Lyr Req: Spooky Ballads for Halloween

Subject: Spooky Ballads for Halloween
From:
Date: 15 Oct 01 - 04:23 PM

Does anyone have any suggestions for particularly creepy or spooky murder (or other) ballads (American folk, old-timey), suitable for a performance around Halloween?

[Some song titles in this thread have been converted to links by a Mudelf.]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spooky Ballads for Halloween
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 15 Oct 01 - 05:25 PM

Hi, Kristen. Go to the top of the Forum page, find the Refresh button. Set it back 3 days or 1 week and you will find one great thread titled Halloween Songs, and another wonderful one titled Supernatural Ballads. Then, when you have time, read the FAQ Newcomer's Guide which will give you other great tips on how to find stuff here.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spooky Ballads for Halloween
From: Little Krissy
Date: 15 Oct 01 - 05:39 PM

(sheepish)

Read some of the FAQ, should have looked harder for a relevant thread. Thanks for info.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spooky Ballads for Halloween
From: Susan of DT
Date: 15 Oct 01 - 06:11 PM

Put @ghost in the blue search box - gets 63 hits. also try @myth for an assortment of devils, unicorns, fairies, etc, some of which may be relevent.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spooky Ballads for Halloween
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 15 Oct 01 - 09:20 PM

Welcome, Little Krissy!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spooky Ballads for Halloween
From: Irish sergeant
Date: 16 Oct 01 - 09:03 AM

Little Krissy: Welcome! How about "Susannah Martin" by Relativity? Kindest regards, Neil

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spooky Ballads for Halloween
From: MMario
Date: 16 Oct 01 - 09:20 AM

Krissy - don't feel sheepish. this site has a *LOT* of information, and many ways to search for it. It takes everyone a while to get used to it and some of the quirkish ways it can sometimes act up.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spooky Ballads for Halloween
From: GUEST,JohnB
Date: 16 Oct 01 - 12:32 PM

With her head tucked underneath her arm, she walks the Bloody tower,
with her head tucked underneath her arm at the midnight hour.

It's about Anne Bolyn's ghost and it's in the DT. Search for any of the bigger stranger words when you do the search. Don't bother about your lack of knowledge of all the quirks around here, it comes with time.

JohnB

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spooky Ballads for Halloween
From: Genie
Date: 17 Oct 01 - 12:59 AM

Here are the links to three previous threads along the same lines:

Halloween Songs

LyrReq:Halloween songs

Supernatural ballads

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spooky Ballads for Halloween
From: Little Krissy
Date: 18 Oct 01 - 02:35 PM

Thank you! (for welcomes and for help).

I think we're going with pretty polly and long black veil.

l.k.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spooky Ballads for Halloween
From: open mike
Date: 06 Sep 02 - 03:47 AM

how about the monster mash-- oh well it is not a folk ballad

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spooky Ballads for Halloween
From: GUEST,Glade
Date: 06 Sep 02 - 08:19 PM

Tom Dooley (or Tom Dula). "Pearl Bryan" is pretty creepy - about decapitation in the early 20th century.

Glade

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spooky Ballads for Halloween
From: GUEST,Spooky
Date: 15 Oct 02 - 12:41 AM

"She Moved Thru The Fair" has a ghost in it. What other ghost songs are out there?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spooky Ballads for Halloween
From: Jim Krause
Date: 15 Oct 02 - 01:11 PM

Oh, let's see there's

• The House Carpenter
  
• Pretty Polly (has already been mentioned)
  
• Three Ravens is pretty chilly
  
• Two Sisters
  
• The Unquiet Grave (how could I have almost missed that one?)
  
• Silver Dagger, perhaps
  
• Knoxville Girl, maybe
  

Well, there are a few.

Jim

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spooky Ballads for Halloween
From: EBarnacle1
Date: 15 Oct 02 - 02:27 PM

If you want blood, abduction, revenge, gore, etc. nothing beats the Child Ballads. The Bible (Old Testament) is good, too. The material is certainly rich enough to run a few songs off quickly. Oh, yeah, the tale of Salome and John the Baptist, as reworked by Wilde. As my friend, Rick Nestler puts it in his intro, his songs are about singing, death, history, death, love, death [You get the idea.].

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spooky Ballads for Halloween
From: GUEST,HelenJ
Date: 15 Oct 02 - 02:57 PM

"Matthew Hopkins" is a song I always sing at my club at Samhain (or Halloween.) He was the notorious Witchfinder General who put to death
hundreds of innocent people for financial gain. A nasty piece of work. It is said that towards the end of his regime, folk were so angered that he was 'swum' himself.

HelenJ.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spooky Ballads for Halloween
From:
Date: 15 Oct 02 - 10:21 PM

"Banks of Red Roses" is pretty gory and creepy. Also "The Grisly Bride." And, for comic relief, "Mrs. Ravoon." I'll send lyrics on request if they haven't been posted here already.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spooky Ballads for Halloween
From: GUEST,JTT
Date: 16 Oct 02 - 08:18 AM

Don't forget Tam Lin. Otherworldly.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spooky Ballads for Halloween
From: GUEST,JTT
Date: 16 Oct 02 - 08:18 AM

Oh, and of course Si Beag Si Mor and King of the Fairies. Not ballads, instrumental.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spooky Ballads for Halloween
From: GUEST,JD
Date: 11 Sep 09 - 05:03 PM

Does anyone know the song "Transylvania Two Step"??? I used to sing it when I was a kid but I can't find it on google anywhere!

