Songs about Women Who Behave Badly

Subject: Songs about Women Who Behave Badly
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 May 16 - 10:51 PM

So, I got a request from a woman in Oklahoma, by way of New York, asking for links or lyrics to songs about Women Who Behave Badly - really evil women, not just crafty or bold women (although we could collect those, too).

I'm not coming up with many just now, so can anybody help?

The one I think of first is "Hard Hearted Hannah."

and The Jew's Daughter

I don't know if Louise qualifies, because she's not half bad.

She's not really evil, but I certainly appreciate The Maid on the Shore

And of course, there's the elder of the Two Sisters

And what about the wife in Marrow Bones?

Does a jilted lover qualify? Just what exactly is it that Miss Otis Regrets?

And why is that cowardly, evil woman wearing a Long Black Veil?

Subject: RE: Songs about Women Who Behave Badly
From: Janie
Date: 08 May 16 - 11:27 PM

Confess my hackles went up a bit at the title of the thread. Perhaps some clarification about what the purpose of the requester is, as well as context re 'Women Who Behave Badly' would be helpful?

There are plenty of songs about people behaving badly, i.e. with ill intent. But when the focus is gender specific, want some more information.

Subject: RE: Songs about Women Who Behave Badly
From: Janie
Date: 08 May 16 - 11:38 PM

For example, in the song "Twa Sisters' and all it's variations, clearly one sister murders with malice out of jealousy. Definitely 'evil' within the context of any social norms.

To even remotely think that "Louise" represents evil would be misogyny. And I know you are not a misogynist Joe.

Subject: RE: Songs about Women Who Behave Badly
From: Joe Offer
Date: 09 May 16 - 12:14 AM

Hi, Janie -
The thread title isn't from me. I'm just conveying the request, which originally came from a woman.

I'm very sympathetic to Louise, and I truly admire the Maid Upon the Shore, and I think I can understand Miss Otis - and I think the songs are sympathetic to them, too. And I'm pretty sure the Jew's Daughter was the victim of a bigoted accusation. But most certainly, there are some men who would consider these women evil.

And I really don't think that the sweetheart was very nice to the noble Lord Randall, although perhaps she had good reason to poison him.

But you're probably right. I should be ashamed of myself. My wife left the room when I started telling her the stories behind these songs....

I'd like to complain to the lady in Oklahoma about her getting me in trouble with the women in my life.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Songs about Women Who Behave Badly
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 09 May 16 - 01:42 AM

What about "Sweet Betsy from Pike" ?

'Twas out on the prairie one bright starry night,
They broke out the whiskey and Betsy got tight,
She sang and she howled and she danced o'er the plain,
And showed her bare legs to the whole wagon train."

And, in a version in one of Alan Lomax's books, it wasn't just her legs that she showed, but her butt, as well.

What a gal!

Subject: RE: Songs about Women Who Behave Badly
From: BobL
Date: 09 May 16 - 03:01 AM

Well, Betsy's behaviour while under the influence wasn't exactly praiseworthy, but it wasn't evil either, and at least she made amends when she sobered up. Incidentally my 1947 copy of Fireside Book of Folk Songs has "bare arse". Illustrated.

Subject: RE: Songs about Women Who Behave Badly
From: GUEST,Fran
Date: 09 May 16 - 06:27 AM

Joe, thanks for putting this search request out for me. In true "telephone" fashion, it got scrambled some through several transmissions.
The program "Women Behaving Badly" will be stories and songs for an adults-only audience. "Badly" of course has many interpretations, but I wasn't looking for "evil" just unconventional for their times, i.e. not the wronged maidens who end up in the river. I did think of "Long Black Veil" but also "Barbara Allen" (who never asked the poor sod to die of love for her). Thanks for suggesting "Maiden on the Shore" (serves him right!). I appreciate the trickster/vengeance theme.
Are there ballads about legendary pirate queens? I understand that The Yellow Rose of Texas was a tejas spy, but the popular song doesn't mention how she preoccupied Santa Ana.
Thanks all.

Subject: RE: Songs about Women Who Behave Badly
From: GUEST
Date: 09 May 16 - 06:49 AM

Richard Thompson's "I misunderstood"

R

Subject: RE: Songs about Women Who Behave Badly
From: GUEST
Date: 09 May 16 - 07:19 AM

Google Grace O'Malley, aka Granuaile, the Irish pirate queen: quite a few songs about her, + a whole suite of music by Shaun Davey.
There are others, at least 10 listed on one website.

