyway.


12 Oct 01 - 05:09 PM (#570796)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Max Tone

.....Or the leper, losing at poker, who threw his hand in....
Rob


12 Oct 01 - 05:10 PM (#570800)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Mr Red

Reading the above suggestions makes my effort well qualified.
the Death of Queen Jane


12 Oct 01 - 05:29 PM (#570808)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Charley Noble

Well, after scanning what's been offered I can contribute "Sweeney Todd the Barber", famous for providing his sweetie the fixings for her wonderful meat pies, and "Dundebeck's Machine," that incredible sausage machines into which them rats and long tailed cats were periodically ground up, to be followed by Dundebeck himself when he craweled inside to clear a jam...


12 Oct 01 - 06:04 PM (#570835)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: SharonA

"I'm Being Swallowed by a Boa Constrictor" (oh no, he swallowed my toe; oh gee, he swallowed my knee; etc.)

Here's one that doesn't actually mention dismemberment but is about someone who hacked himself up a bit before he did himself in completely: Don McLean's "Vincent" (starry starry night)

Hmmm... what about "All of Me" and "All or Nothing at All"? Or maybe "I Can't Help Falling in Love with You" (take my hand, take my whole life, too...)? Wait; I know: "I Fall to Pieces"!


It may not fit the theme exactly, but there's a weird little big-band song from the 1930s sung by Bunny Berrigan (who was a man!) entitled "My Heart and I" and it goes like this:

My heart and I were discussing your charms;
We decided that you should be in my arms.
My arms and I felt a thrill at the start;
We decided that you should be in my heart.
We're so in love with you, just my heart and I.
Love me, too; then as years go by,
Both my heart and I will forever be true
For all that we want is your heart and you.


12 Oct 01 - 06:23 PM (#570849)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Gareth

Ah Rugby songs - remember the Rugby version of Abdul the Bul Bul Emire

Give me time i'll remember the words, but as a taster -

"The cream of the joke,
came when they had broke,
Was laughed at for years by the Czar,
For Abdul the Fool,
Had left half his tool
Up Ivan Skawinsky Skzar."

Obviously dis memberment

Gareth, lowering the tone.


12 Oct 01 - 07:09 PM (#570870)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: jacko@nz

Didn't see a mention of 'Burke and Hare' anywhere

Jack


12 Oct 01 - 07:44 PM (#570892)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST,JTT

The old RAF song from the Great War, A Poor Aviator Lay Dying:

which has one verse that goes:

Take the manifold out of my larynx,
And the cylinders out of my brain,
Take the piston rods out of my kidneys,
And assemble the engine again."


12 Oct 01 - 07:47 PM (#570894)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Max Tone

Not to forget any songs about MPs losing their parliamentary seats -- or should that be flung out on their asses?
After all, democracy is all about dis-memberment!

Rob


12 Oct 01 - 08:29 PM (#570925)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Max Tone

Ma Hip's dis-Connected from ma thigh-bone
Me head's dis-connected tae ma neck-bone
Sae see the work o' the sword.


'Catters please contribute further sick verses........


12 Oct 01 - 11:44 PM (#571045)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST

Not to mention "Alouette" in which a poor little birdie gets pulled apart, body part by body part.


13 Oct 01 - 12:37 AM (#571061)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: raredance

"Super Skier" - When they finally brought him down they had to use three tobaggans to carry all the pieces down the hill.

rich r


13 Oct 01 - 12:54 PM (#571267)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: pavane

Yes, weepiper, thats the one I meant!


13 Oct 01 - 01:15 PM (#571276)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: pavane

Chevy Chase: (version quoted by Karl Dallas)
For Witherington needs must I wail
As one in doleful dumps
For when his legs were smitten off
He fought all on his stumps


A bit like Benbow.

The Bold Trooper - cut off the ears of a tailor he found with his wife.

There is also a print c1670 in the Bodley library of a Priest who was given a Bobbit in similar circiumstances by a butcher. No tune available though, I think.

The Kerry Recruit 'where heads, legs and arms were scattered around'


13 Oct 01 - 01:46 PM (#571294)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Uncle_DaveO

One of Ramblin' Jack Elliott's songs included the following:

It was only yesterday that Jane and me got married
You can bet yer life I was a happy groom.
There was only one thing filled my heart with sadness
That parts of her were scattered all over the room.
Her glass eye and false teeth was on the mantel
And on the bed she hung her hank of hair.
But there was only one thing that filled my heart with sadness
When she throwed her wooden leg upon the chair.

Dave Oesterreich


13 Oct 01 - 01:58 PM (#571298)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: weepiper

There's always 'The Carpenter and the Sexton' by Dave Goulder :

So the carpenter went for his chisel and blade;
The sexton was honing the edge of his spade.
And driven by jealousy, anger and pain,
They hacked at each other, hacked at each other
Like butchers insane.

