|
18 May 03 - 08:00 AM (#954765) Subject: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: Raggytash As many of you will know, folk sesssions can frequently be morbid events with songs about death and destruction. Some years ago Dave Mason, Landlord of the Dolphin in Robin Hoods Bay, and I decided to see how many people or things we could kill off in a one hour session and set a World Record during RHB Folk Festival first weekend in June. All songs had to be genuine I.E. Nothing written specially to mention 56 billion suicicdes etc. The first year saw about 16 million, current record is 104 million including the occupants of the Irish Rover. I am looking for genuine songs that kills off loads of things, could be fish or fowl or folk as long as something or someone gets the chop |
|
18 May 03 - 08:00 AM (#954766) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: Raggytash The more the merrier as it were !!!! |
|
18 May 03 - 08:17 AM (#954769) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: sweetfire well, I sing a song by iris dement, the opening line is "my father died a year ago today" [NO TIME TO CRY], which can get put a downer on the fact that he'd be sitting right next to me!!! |
|
18 May 03 - 08:29 AM (#954773) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: JennyO I remember being involved a competition like this once, I think it was at a folk festival. There were two teams which took turns singing these songs, and someone kept score. I came up with a song which boosted our score enormously - The Burning Times, where "nine million European women died". Jenny |
|
18 May 03 - 09:00 AM (#954783) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: Raggytash I know of the song, need little Roz to attend cos she knows the worms |
|
18 May 03 - 09:58 AM (#954797) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: mack/misophist The best one I know is 'Jug of Punch'. |
|
18 May 03 - 10:03 AM (#954799) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: Sooz We had a great night doing a body count at our club but we abandoned ship when someone sang "Shoals of Herring" (10 million fishes was thought to be cheating). |
|
18 May 03 - 10:04 AM (#954800) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: Sooz PS. Will there be a repeat attempt at the record at the Robin Hood's Bay Folk Weekend at the beginning of June? |
|
18 May 03 - 10:05 AM (#954801) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: JennyO "The Burning Times" by Charlie Murphy is in the DT. |
|
18 May 03 - 10:42 AM (#954816) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: GUEST, GEST Death, The Ultimate Price by Everett Adams (Newsflash Sounds) ©1996 makes me want to play the Dies Irae every time I view the lyrics. |
|
18 May 03 - 11:00 AM (#954821) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: Peg I like that Burning Times song but it does help perpetuate that myth modern pagans have hard time letting go of. Do keep in mind that the figure of nine million women for the witchcraze is far from accurate...probably more like one million. Still an obscene number, but closer to the truth. And it wasn't just women! |
|
18 May 03 - 11:26 AM (#954835) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: JennyO As a pagan myself, Peg, I am aware of all that you say, about the numbers and the men. I'm sure many songs are guilty of exaggeration and inaccuracies, and as you say, the figure of even one million is still shocking, so I feel the song has some value. However, this is not really what the thread is about. Human beings seem to enjoy making light of grisly subjects like death - it probably helps us to cope with the idea of our own inevitable future (look at "Isn't it Grand Boys"). This is just about a not-very-serious competition about numbers mentioned in song lyrics, and that is how I am approaching it. Jenny |
|
18 May 03 - 12:24 PM (#954885) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: Bill D "We will all go together when we go, Every Hottentot and every Esquimo. When the world becomes Uranious, We will ALL go simultaneous..." .....Tom Lehrer (yeah, yeah...it was ONLY a prediction...still) |
|
18 May 03 - 12:37 PM (#954896) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: Raggytash Lets spread a little light on this, Sooz it will be held again (God willing I've not shuffled off this mortal coil by then, my good lady nearly did last year so we missed it, but thtas another story) Jenny, yes it is a very light hearted look at a potentially depressing subject, lets make it as gory as possible JennyO,Bill D, and Guest I disallowed a song last time on the basis of competetion. One thought was Why do the sun keep on shining, why does the sea, rsuh to the shore, don't they know it the end of the world.................great idea, but not conducive to the idiocy behind our initial idea |