Subject: RE: Songs about Women Who Behave Badly
From: Effsee
Date: 09 May 16 - 08:10 AM

Lizzie Borden?

Subject: RE: Songs about Women Who Behave Badly
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 May 16 - 08:42 AM

The Yellow Rose of Texas was not behaving badly. Being a spy was a very important job. She was Emily West.

Subject: RE: Songs about Women Who Behave Badly
From: oldhippie
Date: 09 May 16 - 10:22 AM

Step It Out, Nancy.

Subject: RE: Songs about Women Who Behave Badly
From: Deckman
Date: 09 May 16 - 11:55 AM

Not a song BUT ... my mother would occasionally regale us with this ...
"I ONCE KNEW A GIRL WHO WAS GOOD,
    BUT WHEN SHE WAS BAD,
SHE WAS VERY VERY GOOD!"

bad bad bob (deckman)

Subject: RE: Songs about Women Who Behave Badly
From: Joe_F
Date: 09 May 16 - 01:45 PM

Child Owlet (Child 291) must surely set some kind of record for female wickedness in song.

Subject: RE: Songs about Women Who Behave Badly
From: GUEST
Date: 09 May 16 - 01:58 PM

Lots of Child Ballads where the chief villain is mother/stepmother of one or other of the lovers. Cruel Mother. Fanny Blair (Would an 11-year old qualify?) Lots of monster women.

Subject: RE: Songs about Women Who Behave Badly
From: GUEST,Rog Peek without Cookie
Date: 09 May 16 - 04:48 PM

"Belle of Barnstable" - Jeremy Taylor

Rog

Subject: RE: Songs about Women Who Behave Badly
From: Gurney
Date: 10 May 16 - 01:26 AM

English trad. 'Lovely Joan.' She was a horse thief imo.

Subject: RE: Songs about Women Who Behave Badly
From: GUEST
Date: 10 May 16 - 04:57 AM

Ricketty ticketty tin

Subject: RE: Songs about Women Who Behave Badly
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 10 May 16 - 06:01 AM

Frankie and Johnny
In DT = www.mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=2122




Tah Rah Rah Boom-di-Ay

A sweet tuxedo girl you see,
Queen of swell society,
Fond of fun as fond can be,
When it's on the stict Q.T.
I'm not too young, I'm not too old,
Not too timid, not too bold,
Just the kind you'd like to hold,
Just the kind for sport, I'm told.
CHORUS: Ta-ra-ra Boom-der-e, etc.

In the DT = www.mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=8385





My Heart Belongs To Daddy
(Cole Porter 1938)

While tearing off a game of golf,
I may make a play for the caddy;
But when I do, I don't follow though,
'Cause my heart belongs to Daddy.

If I invite a boy some night
To dine on my fine finnan haddie,
I just adore his asking for more,
But my heart belongs to Daddy.

Yes, my heart belongs to Daddy
So I simply couldn't be bad.
Yes, my heart belongs to Daddy,
Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-Dad.
So I want to warn you, laddie,
Though I think you're perfectly swell,
That my heart belongs to Daddy,
'Cause my daddy he treats it so well.

If I invite a boy some night
To cook up a fine enchilada,
Though Spanish rice is all very nice,
My heart belongs to my dada.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: Songs about Women Who Behave Badly
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 10 May 16 - 09:56 AM

...errrrrm.....

"Devil Woman"

I've had nothing but bad luck
Since the day I saw the cat at my door
So I came into you sweet lady
Answering your mystical call

Crystal ball on the table
Showing the future, the past
Same cat with them evil eyes
And I knew it was a spell she cast

She's just a devil woman
With evil on her mind
Beware the devil woman
She's gonna get you...
She's just a devil woman
With evil on her mind
Beware the devil woman
She's gonna get you from behind...

Give me the ring on your finger
Let me see the lines on your hand
I can see me a tall dark stranger
Giving you what you hadn't planned

I drank the potion she offered me
I found myself on the floor
Then I looked in those big green eyes
And I wondered what I came there for...

She's just a devil woman
With evil on her mind
Beware the devil woman
She's gonna get you...
She's just a devil woman
With evil on her mind
Beware the devil woman
She's gonna get you from behind...