The sexton was missing a nose and a toe;
The carpenter's bowels were beginning to show.
But there with the dead at the edge of the town
They fought till the blood, they fought till the blood
Was like dew on the ground.

:-!


13 Oct 01 - 03:21 PM (#571346)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Susanne (skw)

I haven't seen 'Pegleg Johnson' by Shel Silverstein mentioned. ("I'm a three-legged man with a two-legged woman Being chased round the country by a one-legged fool")


13 Oct 01 - 03:34 PM (#571357)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Willa

Charley; this one?
Dunderbuck
oh dunderbuck, Dunderbuck, how could you be so mean, to ever have invented the sausage meat machine?
Now long-tailed rats and pussy cats they'll never more be seen, They'll all be ground to sausage meat in Dunderbeck's machine.


13 Oct 01 - 03:46 PM (#571368)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: RWilhelm

Jackknife
by the late great Jeffery Frederick

I's cleaing my jackknife when you did appear
Had to fight with you, I cut off your ear
Yodelay my little darlin' don't you come here no more
Take this as a warning, get you ear off my floor

I throwed some sawdust where the blood puddle lie
I watched you run screaming, I prayed you would die
Yodelay my little darlin' don't you come here no more
Take this as a warning, get you ear off my floor


13 Oct 01 - 05:38 PM (#571408)
Subject: Lyr Add: THE LONESOME DEATH OF CACTUS NELL
From: Little Hawk

THE LONESOME DEATH OF CACTUS NELL

Oh none so fair as Cactus Nell
Afore her horse upon her fell
Alas, poor Nell, I knowed her well
And there was none so fair as Cactus Nell

She went out riding after dark
To the river's side to court and spark
To meet some cowboy I am told
But instead she met with a prairie dog hole

Oh, her legs was crushed, and her ribs was broke
I heard her Pa break down and choke
As he knelt beside the corpse so bloody
Down by the banks of the great Big Muddy

So they picked her up and carried her back
All wrapped up fine in a gunny sack
Her boyfriends numbered a hundren 'n nine
They had all come round to weep and pine

Ten cowboys brave did lower her down
Into that cold and heartless ground
I heard that lonesome death bell knell
Above the grave of Cactus Nell

Then we all got drunk and we hanged the horse
Though the poor thing warn't to blame, of course
But someone had to pay the bill
For the lonesome death of Cactus Nell

Oh none so fair as Cactus Nell
Afore her horse upon her fell
Alas, poor Nell, I knowed her well
And there was none so fair as Cactus Nell


13 Oct 01 - 06:16 PM (#571420)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Joe Offer

How about Three Blind Mice? It doesn't specifically mention dismemberment, but Three Blind Mice Are Dead would be a suitable followup.
-Joe Offer-


13 Oct 01 - 07:02 PM (#571438)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Joe_F

Child Owlet (Child 291). Man falsely accused of attempted rape is torn apart by four horses:

There was not a kow in Darling muir
Nor ae a piece o a rash,
But drappit o Childe Owlet's blude
And pieces o his flesh.

I believe that the cutting off of the three blind mice's tails counts as dismemberment.


13 Oct 01 - 07:33 PM (#571464)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Metchosin

how abount making mince pies from children's thighs and feeding them to the fairies?

Bedlam Boys

Great song!!!

Old Blind Dogs does a fine version.


14 Oct 01 - 04:23 AM (#571651)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: pavane

If we are including dismemberment of animals, then Bold Reynard the Fox and The Cutty Wren spring to mind


14 Oct 01 - 12:43 PM (#571794)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Gareth

Or extra memberment as in "Jake the Peg" ????

Gareth


14 Oct 01 - 12:46 PM (#571795)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Abby Sale

All excellent suggestions and certainly a Worthy Topic.

I'd offer this version of "The Cruel Ship's Carpenter' with its last verse:

Then he hastened to the forecastle with speed,
There he met his pretty Polly which made his heart bleed.
She ripped him and she stripped him and she tore him in three,
Because he had murdered the baby and she.

(See Pretty Polly)

Jow F:

"Chylde Owlet" has long been one of my favorite ditties. I often quote MacColl when I sing it: He 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.'"


14 Oct 01 - 09:50 PM (#572126)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: John in Brisbane

Thanks so much to all who cintributed to this thread - I'm blown away by the collective knowledge, even though I shouldn't be surprised. Now for the search of what is in the DT, and what lyrics have tunes!

