the singer and the occult

Subject: the singer and the occult
From: topical tom
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 10:21 AM

Many indeed are the instances of the supernatural in music.Here are a couple of examples that will hopefully get the ball rolling.

Brown Mountain Light

Way up on old Linville Mountain
Where the bear and the catamount reign
A strange ghostly light appears every night
Which no scientist or hunter can explain.

In the days of the old covered wagon
When they camped on the flats for the night
With the moon shinin' dim o'er the old canyon rim
They watched for that brown mountain light.

High on the mountain
And down in the valley below
It shines like the crown of an angel
And fades as the mists come and go

Way over yonder
Night after night until dawn
A faithful old slave comes back from the grave
Is searching for his master who's long gone.

Many years ago a southern planter
Came huntin' in this wide world alone
Then so they say the hunter lost his way
And never returned to his home.

His trusting ol' slave brought a lantern
And searched but in vain day and night
Now the ol' slave is gone
but his spirit lingers on ^^^


        



Bringing Mary Home

I was driving down a lonely road one dark and stormy night
When a little girl by the roadside showed up in my headlights
I stopped and she got in back and in a shaky tone
She said: My name is Mary, please won't you take me home?

She must have been so frightened all alone there in the night
There was something strange about her, for her face was deathly white
She sat so pale and quiet in the back seat all alone
I'll never will forget that night I took Mary home

I pulled into the driveway where she told me to go
Got out to help her from the car and opened up the door
But I just could not believe my eyes 'cause the back seat was bare
I looked all around the car but Mary wasn't there

A light shone from the porch, someone opened up the door
I asked about the little girl that I was looking for
Then a lady gently smiled and brushed a tear away
She said: It sure was nice of you to go out of your way

But thirteen years ago today a wreck just down the road
Our darling Mary lost her life and we miss her so
Thank you for your trouble and the kindness you have shone
You're the thirteenth one who's been here bringing Mary home ^^^

Also, "With 'er head tucked underneath 'er arm"

Subject: RE: the singer and the occult
From: Peace
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 10:24 AM

"Tam Lin"

Subject: RE: the singer and the occult
From: Grab
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 10:59 AM

Reynardine
She walked through the fair

Subject: RE: the singer and the occult
From: Folkiedave
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 11:00 AM

Shadow Hunter

The walker in the snow left no footprints.

Subject: RE: the singer and the occult
From: Amos
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 11:53 AM

Hell, it seems to me that ordinary folksinging is a form of astral time-travel all on its own. We step onto the paths of Scarlett Town or the Highwayman's yellow dusty road to the inn, or the path where DUla met Laurie Foster, and report what we see. We float out over the Greenland fisheries, and we call in the news from battles in the foggy dew; we watch the Yankee's reform their line at Bull Run, and come back and tell the world about it.

Nothing mystic about it, all in a day's work!! :D


A

Subject: RE: the singer and the occult
From: The Sandman
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 12:45 PM

ThomastheRhymer.On the night of Halloween[SingingPostman]
Annual General Meeting OftheGhosts[Jim Garrett]

Subject: RE: the singer and the occult
From: M.Ted
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 12:55 PM

All us Lulu Belle and Scotty fans are dismayed that you forgot to attribute "Brown Mountain Light" to Scotty Wiseman, who wrote the song about the very real and still unexplained phenomenon of the Brown Mountain Lights.

Also, "Bringing Mary Home" was written by Red Sovine, and a retelling of the vanishing hitchhiker urban legend, and is eerily similar to the somewhat earlier song, "Laurie" by Dickie Lee--Let's not forget Red's masterpiece, "The Phantom 409"--

Subject: RE: the singer and the occult
From: PoppaGator
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 01:06 PM

"Long Black Veil," narrated by a voice from the grave.

Not a true folksong, but a 1950s Nashville C&W composition. One of my favorites to play and sing, usually gets a positive response.

Subject: RE: the singer and the occult
From: Susan of DT
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 01:52 PM

search for @ghost for specifically ghosts - there are lots
or for @myth, which gets a variety of ghosts, unicorns, devils, silkies, etc.

Subject: RE: the singer and the occult
From: topical tom
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 02:27 PM

Thanks,M. Ted, for the info on Scotty Wiseman and Red Sovine's authorship. I am familiar with both performers and I especially enjoyed Lulu Belle and Scotty (on the National Barn Dance, were'nt they)?

Subject: RE: the singer and the occult
From: Art Thieme
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 04:04 PM

Yes, they were.
Art

Subject: RE: the singer and the occult
From: Jack Campin
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 05:56 PM

I was expecting something rather different under this thread title.

I have encountered only one folkie who was truly into the occult. Serious ritual magick, putting curses on people and meaning it with deadly seriousness, that sort of thing (not just Wiccan dressing up and pretending). A reasonably well-known figure and I'm not saying who. How common is it?

Subject: RE: the singer and the occult
From: Bob the Postman
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 08:02 PM

Dolly Parton's These Old Bones. Great song.

Subject: RE: the singer and the occult
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 10:05 PM

Lots of Child ballads have ghosts, etc.

The talking harp in The Two Sisters,
Sweet William's Ghost
The judgment passed by the murdered babies in The Cruel Mother
The dead children summoned in The Wife of Usher's Well
Lady Margaret's ghost visiting him and his new bride at their bedside
... and on and on.
The devil in the various versions of the False Knight on the Road

Judy Cook sings a few great ones in this vein.