|
18 May 03 - 12:41 PM (#954900) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: Raggytash Guest, the number of dead has to be mentioned in the song like "10 million fishes" which I will use this year (Thanks Sooz) Death the ultimate Price does not mention a figure and I will reiterate this is all very tongue in cheek. IT IS NOT MEANT TO BE SERIOUS |
|
18 May 03 - 07:39 PM (#955096) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: Rapparee Only one guy, but you might do A Dying Business (as sung by the Chad Mitchell Trio). |
|
18 May 03 - 07:41 PM (#955099) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: Rapparee Okay, dammit, try this one. Easier to read anyway.... |
|
18 May 03 - 08:43 PM (#955121) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: GUEST, GEST Well, there's at least 77 in this related sealing song.:-) Death On The Ice |
|
18 May 03 - 08:47 PM (#955122) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: GUEST, GEST And here's another 173 from the Southern Cross sealing tragedy. What Happened To The Southern Cross? |
|
18 May 03 - 09:16 PM (#955141) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: mg yikes. mg |
|
18 May 03 - 09:26 PM (#955145) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: Cluin ...I saw Willie's handiwork on the road to Taneytown And in the border wars in Mexico We mowed those peasants down... from Garnet Rogers' "Young Willie". |
|
18 May 03 - 10:31 PM (#955173) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: Ely I've always been partial to the one about the Galveston Flood, which kills of "1,000 souls" in one verse (actually, between 6,000 and 8,000 people died; it's still the worst natural disaster in US history). |
|
19 May 03 - 04:59 AM (#955270) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: IanC Ely If you're talking about "natural disasters", wasn't the 1918/19 Flu epidemic rather bigger ... it killed 600,000 people in the US and over 40 million worldwide. :-) |
|
19 May 03 - 05:48 AM (#955279) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: greg stephens I would like to nominate the old spiritual "In Every Graveyard". The relevant verse is: Just behold that number Just behold that number Just behold that number In every graveyard. This is clearly meant to refer to EVERYONE who has ever died, so is unlikely to be beaten. There may of course be songs that refer to the fact that everyone is going to die in the future, which could be considered to refer to a larger number; but I think songs like that should be classed as hypothetical and should be disqualified. |
|
19 May 03 - 05:58 AM (#955284) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: Raggytash Greg, On a previous contribution I said that certain songs had to be excluded in the interest of competition. Thus the Carpenters End of the World is out. There has to be a specific number mentioned in the song for it to qualify. IanC, Is there a song about the flu epidemic which states the number who died, if not the comment is not really relevant to this thread. We could state that Stalin was responsible for 20 million Russian deaths but without a song ............. I would like to avoid going off at tangents if at all possible as I have a feeling this thread may grow and grow enough as it is Regards Raggy |
|
19 May 03 - 06:35 AM (#955296) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: The Walrus On the grounds that every little helps, you could throw in "Snoopy and the Red Baron", light hearted and 80 men die every chorus. Does "The Old Barbed Wire" count? The 'old/whole battalion' amounts to 840 - 1000 men. Walrus |
|
19 May 03 - 06:37 AM (#955299) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: greg stephens How specific, Raggytash? Would the spiritual "Many thousand gone" be all right, or is that a bit vague? |
|
19 May 03 - 06:44 AM (#955301) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: greg stephens For a really spot-on precise number, the Gresford Disater must be hard to beat: Youve heard of the Gresford diasater The terrible price that was paid Two hundred and forty two colliers were lost And three men of the recue brigade. |
|
19 May 03 - 06:53 AM (#955309) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: Raggytash Greg, I qualify many to be 4 as in one two lots many, so many thousand would become 4 thousand This "competition" which sways between the Dolphin in Robin Hoods Bay During the RHB Festival) and the Tap & Spile in Whitby (during Whitby Folk Week)We both use the same calculating technique |
|