Many, many thanks John


15 Oct 01 - 03:02 AM (#572230)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Ralphie

Oh What a bloodthirsty lot we are!
The mention of Kenny Everett reminds me of another song in his "Bottom 40"
"Transfusion" by Nervous Norvous
Each verse ending with lines such as
Slip the fluid in me, Loius
Slip the Crimson in me, Jimson
Put the Claret in me, Barrett
Also, virtually anything by Pat Campbell. (The Deal is particularly fine)
And, I do remember a song we used to do many years ago. Mary Thompson, which had the wonderful verse..

Twice more all with his horrid knife
He ran her body through
Her throat was cut from ear to ear
Most dreadful for to view
But, still she smiling said to him
While trembling with fear
Oh David, David spare me life
Think of your baby dear!!
Now....Don't have nightmares...Ralphie


15 Oct 01 - 07:59 AM (#572344)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST,Adrienne

My favorite dismemberment song: John Prine's "Please Don't Bury Me".

"...Please don't bury me Down in the cold cold ground. I'd rather have them cut me up And pass me all around. Throw my brain in a hurricane, Let a blind man have my eyes, And the deaf can take both my ears If they don't mind the size."


15 Oct 01 - 09:06 AM (#572391)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: artbrooks

Just ran across this in an old "Sing Out" reprint. It is allegedly the alma mater of the National Embalming School, and is sung to the tune from "Oh Tannenbaum":

To thee we sing, to thee we drool
National Embalming School
We stuff the corpse, we stuff the ghoul
National Embalming School
If you feel hollow deep inside
We fill you with formaldehyde
Our boys get hot ere you get cold
National Embalming School


15 Oct 01 - 09:43 AM (#572408)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST,Adrienne

Artbrooks, I'd change "cold" to "cool" to rhyme with school... Funny song!


15 Oct 01 - 09:54 AM (#572412)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: artbrooks

Adrienne: sorry, my mistake in transcription. "Cool" is correct.


15 Oct 01 - 01:49 PM (#572590)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: SINSULL

"I Ain't Got Nobody"? courtesy of Mel Brooks.


15 Oct 01 - 03:33 PM (#572680)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Charley Noble

Then there's the lovely survivor's poem from "The Rhyme of the Nancy Brig" whose chorus runs:

I am the cook and the captain bold,
And the mate of the Nancy brig,
The midshipmite, the bosun tight
And the crew of the captain's gig.

Suffice to say the survivor was more than the sum of his parts.


15 Oct 01 - 03:52 PM (#572702)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: John MacKenzie

Alex Campbell's--- 3 Jolly consumptives # 3 jolly consumptives...cough.....cough........spit( do it don't sing the words) # One lung to you; and one to you. Alex was great but nobody ever accused him of being tastefull. God rest his soul, I miss him still. Jock


15 Oct 01 - 04:07 PM (#572718)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Metchosin

Charlie, he may have been more than the sum of his parts, but if the fate of the Cook is the example of the food preparation, when "he ups with his heels, and smothered his squeals, in the scum of the boiling broth", dismemberment seems to have occurred after cooking and not before, so I'm not certain if that counts.*BG*


15 Oct 01 - 04:29 PM (#572739)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST

"I left my heart .... in San Francisco????"

CC


15 Oct 01 - 05:37 PM (#572790)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: RWilhelm

Leprosy
I'm not half the man I used to be


18 Jun 03 - 11:22 AM (#968445)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST,rhartman@nyc.rr.com

We are looking for a song that goes like this:

My little Darlin
When we were married and the first night we were wed
you put your false teeth upon the mantle
and your wooden leg under the bed

... then something like:
you put your right eye on the table
your false hair.....


and it ends...

Mylittle Darlin I would have kissed you
But you were scattered everywhere


Does anyone know if this is a song recorded by an artist?


18 Jun 03 - 02:19 PM (#968532)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Schantieman

Side by Side

We got married on Sunday:
It nearly lasted till Monday.
When the guests were all gone
And we were alone
Side by side.

We got ready for bed then
I very nearly dropped dead when
Her teeth and her hair she laid on the chair
Side by side

(middle eight)
Imagine my amazement
When out popped her glass eye so small -
She laid it on the table,
Then propped her leg in the hall

Well there I stood, boken hearted:
From most of my wife I was parted,
So I slept on the chair
(There was more of here there)
Side by side.

(big finish)
Yes I slept on the chair
There was more of her there!
Side......by......side!


Enjoy

Steve


18 Jun 03 - 02:37 PM (#968536)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST,Dave H

Werewolves of London

"You better stay away from him, He'll rip your lungs out Jim."

Starry, Starry Night - not that it's in the song, but it is about Vincent Van Gogh, like a good musician, he learned to paint by ear. DOH!


18 Jun 03 - 07:12 PM (#968672)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Joe_F

Inasmuch as limericks are often sung, the following by E. Gorey perhaps qualifies:

The partition of Salvador Scowles
Was a sickener. They came on his bowels
In a firkin. His brain
Was found clogging a drain,
And his toes were wrapped up in some towels.


