OK, now take a look at what the Crooked Jades do with it.


Pearl Bryan

Now, people, if you listen, a story I'll relate
That happened near Fort Thomas in old Kentucky state.
How bold these cruel villains to do this awful deed,
To ride away Pearl Bryan when she to them did plead!

The driver was the only one to tell her awful fate,
Of how they murdered Pearl Bryan in old Kentucky state;
A farmer passing by the next day her lifeless form he found,
Lying on a cold dark spot where blood had stained the ground.

The message was brought back to her home that poor Pearl Bryan was dead;
Killed by Walling and Jackson, and they took away her head.
Then in came poor Pearl's mother and turning to Jackson said,
"You have killed my daughter. Please tell me, where's her head?"

Please tell me, where's her head? Please tell me, where's her head?
Pearl Bryan's dead, can't find her head. Please tell me, where's her head?
Please tell me, where's her head? Please tell me, where's her head?
Pearl Bryan's dead, can't find her head. Walling and Jackson are hung.

Transcribed by ear from the CD recorded by The Crooked Jades in 2002, Seven Sisters: A Kentucky Portrait

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I told you they got carried away on the missing head....

In The Viking Book of Folk Ballads of the English-Speaking World, the chapter where "Pearl Bryan" is found is called Tabloid Crimes. Fits, doesn't it?

-Joe Offer-