They're all very interesting, and I love your site.

But you do notice the difference between them and traditional folk songs. There are plenty of clunky trad folk songs, but those broadsides really take the biscuit! Though part of the appeal of those broadsides is their very clunkiness, their bloody awful rhymes and terrible, clod-hopping repetitiousness. The author of the first, Mary Arnold, seems to know few words other than "dreadful" and "deed"!!

The ones that work best, for me, are the especially florid and bloodthirsty ones, because the crass, child-like doggerel of the words magnifies the coarseness of the subject-matter. I like the Liverpool Lodger very much, there's a lot of dark comedy to its rhymes.

On the other hand, I'd be interested to see if anyone opts to tackle 'The Gallow's Child', a sanctimonious piece of Christian-greetings-card drivel. I suppose you could adopt a "Tiger Lillies" type approach: sing it as if you were callously taking the piss. Actually, it would work quite well as a medley with "Murder at Westmill": both concern a 9-year-old child standing in the dock.