This is a great song, and an indication that the modern fascination with serial killers goes back many years (just saw Red Dragon this weekend)!

For those who care, JF Dutertre's version of Tueur Des Femmes (inserted above by Malcolm) is also on his CD Ballades Francaises, which is available on the Musique Du Monde label. This means it actually turns up at US record shops like Tower and HMV. Dutertre does sometimes record multiple versions of the same song, so this may not be the exact text Malcolm contributed, but it's a great CD, as is the sequel Ballades Francaises Volume 2. I'm not sure if the Epinette des Vosges album is out on CD, but I think it was and is now deleted.

Nic Jones recorded two different versions of this song, one on each of his first two albums. The first was a standard one beginning "An Outlandish Knight from the Northlands came, and he came courting of me), while the second plunged you into the action with "He's followed her up, and he's followed her down, and it's into the room where she lay." I always liked the second, with its brisk tune. Frankie Armstrong's strong unaccompanied version of this is always stirring as well.

When I get home, I'll give a listen to Carthy's and see if I can figure out what the chorus is...