...and here is the song Lord Of The Land that Fred Geis wrote in 1963 ---- right after John F. Kennedy was assassinated. The last verse was added a short time later, after Jack Ruby killed Lee Harvey Oswald. Fred backed himself up on banjo. He made these tapes of his songs in my coach house at 1844 Cleveland in Chicago. Fred called this "a non-specific ballad about the killing." (Some songs were taped in 1964.)

From a 1964 tape we made of Fred.

LORD OF THE LAND
(Fred Geis)

Where is the master of the house?
Where is the lord of the land?
He's gone to sleep with his youngest son,
Gone to another land.

Where is the wife of the lord or the land?
What of his kindred and keep?
His mourning wife sails on a bonny great ship,
Over the ocean and deep.

Where is the brother of the lord of the land?
What sins does he repent?
He lies and he cries in the arms of his love
And his sorrows his wounds do all rent.

What of the people who lived in the town?
What of the crofters and fens?
There's crying in the villages and weeping in the towns,
Their lamenting is heard in the glens.

What of the slayer whose arrow did quick
To kill the lord of the land?
He lies in a cell and he ponders his fate,
He knows not what sprang from his hand.

All the leaves on the trees are dying and dead,
The flowers are dead on the heath,
The lord of the land lies dead in his grave,
The slayer lies dead at his feet.

Art Thieme