19 May 03 - 07:14 AM (#955315) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: greg stephens I like your rules, Raggytash, you've obviously given this serious thought. If "many" counts as 4, how about "lots/ a lot".I am thinking, for example, of 16 Tons: "a lot of men didnt and a lot of men died". What would you get for that? I think you might be being a bit strict making "many" as low as 4. Because if "many" is only 4, then "not many" must be even less. So how would you interpret the famous headline "Small earthquake in Chile: not many killed". Would that imply only 1,2 or 3? These are serious questions that need answers. |
|
19 May 03 - 07:31 AM (#955322) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: Raggytash Greg, As I stated at the outset this is all very tongue in cheek, The "rules" we apply state that a number should be specified in the song. However we acknowledge that many songs do not contain a specific number thus one, two, lots, (three) many (four). This way both establishments are playing on a level playing field. If we took it to it's logical conclusion such songs would have to be excluded. In the Irish Rover there's eight million bales of nanny goats tails, having looked extensively at nanny goats tails we decided at it take at least 4 to make a bundle, them being tapered and all that, thus 32 million goats are added to the total. You get the picture!!.So far this is the best death tally in any one song we've got |
|
19 May 03 - 07:36 AM (#955323) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: Clean Supper If that song from Tom Lehrer with the predicted deaths IS acceptable then this punk song by Belinda Carbumcle must go in too. The Polar Bear Song (sung - largely - to "The Farmer in the dell") (sung in a rush to fit all the syllables in ) You cut the forests down, you covered the countryside in towns YOu burnt all the coal and made a hole in the sky so you'll all go brown. There's cnacer on your tongues and tar inside your lungs, YOur full of smoke you cugh and choke and breathe out of your bums. But I don't care I'm a polar bear I breathe the nice clean Arctic air, I have a good laugh wherever I go I piddle and play in the Arctic snow The end is coming soon cos there isn't any room For all of you what can you do fuck off and live on the moon. Ha ha ha, doom doom doom, You're all gonna die, you're all gonna die, Tough shit you asked for it, up your bum goodbye but I don't care I'm a polar bear, I breathe the nice clean Arctic air I have a good laugh wherever I go, I piddle and play in the Arctic snow And I know Santa ho ho ho. |
|
19 May 03 - 07:43 AM (#955325) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: GUEST,noddy the "Blantyre minning disaster" took quite a few. |
|
19 May 03 - 07:59 AM (#955332) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: Gareth Gresford ? Gareth |
|
19 May 03 - 08:25 AM (#955348) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: GUEST,Sooz (at work) Raggytash, Mike and I will be at RHB in June - our B&B is booked. Now I've got to get on with some serious research if you've nicked the Shoals of Herring. See you in the Dolphin? |
|
19 May 03 - 09:00 AM (#955370) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: Rapparee How about "Springhill Mine Disaster?" |
|
19 May 03 - 10:29 AM (#955436) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: Robin2 good old rebel soldier mentions 300,000 lost in the conflict |
|
19 May 03 - 11:31 AM (#955481) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: Raggytash Robin, dont't know of this song can you please enlighten me Ta |
|
19 May 03 - 11:55 AM (#955495) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: greg stephens Raggytash: Good Old rebel is in the DT as Unreconstructed Rebel. A totally splendid song, if a little out of tune with contemporary fashion. But its sentiment "I wont be reconstructed and I do not give a damn" must raise a little sympathy with everybody at some time or other. And yes, it does boast of killing 300,000 Yankees. |
|
19 May 03 - 12:35 PM (#955520) Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH From: paulo Animals and fish. That's cheating. paulo |
|
19 May 03 - 01:47 PM (#955571) Subject: RE: Songs About Death From: Raggytash Paulo,How can it be cheating when it was Dave Mason & I who came up with the notion. Our creation we set the rules |
|
19 May 03 - 03:09 PM (#955618) Subject: RE: Songs About Death From: The Walrus Do minma count? One of the versions of 'Plains of Waterloo':- "...Ten thousand prisoners we made, Imperial Eagles too, Of those prisoners we made, There were more lay dead On the plains of Waterloo..." So that's got to be at least 10,001 ;-{> Walrus |
|