18 Jun 03 - 08:34 PM (#968715)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: robomatic

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


19 Jun 03 - 12:24 AM (#968792)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: LadyJean

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.


19 Jun 03 - 03:26 AM (#968839)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Steve Parkes

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


19 Jun 03 - 05:04 AM (#968881)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Gurney

Did I miss 'The Derby Ram?'

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


19 Jun 03 - 05:37 AM (#968901)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Dave Bryant

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.


19 Jun 03 - 05:49 AM (#968907)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: DMcG

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


19 Jun 03 - 12:19 PM (#969107)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST,Philppa

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


19 Jun 03 - 12:27 PM (#969114)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST

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


19 Jun 03 - 12:41 PM (#969133)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Amos

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


A


19 Jun 03 - 03:16 PM (#969253)
Subject: Lyr Add: FALL RIVER HOEDOWN (Michael Brown)
From: BuckMulligan

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


19 Jun 03 - 04:56 PM (#969301)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Sandy Mc Lean

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.


19 Jun 03 - 06:45 PM (#969350)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Amos

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


20 Jun 03 - 10:24 AM (#969705)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST,Philippa

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)


20 Jun 03 - 01:09 PM (#969788)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: BuckMulligan

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.


20 Jun 03 - 03:13 PM (#969851)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST,bigjon

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


20 Jun 03 - 09:52 PM (#970009)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST,Snook13

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.


21 Jun 03 - 08:09 AM (#970135)
Subject: Lyr Add: BLOOD ON THE SADDLE
From: cobber

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"


21 Jun 03 - 06:24 PM (#970326)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Joe_F

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.


05 Apr 05 - 12:04 AM (#1452288)
Subject: Lyr Add: NEWS FROM HYDE-PARK (from Bodleian)
From: Jim Dixon

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.


05 Apr 05 - 03:03 AM (#1452338)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Georgiansilver

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?


05 Apr 05 - 11:50 AM (#1452670)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: robomatic

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!"


05 Apr 05 - 02:41 PM (#1452866)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Charley Noble

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


05 Apr 05 - 06:55 PM (#1453083)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST,Nancy King at work

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.?


06 Apr 05 - 01:01 AM (#1453302)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: LadyJean

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.


06 Apr 05 - 05:33 AM (#1453406)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Big Al Whittle

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!


06 Apr 05 - 06:35 AM (#1453432)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Georgiansilver

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.


06 Apr 05 - 07:05 AM (#1453447)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Noreen

"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!


06 Apr 05 - 09:51 AM (#1453572)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Abby Sale

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.'"


06 Apr 05 - 06:59 PM (#1453924)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST,Michael Morris at work

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


06 Apr 05 - 07:18 PM (#1453940)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: The Fooles Troupe

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


06 Apr 05 - 07:19 PM (#1453943)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST,Alexander

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


06 Apr 05 - 09:18 PM (#1454031)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: open mike

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...


06 Apr 05 - 11:36 PM (#1454088)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST,Art Thieme

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


07 Apr 05 - 01:26 PM (#1454554)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST,Les


07 Apr 05 - 03:44 PM (#1454698)
Subject: Lyr Add: TEN LITTLE TOES (Barrie Roberts)
From: GUEST,Barrie Roberts

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.


22 Jul 19 - 02:13 PM (#4001604)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST,Maureen

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!


22 Jul 19 - 05:57 PM (#4001634)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Joe_F

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.


22 Jul 19 - 06:16 PM (#4001635)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Jack Campin

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


22 Jul 19 - 06:58 PM (#4001637)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Tattie Bogle

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


22 Jul 19 - 10:03 PM (#4001652)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Howard Kaplan

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.


25 Jul 19 - 07:34 AM (#4001988)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Brian Peters

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


25 Jul 19 - 07:47 AM (#4001992)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Jack Campin

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.


25 Jul 19 - 10:34 AM (#4002015)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST

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


25 Jul 19 - 12:10 PM (#4002027)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: keberoxu

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.


25 Jul 19 - 05:49 PM (#4002068)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Mrrzy

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


25 Jul 19 - 10:48 PM (#4002084)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Howard Kaplan

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.


23 Sep 19 - 07:41 PM (#4010114)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Lighter

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."


23 Sep 19 - 08:05 PM (#4010118)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST

"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…”


23 Sep 19 - 08:31 PM (#4010120)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: GUEST,Fred Maslan

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

surprised I didn't see this above


24 Sep 19 - 03:30 PM (#4010291)
Subject: RE: Songs of Dismemberment
From: Mrrzy

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!