Origins: The Unquiet Grave Penny Dreadful Melody

Subject: Origins: The Unquiet Grave Penny Dreadful Melody
From: GUEST,Kathryn M
Date: 11 Oct 19 - 04:02 PM

I have been learning "The Unquiet Grave" using a melody I heard from a Joan Baez recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOIAhXDqdPc

However, I just heard this version of the tune, apparently used on the show "Penny Dreadful": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f-MTJ2MOR4.

I like the Penny Dreadful tune much better, as it seems to fit the mood of the song better. However, I would like to know where this tune comes from. Was it composed for the show, or is it a folk tune? (Basically, is it under copyright?)

Subject: RE: Origins: The Unquiet Grave Penny Dreadful Melody
From: GUEST,Starship
Date: 11 Oct 19 - 04:30 PM

Try asking at

https://www.facebook.com/abelkorzeniowski/?__tn__=%2Cd%2CP-R&eid=ARC6cQZ17aUZu8cArSJgfEUrRfZBQUBLAc8s11ZE1hhICqPC_f2zYt9LupGnEOQyt_NBFlYScFhhfAed

Subject: RE: Origins: The Unquiet Grave Penny Dreadful Melody
From: Richard Mellish
Date: 11 Oct 19 - 04:37 PM

The second tune is the one generally called Dives and Lazarus.
I think I have heard the first one before, whether from Joan Baez or someone else I don't remember.
But the tune that I am most familiar with is neither of those.

(More info to follow, possibly.)

Subject: RE: Origins: The Unquiet Grave Penny Dreadful Melody
From: Richard Mellish
Date: 11 Oct 19 - 05:07 PM

The tune that I am familiar with is similar to Bronson's 3, but not exactly the same. I have looked in a few of the books that it might have come from but not found that one.

Subject: RE: Origins: The Unquiet Grave Penny Dreadful Melody
From: Iains
Date: 12 Oct 19 - 04:07 AM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyqBA_Qr3qs
very similar/same as joan Baez

Subject: RE: Origins: The Unquiet Grave Penny Dreadful Melody
From: Susan of DT
Date: 12 Oct 19 - 06:32 AM

I sing it to Ian Campbell's tune. I'll have to look in Bronson and see whether it is one of those. Listening to the recordings in The Child Ballad Project, The Dubliners, Frankie Armstrong, and Jo Freya use a very similar tune.

Subject: RE: Origins: The Unquiet Grave Penny Dreadful Melody
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 12 Oct 19 - 08:12 PM

All these examples appear to be adaptations of traditional versions - I've just discovered an Irish American version from Maine - have yet to examine the tune
I've never been convinced that 'Willikins' wasn't adapted from an earlier tune, though songs that use it usually credit it as the tune

I suppose it's a matter of taste, but I have to say to say that P.D's performance is one of the worst I've heard - those sound effects - phoney or what !!
This is one of the most beautifully sensitive ballads in the Child canon - it's not a ghost story, it's a 'revenant song' - a conversation between the living and the dead based on the superstition that if you over-mourn a loved one they will be unable to find peace and rest
That sounded as if Roger Coran had produced it (though the tune is fine)
I think the same mistake with two films in the 1990s
The overblown 'Ghost' ended up with demons dragging the villain Down to hell - Hammer Horror style, while it's British counterpart 'Truly Madly Deeply (far superior, in my opinion) treated it as a gentle tragi-comedy
Much more in line with the revenant theme
Just an opinion, of course
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Origins: The Unquiet Grave Penny Dreadful Melody
From: The Sandman
Date: 15 Oct 19 - 05:57 PM

RE