19 May 03 - 06:19 PM (#955734) Subject: RE: Songs About Death From: greg stephens Here's an interesting one. Not quite in the 300,000 class but I reckon the earliest we have so far. The Good Book, I Samuel, 18,6-7. Thewomen come in playing tabrets(bodhrans?) and musical instruments(note the distiction) and proceed to sing"Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands". Not bad eh? which leads me to a new category MOST HOMICIDAL SINGER/SONG WRITER Leadbelly murdered two people, Henry VIII got rid of a few wives(and Thomas More) while writing Greensleeves, and some of these rap chappies are apparently a bit violent. But King David(who, in case you've forgotten, wrote the Psalms)..ten thousands eh? Got to be the prime contender. |
|
19 May 03 - 07:32 PM (#955794) Subject: RE: Songs About Death From: Mary in Kentucky Raggytash, you can find the lyrics and an MP3 at this wonderful site. ;-) |
|
19 May 03 - 08:55 PM (#955825) Subject: RE: Songs About Death From: Robin2 thanks Mary, for providing the link! Raggytash, just go to above site and click on Lyrics for a link to the song Good Old Rebel Soldier. Robin |
|
19 May 03 - 09:48 PM (#955842) Subject: RE: Songs About Death From: Ely 1,000 in two days is pretty good. The flu had two years. "Natural disasters" and "epidemics" usually seem to be classified separately. |
|
20 May 03 - 01:34 PM (#956301) Subject: RE: Songs About Death From: GaryDon There has to be a few in Davie Lawston |
|
20 May 03 - 02:15 PM (#956341) Subject: RE: Songs About Death From: GUEST,Dan Schatz at work These are good, but whatever happened to quality over quantity? "Avondale Mine Disaster" rings in at a respectable 110, but has some very touching depictions of the devestation - the father holding his son down in the mines, etc. Or Tom Paxton's "Jimmy Newman" is an extremely powerful description of just one death. Dan |
|
20 May 03 - 03:52 PM (#956416) Subject: RE: Songs About Death From: Raggytash Dan, You obviously have not read the gist of the thread, to hell with Quality it's quantity that is required. Although the best song I've heard at one of these sessions only managed to knock off 200. It's a song about a little girl who is about to be killed by a train, who can save her, who can save her, well the engineer does by derailing the train and killing the 200 passengers and crew on board, very very wicked song. |
|
20 May 03 - 05:18 PM (#956465) Subject: RE: Songs About Death From: Gareth Quite, we are dealing with songs of mass destruction here! Now "3 score and 10" totals up the widowmakers toll quite satisfactory (Many hundreds more were drowned), but outside of "Hanging on the Old Barbed wire", any folksongs on Verdun, the Somme or Pascendale (SP) ? The "old battalion" should count 700 I think. Gareth |
|
20 May 03 - 05:53 PM (#956485) Subject: RE: Songs About Death From: GUEST, GEST How about Twenty-Five Miners by the Sharecropper Trio? |
|
20 May 03 - 06:02 PM (#956492) Subject: RE: Songs About Death From: GUEST, GEST How about The Ocean Ranger oil-rig disaster that killed 84 in 1982? |
|
20 May 03 - 06:15 PM (#956501) Subject: RE: Songs About Death From: GUEST, GEST 137 souls lost when a U-Boat sank the The SS Caribou on October 14, 1942. |
|
20 May 03 - 06:49 PM (#956525) Subject: RE: Songs About Death From: Gareth Well Guest Gest - I thought, and thanks to the 'Cat a fair collection of Mining Songs and Ballads but Twenty Five Miners be a new one to me. Any Chance of a tune ??? Gareth |
|
20 May 03 - 08:56 PM (#956621) Subject: RE: Songs About Death From: GUEST, GEST Sorry, Gareth, no chance out of me. Maybe George Seto - af221@chebucto.ns.ca can lend a hand on your request since the Sharecroppers wrote the song about a Nova Scotia mine disaster and he's usually right on top of Nova Scotia music. George? |
|
21 May 03 - 06:13 AM (#956792) Subject: RE: Songs About Death From: greg stephens Well, this is a bit too unspecific to win any prizes, but it is as comprehensive as you can get. The song title is "A Death Song" (appropriate huh??), words by William Morris, music Malcolm Lawson. Written to commemorate the killing of Alfred Linnell by the police at a demonstration in 1887. The song sheet was sold to raise money for his family. And the relevant bit is the chorus: Not one, not one Nor thousands must they slay But one and all If they would dusk the day |
|
30 May 03 - 07:50 AM (#961772) Subject: RE: Songs About Death From: Raggytash Times running out, only a week to go to the Bay |
|
30 May 03 - 09:11 AM (#961828) Subject: RE: Songs About Death From: Sooz And I still haven't found one to beat Shoals of Herring - perhaps I could write a quickie about a swarm of locusts and some ddt........... |
|
30 May 03 - 09:42 AM (#961839) Subject: RE: Songs About Death From: EBarnacle1 Getting back to humans, aren't there a few songs about Gettysburg and other Civil war events? |