It starts off...

Two Steps Forward
One Step Back
Turn to Your Partner All Dressed in Black
Shakes their Head like a Maniac
That's how You do the Transylvania Two Step!

Ghosts and Goblins Everywhere
All Jump Out to Give you A Scare!
.............................
..............................

That's all I remember...it's been bugging me for the last year!
Thanks!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spooky Ballads for Halloween
From: Dead Horse
Date: 12 Sep 09 - 09:32 AM

Mike West made a brilliant song called "Elise" which is all about "doin' wrong" & a subsequent murder. Just the thing for Halloween.
I tried his site for the words -no luck, but the whole song is there to listen to at this addy
Just click Elise on CD "Mike West HOME" & away ya go.
(there seems to be a slight background noise problem tho) still worth the listen.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spooky Ballads for Halloween
From: GUEST,Kevin
Date: 22 Oct 09 - 08:14 AM

While everyone knows of Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London", another great song is "Roland, the Headless Thompson Gunner", about a revenging dead mercenary who stalks the earth looking for Van Owen, who blew his head off in a war in the Congo.

It is on the same album as Werewolves, named Excitable Boy (also a great song about a mentally ill boy who kills his prom date after he "raped her, killed her, then he took her home" and after "10 long years, they let him out of the home" and then "he dug up her grave and built a cage with her bones").

Subject: Lyr Add: LADY MARGARET
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Oct 09 - 08:41 AM

Margaret lay on a fine feather bed.
The Halloween drew near.
A dreadful form came to her room
And to her did appear.

"Are you my father the king?" she said.
"Are you my brother John.
Or are you my true love William
From Scotland coming home?"

"I'm not your father the king?" he said.
"Nor yet your brother John.
I am your true love William
From Scotland I've returned.

Margaret, Lady Margaret", he said,
"In love, in charity
Will you give me back the plighted troth
That once, Love, I gave thee?"

"No, I won't give you back your plighted troth,
Nor any such a thing
Till you take me to your father's house
Where oft times we have been."

He took her to his father's house
But as they did enter in
The Gate swung open at its own free will
To let young William in.

"Margaret, Lady Margaret", he said,
"In love, in charity
Will you give me back the plighted troth
That once, Love, I gave thee?"

"No, I won't give you back your plighted troth,
Nor any such a thing
Till you take me to the chapel hall
And marry me with a ring."

He took her to the chapel hall
But as they did enter in
The locks flew asunder at their own free will
To let young William in.

"Margaret, Lady Margaret", he said,
"In love, in charity
Will you give me back the plighted troth
That once, Love, I gave thee?"

She took a chain from around her neck.
She laid it on his breast
Saying, "Take you back your plighted troth
And in heaven your soul find rest."

Silent stood the red red cock
But loudly cried the grey,
"It is time for the living to depart the dead,
And so you must away."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spooky Ballads for Halloween
From: GUEST,Young Buchan
Date: 22 Oct 09 - 08:49 AM

Sorry. The above was sent by me, but I forgot to sign for it!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spooky Ballads for Halloween
From: Genie
Date: 22 Oct 09 - 09:38 PM

Mentioned in related threads, I'm sure, but there's always:
(Ghost) Riders in the Sky
If You Could Read My Mind (ghost from a wishing well in it)
Witchy Woman
The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry
Long Black Veil (the narrator is already dead)
Miss Bailey's Ghost
Love Potion No. 9 (gypsy has magic potions)
The Dry Bones
Black Magic Woman
Hotel California
Three Ravens / Twa Corbies
The Farmer's Curst Wife (so bad the Devil kicks her out of hell and back to her husband)
Zombie Jamboree


Not all "folk," but they tend to fit the theme.

and, of course, no end to murder ballads and the like

Subject: Lyr Add: THE SENTRY AND THE NIGHT VISITOR
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 23 Oct 09 - 07:24 AM

A little something I prepared earlier:

THE SENTRY AND THE NIGHT VISITOR.
© Robin Madge 2009

"Who comes this way?" the sentry cried,
Peering through the dark.
"Who comes this way at dead of night,
And causes dogs to bark?"
"You do not want to know my name,
Nor yet my purpose here.
Forget that I have come this way
Or it will cost you dear."

"Stand forward, and be recognised."
The sentry called again.
" For I must know if you are foe
or friend to those within.
"There are some here who combat me
Each and every day
To others I am bless'd relief
A friend upon their way."

"Why come you now at dead of night?"
The sentry questioned still.
"What business will not wait 'til light
And better time fulfil?"
"My business waits for none, I fear,
The time already planned,
For light and dark are both the same
As neither stay my hand."

"Who do you visit in this place?"
The sentry now did ask.
"Who has business at this hour,
Why now this ill timed task?"
"I come for one within these walls,
To take him far away,
But who will come with me tonight
Is not for me to say."

