Chord Req: Poor Murdered Woman

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Poor Murdered Woman
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 23 Sep 17 - 11:19 AM

Just written a note to a song realted to this for a friend
Jim Carroll

6   The Old Oak Tree (Roud 569) (Laws P37)
This has turned up fairly frequently in Ireland, notably in Co. Clare, also America and Canada, though not in England or Scotland, though it does bear a resemblance to the song, 'Poor Murdered Woman' collected from a 'Mr Foster, labourer' in 1897' in Surrey.
The Surrey version of this is attributed to an actual murder which was discovered on July 11th 1834 and reported in The Times.
According to George Brown's note to the Vermont version in 'The New Green Mountain Songster', "The Old Oak Tree" is of Irish origin, the earliest preprint of it is an Irish broadside in the Boston Public Library.
A detail missing from Robert's text occurs in the version sung by Antrim singer Joe Holmes, where the killer is discovered by the corpse bleeding in his presence:

"Her cheeks that once were red, were black with wounds and blows
And from her side fresh blood gushed forth and trickled through her clothes"

This links the song to the old tradition that a murder could be solved by bringing the suspect face to face with the corpse.
As late as 1882, the defence council of a murder suspect in Galway argued his innocence because he had attended the wake of the victim.   
This reference to a medieval belief suggests that the song probably predates the broadside text and occurred in oral tradition before it appeared in print, often the case.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Poor Murdered Woman
From: JHW
Date: 21 Sep 17 - 04:53 AM

"We used to sit down with a guitar, play the record over and over again and work out the chords - I despair!"
I'd tend to agree but assume someone asks on Mudcat when they're beat. The missing chord you can't come up with is often one you've used already but don't realise.
Record Player? I still have mine from the 70s. New cartridge several times. Gave up smoking to buy the turntable and never smoked since.

I sing Poor Murdered Woman once in a blue moon. Not a happy song to fit in - but I always have sung it unaccompanied.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Poor Murdered Woman
From: Gregg Hermetech
Date: 21 Sep 17 - 04:11 AM

Hi all! This is my first post here, so be nice. ;)

I've been trying to work this one out on guitar recently, with a couple of friends, listening to the Albion Country Band version, with Shirley Collins singing.

As far as the theory goes, my far more knowledgeable friends have told me the melody is in C Pentatonic, while the harmony is C Dorian.

It's in 3/4 time, around 107 BPM, capo on the third fret if you want to play along with the record, (you can play the open chord version too, but it's not so easy, drop all chords 3 semi-tones).

Intro
Am G C/D Am

Verse (four sections, four bars each, one for each line)
G C D Am
Am D G Am
Am D G Am
G C D Am

Break
G CD Am

I hope that was somewhat helpful to some! What an amazing but very sad song, with a melody to die for. ;)

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Poor Murdered Woman
From: GUEST,mouse
Date: 01 Feb 08 - 03:05 PM

Thank you all. This helps a lot.

I tried listening to the CD and playing along, but I still couldn't figure it out. :)

Thanks again.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Poor Murdered Woman
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 01 Feb 08 - 07:36 AM

Here are a couple of harmonisations of the tune posted in Malcolm's linked thread above. The first is in the Dorian mode (on D) given on the tune in that thread. But I thought the middle two lines especially shouted out Aeolian (on A) to me, so I've put in a second harmonisation in the Aeolian mode, the outer lines ending in a modal sort of imperfect cadence (the G rather than Am in this case).

In the Dorian version, you could keep the F on at the end of the lines instead of switching to Dm. You could also use the chords from the Aeolian version for the 2nd and 3rd lines in this version too. (Hope that's not too confusing!).

Mick

---

X:1
T:Poor Murdered Woman
S:Mr Foster, Milford, Surrey, 1897
Z:Tune noted by the Rev C Shebbeare, words by Mr Foster
B:Journal of the Folk Song Society, I, 4, 1902, 186-7
N:Roud 1064
N:This version harmonised as Dorian
L:1/8
Q:1/4=100
M:3/4
K:D Dor
"Dorian mode" "F"HA A|"C"G2 E2 (D3/2C/)|C2 D2 G2|G2 E2 F2|"Dm"D4
w:It was Yan-kee, the_ squi-er, as I have heard say,
A2|"F"A2 c2 A2|"G"B2 d2 B2|G2 "F"A2 c2|"Dm"A4
w:Who rode out a-hunt-ing on one Sat-ur-day.
G2|"F"A2 c2 A2|"G"(Bc d2) B2|G2 "F"A2 c2|"Dm"A4
w:They hunt-ed all day,__ but no-thing they found
A A|"C"G2 E2 (D3/2C/)|C2 D2 G2|G2 E2 F2|"Dm"D4|]
w:But a poor mur-dered_ wo-man laid on the cold ground.

X:2
T:Poor Murdered Woman
S:Mr Foster, Milford, Surrey, 1897
Z:Tune noted by the Rev C Shebbeare, words by Mr Foster
B:Journal of the Folk Song Society, I, 4, 1902, 186-7
N:Roud 1064
N:This version harmonised as Aeolian
L:1/8
Q:1/4=100
M:3/4
K:A Aeo
"Aeolian mode" "Am"HA A|"C"G2 E2 (D3/2C/)|C2 D2 G2|"G"G2 E2 F2|D4
w:It was Yan-kee, the_ squi-er, as I have heard say,
A2|"Am"A2 c2 A2|"G"B2 d2 B2|G2 A2 c2|"Am"A4
w:Who rode out a-hunt-ing on one Sat-ur-day.
"G"G2|"Am"A2 c2 A2|"G"(Bc d2) B2|G2 A2 c2|"Am"A4
w:They hunt-ed all day,__ but no-thing they found
A A|"C"G2 E2 (D3/2C/)|C2 D2 G2|"G"G2 E2 F2|D4|]
w:But a poor mur-dered_ wo-man laid on the cold ground.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Poor Murdered Woman
From: Giant Folk Eyeball (inactive)
Date: 31 Jan 08 - 05:21 PM

B3L. It still happens, honest!

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Poor Murdered Woman
From: Peace
Date: 31 Jan 08 - 05:10 PM

Like, who's got a record player anymore?

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Poor Murdered Woman
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 31 Jan 08 - 05:08 PM

We used to sit down with a guitar, play the record over and over again and work out the chords - I despair!

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Poor Murdered Woman
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 30 Jan 08 - 06:42 PM

There is a text transcription in the DT ( Poor Murdered Woman ), but it contains numerous mistakes. Several years ago, I posted the original transcription (the song has been found once only in tradition) at  Lyr and tune Add: Poor Murdered Woman, with the tune in abc format and background information; but the DT, typically, still retains the duff set.

The page at Contemplator is taken from the slightly 'polished' set in English Traditional Songs and Carols (1908).

We have better information here in the Forum, then (as usual, if people bother to look for it); but we don't have suggested guitar chords. Somebody else will have to see to that.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Poor Murdered Woman
From: Peace
Date: 30 Jan 08 - 02:58 PM

Hope this helps a bit.

Subject: Chord Req: Poor Murdered Woman
From: GUEST,mouse
Date: 30 Jan 08 - 02:54 PM

I'd specifically like to know the Albion Country Band version. Any help would be appreciated.