In some versions of Molly Bawn/Molly Bender, Molly's ghost comes to her true love's trial and states that her death was an accident. I dont think it's in Child but definitely a ballad for all that.

Subject: RE: the singer and the occult
From: Stringsinger
Date: 25 Oct 07 - 05:36 PM

"There was a lady, and a lady gay. Of children she had three.
They sent her away to the North Countree. To learn their
gramaree (witchcraft)."

Lady Gay originally sung by Buell Kazee.

Frank

Subject: RE: the singer and the occult
From: M.Ted
Date: 25 Oct 07 - 11:21 PM

Lulu Belle and Scotty were on the WLS National Barndance from Chicago. An odd serendipity to this thread, when she began working at WLS, she worked with Red Sovine, before being paired with Scotty. They were popular on both radio and in films from the 30's through the 50's, when they retired--

While in Chicago, Scotty earned a Masters Degree, I believe at Northwestern, and went on to teach, farm, and run a bank. Lulu Belle served in the North Carolina legislature. I mention them to people who think country musicians are are uneducated or uncivilized, or some other such thing.

Subject: RE: the singer and the occult
From: Bob the Postman
Date: 26 Oct 07 - 08:00 AM

I recently loaded The Ghostly Sailors onto my mp3 player, digitised from a flimsy 33 1/3 recording included with Creighton's Folksongs from Southern New Brunswick.

Subject: RE: the singer and the occult
From: topical tom
Date: 26 Oct 07 - 08:04 AM

Interesting info on Red Sovine, Lulu Belle and Scotty, M. Ted.Thanks.

Subject: RE: the singer and the occult
From: Dave'sWife
Date: 26 Oct 07 - 11:40 PM

Jack Campin States:

>>>
I have encountered only one folkie who was truly into the occult. Serious ritual magick, putting curses on people and meaning it with deadly seriousness, that sort of thing (not just Wiccan dressing up and pretending). A reasonably well-known figure and I'm not saying who. How common is it?<<<

I dunno. Not very I suspect. There is a strong Christian or at least Judeo/Christian element to a lot of modern folksinging. However, I did run into some neo-pagan/Wiccan singers who are all into casting spells and doing invocation ceremonies but that was back in Graduate School. I think that was more related to the fact that they were Women's Studies PHD candiates and such - going pagan was very trendy in that department. Very few of the women I know who went pagan in grad School stayed that way. I'm not saying their conversions weren't sincere at the tiume - just that it was a very "follow the leader" type phenonenon

Subject: RE: the singer and the occult
From: treewind
Date: 27 Oct 07 - 04:47 AM

"Wiccan dressing up and pretending"
Some of the wiccans I've met certainly are't pretending.
Cursing is bad news as it rebounds on the person who did it, so it's not a sacrifice made often. It's a myth that witches do evil, of course - most of their work is done for the good of others. I should imagine that anybody who uses magic for evil purposes keeps pretty quiet about it.

There are certainly some pagan folkies but hardly a majority. Pete Jennings who used to host a folk programme on BBC radio Suffolk is an Odinist. He won't mind my mentioning that as it's all over his web site which is worth a visit for lots of links between paganism and folk traditions. I know of a singing trio who are all pagan too. Their name is a bit of a give-away...

Maybe paganism isn't some people's idea of "the occult" but it's not far off.

By the way, there's a recent Wild Goose album called Songs of Witchcraft and Magic. Note that there are no ghost songs on the album - this is deliberate as there are so many of those that another album is planned to cover that topic. I've no idea when, but keep an eye out for it.

Anahata

Subject: RE: the singer and the occult
From: Beer
Date: 27 Oct 07 - 09:47 PM

There must be at least one Irish song that talks about ghost,occult,banshee"s and so on.

Here is one titled "John williams" and one of the line goes; "But I thought I heard the Banshee cries, that chilled me to the bone".
Chours

Richman, poor man, begger man wife.
Sailed away into the night,
Where they end up no one knows,
Round and round the story goes.

Beer (adrien)

Subject: RE: the singer and the occult
From: Mo the caller
Date: 28 Oct 07 - 02:17 AM

I know of a singing trio who are all pagan too. Their name is a bit of a give-away...
Yes, but they are (were) kidding aren't they?

Subject: RE: the singer and the occult
From: Mo the caller
Date: 28 Oct 07 - 05:26 AM

I was quoting treewind above, but forgot the "".

Subject: RE: the singer and the occult
From: Anne Lister
Date: 28 Oct 07 - 09:35 AM

I know quite a lot of pagan folkies, both performers and non-performers. Is it important to know? And if so, why?

Anne
once "outed" by the News of the World as a witch, on the grounds that I was singing to an audience that included quite a few witches ...

Subject: RE: the singer and the occult
From: treewind
Date: 28 Oct 07 - 10:20 AM

Mo, I was thinking of Hex - who were you thinking of?
I didn't mean The Devils's Interval, in case anyone thought I did.
Nor the Witches of Elswick, more likely who you meant, now I come to think of it.

Anahata

Subject: RE: the singer and the occult
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 28 Oct 07 - 08:16 PM

Nobody mentioned the Unquiet Grave yet.....

Kitty

Subject: RE: the singer and the occult
From: Mo the caller
Date: 29 Oct 07 - 08:35 AM

Yes I was thinking of the Witches (and I can't count).

Subject: RE: the singer and the occult
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 29 Oct 07 - 06:13 PM

I lived at the Manchester end of the 'Devils Highway'. No-one has written 'Get your kicks on the A666 though'...

:D