If you're out on a moonlit night
Be careful of them neighbourhood strays
Of a lady with long black hair
Tryin' to win you with her feminine ways

Crystal ball on the table
Showing the future, the past
Same cat with them evil eyes
You'd better get out of there fast...

She's just a devil woman
With evil on her mind
Beware the devil woman
She's gonna get you...
She's just a devil woman
With evil on her mind
Beware the devil woman
She's gonna get you...

She's just a devil woman
With evil on her mind
Beware the devil woman
She's gonna get you...
She's just a devil woman
With evil on her mind
Beware the devil woman
She's gonna get you...

She's just a devil woman
With evil on her mind
Beware the devil woman
She's gonna get you...
She's just a devil woman
With evil on her mind
Beware the devil woman
She's gonna get you...


Thank you Sir Cliff, you allegedly very odd bloke... 😬

Subject: RE: Songs about Women Who Behave Badly
From: mkebenn
Date: 10 May 16 - 11:13 AM

The Fire Ship? Mike

Subject: RE: Songs about Women Who Behave Badly
From: GUEST,Pablomago
Date: 10 May 16 - 05:59 PM

That reminds me of the Marty Robbins song "Devil Woman."

Subject: RE: Songs about Women Who Behave Badly
From: Janie
Date: 10 May 16 - 07:40 PM

No worries Joe. I understood it wasn't your title. And thanks for the clarification Fran.

Still, If you do want 'evil' Twa Sister/Dreadful Wind and Rain is a good one.

Subject: Lyr Add: MAGGIE MAY (Rod Stewart) + (trad.)
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 11 May 16 - 03:08 PM

Maggie May
Rod Stewart - 1971

Wake up, Maggie; I think I got something to say to you.
It's late September and I really should be back at school.
I know I keep you amused,
but I feel I'm being used
Oh, Maggie, I couldn't have tried anymore.
You lured me away from home
just to save you from being alone
You stole my heart and that's what really hurts.

The morning sun when it's in your face really shows your age,
But that don't worry me none; in my eyes, you're everything.
I laughed at all of your jokes;
my love you didn't need to coax.
Oh, Maggie, I couldn't have tried anymore.
You lured me away from home,
just to save you from being alone
You stole my soul, and that's a pain I can do without.

All I needed was a friend to lend a guiding hand
But you turned into a lover and mother what a lover! You wore me out.
All you did was wreck my bed
and in the morning kick me in the head
Oh, Maggie, I couldn't have tried anymore.
You lured me away from home
'cause you didn't want to be alone.
You stole my heart; I couldn't leave you if I tried.

I suppose I could collect my books and get on back to schoo,l
Or steal my daddy's cue and make a living out of playing pool.
Or find myself a rock and roll band that needs a helpin' hand.
Oh, Maggie, I wish I'd never seen your face.
You made a first-class fool out of me
But I'm as blind as a fool can be.
You stole my heart but I love you anyway.

Maggie, I wish I'd never seen your face.
I'll get on back home one of these days.

..............................

And From the DT there is also the original

Maggie May

cho: Oh Maggie, Maggie May
They have taken her away
To slave upon Van Dieman's cruel shore.
Oh, you robbed so many whalers, and dosed so many sailors
But you'll never cruise 'round Peter Street no more.

Oh. I'll never forget the day when I first met Maggie May,
She was standing on a corner at Canning Place,
In a full-sized crin-o-line, like a frigate of the line,
And as she saw I was a sailor I gave chase.

She gave me a saucy nod, and I, like a farmer's clod,
Let her take me line abreast in tow,
And under all plain sail, we ran before the gale
And to the Crow's Nest Tavern we did go

Next morning when I woke, I found that I was broke,
No shoes or shirt or trousers could I find,
When I asked her where they were, she answers "My dear sir,
They're down in Lewis' pawnshop number nine."

So to Lewis' I did go, but no clothing could I find,
And the policeman took that wicked girl away,
And the judge he guilty found her, of robbing a homeward-bounder,
And now she's doing time in Botany Bay.

She was chained and sent away from Liverpool one day,
The lads all cheered as she sailed down the bay,
And every sailor lad, he only was too glad
They'd sent that old whore out to Botany Bay.