"I know you now" the sentry said
"The one who comes for all.
But I must stand my post outside
And keep you from the wall."
"Then you will come with me tonight,
And keep your word in faith.
For those within will all sleep sound."
So vanished man and wraith.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spooky Ballads for Halloween
From: Kenny B (inactive)
Date: 23 Oct 09 - 06:01 PM

Fro a post by Jim Carroll
Of course, there's always the Matt McGinn masterpiece.


The Dundee Ghost

Noo a deid man seldom walks, he very rarely talks,    (dead)
It's no very often you'll see him running aroond,
But I'm a refugee from a graveyard in Dundee
And I've come tae haunt some houses in Glasgow Toon oooh, oooh, ooooh
And I've come tae haunt some hooses in Glasgow Toon
..........................

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spooky Ballads for Halloween
From: Paul Burke
Date: 23 Oct 09 - 06:38 PM

I used to frighten the kids with a spoof on Silent Night:


Silent night, peaceful night,
Someone's going to get a fright,
There's a ghost behind their bed,
In his hand he's holding his head....

BOO!

And

Dracula, Dracula,
Dressed head to foot in black you are
How spectacular
Dracu-lacula

Darcual, Dracula,
I'll take you home to see Mama
She'll be shocked to see
What you've done to me,

Dracula, Dracula,
Your kisses are intravascular,
Mind my jugular,
Dracu-lacual!

Subject: Lyr Add: THE SUFFOLK MIRACLE
From: Young Buchan
Date: 23 Oct 09 - 09:20 PM

There's also The Suffolk Miracle (not a reference to Dick Miles). If this doesn't give you goose-bumps, you're already dead! Tune is McCaffery.

There was a squire lived in this town
He was a squire of high renown;
He had a daughter of beauty bright
And oh she always was his heart's delight.

Earls, dukes and lords to court her came,
But none of them could her favour gain.
There was a young lad of birth so low,
And oh this young girl she loved him so.

But when her father came to see
She loved a man of such low degree,
One hundred miles he sent her away
Just to keep her from her wedding day.

Then one night she for bed was bound,
And she stepped out of her lovely gown,
When she heard the voice of her true love say
"Come rise up quickly, love, and let's away."

She her true love's voice did know;
Her father's horse she did know also.
She dressed herself from head to toe
And with the young man away did go.

They had not riden an hour or more
When he cried out "Darling, my head is sore."
Her holland handkerchief she took out
And with it she did bind his head about.

They rode along to her father's gate.
"Light off, light off," then the young man said.
"Light off, light off," then the young man said,
"While I make sure that my horse is fed."

She did enter her father's hall.
"Who's there, who's there?" did her father call.
"It's me, dear father. You sent for me
All by that young man that so well loves me."

Then her father cursed and swore.
He wrung his hands till they both were sore.
He tore the very hair from off his head,
For he knew this young man lay twelve months dead.

Early next morning at the break of day
They opened the grave where the young man lay.
And though his body was twelve months dead
There's a holland handkerchief wrapped round his head.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spooky Ballads for Halloween
From: Valmai Goodyear
Date: 24 Oct 09 - 06:11 AM

On Saturday 31st. October we have a Halloween evening at the Lewes Saturday Folk Club . The fire will be lit in the club-room fireplace and we're bringing a dozen candles, so that for at least part of the evening the light will be from the fire and candles alone.

I'll be making soul cakes to a traditional recipe.

One song I definitely want to sing is the Child ballad Young Benjie, which has a bit of genuine necromancy in it.

Valmai

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Spooky Ballads for Halloween
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Jul 15 - 05:14 AM

did you find the answer?!

Subject: Lyr Add: ELISE (Mike West)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 29 Dec 22 - 12:10 PM

This was mentioned by Dead_Horse back on 12 Sep 09. I like how it illustrates the connection between guilt feeling and irrational terror.


ELISE
As recorded by Mike West on “Home,” 2001.

What you did was wrong – was a long time ago
With a woman named Elise – wouldn’t want anyone to know,
Least of all your wife – least of all your kid.
Not real proud – of whatever you and her did,
But Elise she comes knockin’ – wants a dollar for a beer.
She says she’ll start talkin’ – and you don’t want anyone to hear.
Nobody will listen – but how can you be sure?
Gotta give her a dollar – just to keep Elise from your door.

And you’re thinkin’ ‘bout a murder – you got the gun.
Elise ain’t got family – Elise she ain’t got anyone.
When she comes knockin’ – you invite her in.
No one hears the shot – nobody is listenin’.

Troubles should be over – but they only just begun.
Now you hear a knockin’ – you know it couldn’t be anyone
Except Elise – your worst fear.
Now she’s talkin’ – and you’re the only one who can hear.
Nobody will listen – but how can you be sure?
Gonna take more than a dollar – just to keep Elise from your door.

And Elise she comes knockin – wants a dollar for a beer.
She says she’ll start talkin’ – and you don’t want anyone to hear.
Nobody will listen – but how can you be sure?
Gonna take more than a dollar – just to keep Elise from your door..