Sincerely,
Gargoyle

In a recent MC Thread October 20, 2015....includes interview and song origins. Origins - Rod Stewart - Maggie May
...?
.I.

Subject: RE: Songs about Women Who Behave Badly
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 13 May 16 - 04:34 AM

Belle Starr
Woody Guthrie


Belle Starr, Belle Starr, tell me where you have gone
Since old Oklahoma's sandhills you did roam?
Is it Heaven's wide streets that you're tying your reins
Or singlefooting somewhere below?

Eight lovers they say combed your waving black hair
Eight men knew the feel of your dark velvet waist
Eight men heard the sounds of your tan leather skirt
Eight men heard the bark of the guns that you wore.

Cole Younger was your first and the father of your girl
And the name that you picked for your daughter was Pearl
Cole robbed a bank and he drawed the life line
But I heard he was pardoned after Twenty Years time.

Your Cherokee lover, Blue Duck was his name
He loved you in the sand hills before your great fame
I heard he stopped a bullet in Eighteen Eighty Five
And your Blue Duck's no longer alive.

You took Jim Reed to your warm wedding bed
And from out of your love was born the boy, Ed
A pal killed Jim Reed by the dark of the moon
And your son Ed was blowed down in a drunken saloon.

Then there was Bob Younger you loved him well
He rode with the James boys out down the long trail
They caught him in Minnesota along with the gang
He died down in jail in the cell or the chain.

You loved Mister William Clarke Quantrill
And his Civil War guerrillas in the Missouri hills
He hit Lawrence Kansas and fought them still
And when he rode out Two Hundred lay killed.

They say could have, they whisper you might
Have loved Frank James on a couple of nights
He fought the Midland Railroad almost to death
Then in Nineteen Fifteen Frank drawed his last breath.

They say it could be, they say maybe so,
That you loved Jesse James that desperado,
Jesse got married, had a wife and a son,
Was shot down at home by the Ford brothers guns.

Belle Starr, Belle Starr, your time's getting late,
But how is Jim Younger, did you hear his fate?He was jailed and then pardoned for all he had done,
And he blowed his own brains out in Nineteen and One.

Eight men they say combed that black waving hair
Eight men knew the feel of your dark velvet waist
Eight men heard the sounds of your tan leather skirt
Eight men heard the bark of the guns that you wore.

Belle Starr, Belle Starr, tell me where have you gone
Since old Oklahoma's sand hills you did roam?
Is it Heaven's wide streets that you're tying your reins
Or singlefooting somewhere below?

In the DT with notation and midi

www.mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=587

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

recordings by P. Seegar and Arlo.

Subject: RE: Songs about Women Who Behave Badly
From: GUEST
Date: 13 May 16 - 06:58 AM

"Posh Gwendoline's A Bam" - Sandy Wright

Subject: RE: Songs about Women Who Behave Badly
From: Llanfair
Date: 13 May 16 - 08:47 AM

Not traditional, but "Pirate Jenny" from the threepenny opera had an axe to grind, and "Sally free and easy" was no better than she aught to be.

Subject: RE: Songs about Women Who Behave Badly
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 14 May 16 - 02:18 AM

Demon Woman
by Flight of the Conchords 2009 (HBO series, folk music spoof)


Demon woman
Demon woman

Demon woman
Your hair is like silk
But you're curdling my milk
I know not of what ilk thou art

Demon woman, woman demon

Demon woman
You sit on a rock
Looking nice in your frock
But you're scaring my livestock

Demon woman, woman demon

Demon woman
You're making me moan
Turn my bone into stone
You're taking me home
To meet your familiars

Nice to meet you
You cast your spell
Very well

Demon woman
Ha ha ha ha ha ha
Demon woman, woman demon
Ha ha ha...

Demon woman
You cut puppies' toes off
Pull an animal's nose off
How'd you magic my clothes off?

Demon woman
Take me back to your room
Make me howl at the moon
Make me pray to the temple of womb

Demon woman, woman demon

Your breasts are balls of flame
And I'm burning my hands playing these ball games

Demon woman
Demon woman (unholy woman)
Demon woman, woman demon

Ow woman wow wow wow
Ow woman wow wow wow
Devil in a cardigan
Ow woman wow wow wow
Ooh
Aaaaaaaaaaah...
Demon woman.


Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Can't get much worse than this. Poor puppies.