Songs About Death

Subject: RE: Songs About Death
From: EBarnacle1
Date: 30 May 03 - 09:42 AM

Getting back to humans, aren't there a few songs about Gettysburg and other Civil war events?

Subject: RE: Songs About Death
From: Sooz
Date: 30 May 03 - 09:11 AM

And I still haven't found one to beat Shoals of Herring - perhaps I could write a quickie about a swarm of locusts and some ddt...........

Subject: RE: Songs About Death
From: Raggytash
Date: 30 May 03 - 07:50 AM

Times running out, only a week to go to the Bay

Subject: RE: Songs About Death
From: greg stephens
Date: 21 May 03 - 06:13 AM

Well, this is a bit too unspecific to win any prizes, but it is as comprehensive as you can get. The song title is "A Death Song" (appropriate huh??), words by William Morris, music Malcolm Lawson. Written to commemorate the killing of Alfred Linnell by the police at a   demonstration in 1887. The song sheet was sold to raise money for his family.
   And the relevant bit is the chorus:

Not one, not one
Nor thousands must they slay
But one and all
If they would dusk the day

Subject: RE: Songs About Death
From: GUEST, GEST
Date: 20 May 03 - 08:56 PM

Sorry, Gareth, no chance out of me. Maybe George Seto - [e-mail] can lend a hand on your request since the Sharecroppers wrote the song about a Nova Scotia mine disaster and he's usually right on top of Nova Scotia music. George?

Subject: RE: Songs About Death
From: Gareth
Date: 20 May 03 - 06:49 PM

Well Guest Gest - I thought, and thanks to the 'Cat a fair collection of Mining Songs and Ballads but Twenty Five Miners be a new one to me. Any Chance of a tune ???

Gareth

Subject: RE: Songs About Death
From: GUEST, GEST
Date: 20 May 03 - 06:15 PM

137 souls lost when a U-Boat sank the The SS Caribou on October 14, 1942.

Subject: RE: Songs About Death
From: GUEST, GEST
Date: 20 May 03 - 06:02 PM

How about The Ocean Ranger oil-rig disaster that killed 84 in 1982?

Subject: RE: Songs About Death
From: GUEST, GEST
Date: 20 May 03 - 05:53 PM

How about Twenty-Five Miners by the Sharecropper Trio?

Subject: RE: Songs About Death
From: Gareth
Date: 20 May 03 - 05:18 PM

Quite, we are dealing with songs of mass destruction here!

Now "3 score and 10" totals up the widowmakers toll quite satisfactory (Many hundreds more were drowned), but outside of "Hanging on the Old Barbed wire", any folksongs on Verdun, the Somme or Pascendale (SP) ?

The "old battalion" should count 700 I think.

Gareth

Subject: RE: Songs About Death
From: Raggytash
Date: 20 May 03 - 03:52 PM

Dan,
You obviously have not read the gist of the thread, to hell with Quality it's quantity that is required. Although the best song I've heard at one of these sessions only managed to knock off 200.
It's a song about a little girl who is about to be killed by a train, who can save her, who can save her, well the engineer does by derailing the train and killing the 200 passengers and crew on board, very very wicked song.

Subject: RE: Songs About Death
From: GUEST,Dan Schatz at work
Date: 20 May 03 - 02:15 PM

These are good, but whatever happened to quality over quantity? "Avondale Mine Disaster" rings in at a respectable 110, but has some very touching depictions of the devestation - the father holding his son down in the mines, etc. Or Tom Paxton's "Jimmy Newman" is an extremely powerful description of just one death.

Dan

Subject: RE: Songs About Death
From: GaryDon
Date: 20 May 03 - 01:34 PM

There has to be a few in Davie Lawston

Subject: RE: Songs About Death
From: Ely
Date: 19 May 03 - 09:48 PM

1,000 in two days is pretty good. The flu had two years. "Natural disasters" and "epidemics" usually seem to be classified separately.

Subject: RE: Songs About Death
From: Robin2
Date: 19 May 03 - 08:55 PM

thanks Mary, for providing the link! Raggytash, just go to above site and click on Lyrics for a link to the song Good Old Rebel Soldier.

Robin

Subject: RE: Songs About Death
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 19 May 03 - 07:32 PM

Raggytash, you can find the lyrics and an MP3 at this wonderful site. ;-)

Subject: RE: Songs About Death
From: greg stephens
Date: 19 May 03 - 06:19 PM

Here's an interesting one. Not quite in the 300,000 class but I reckon the earliest we have so far.
The Good Book, I Samuel, 18,6-7.
Thewomen come in playing tabrets(bodhrans?) and musical instruments(note the distiction) and proceed to sing"Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands". Not bad eh? which leads me to a new category
MOST HOMICIDAL SINGER/SONG WRITER
Leadbelly murdered two people, Henry VIII got rid of a few wives(and Thomas More) while writing Greensleeves, and some of these rap chappies are apparently a bit violent. But King David(who, in case you've forgotten, wrote the Psalms)..ten thousands eh? Got to be the prime contender.

Subject: RE: Songs About Death
From: The Walrus
Date: 19 May 03 - 03:09 PM

Do minma count?
One of the versions of 'Plains of Waterloo':-

"...Ten thousand prisoners we made,
Imperial Eagles too,
Of those prisoners we made,
There were more lay dead
On the plains of Waterloo..."

So that's got to be at least 10,001 ;-{>

Walrus

Subject: RE: Songs About Death
From: Raggytash
Date: 19 May 03 - 01:47 PM

Paulo,How can it be cheating when it was Dave Mason & I who came up with the notion. Our creation we set the rules

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: paulo
Date: 19 May 03 - 12:35 PM

Animals and fish.   That's cheating.

paulo

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: greg stephens
Date: 19 May 03 - 11:55 AM

Raggytash: Good Old rebel is in the DT as Unreconstructed Rebel. A totally splendid song, if a little out of tune with contemporary fashion. But its sentiment "I wont be reconstructed and I do not give a damn" must raise a little sympathy with everybody at some time or other. And yes, it does boast of killing 300,000 Yankees.

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: Raggytash
Date: 19 May 03 - 11:31 AM

Robin,
dont't know of this song can you please enlighten me

Ta

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: Robin2
Date: 19 May 03 - 10:29 AM

good old rebel soldier mentions 300,000 lost in the conflict

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: Rapparee
Date: 19 May 03 - 09:00 AM

How about "Springhill Mine Disaster?"

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: GUEST,Sooz (at work)
Date: 19 May 03 - 08:25 AM

Raggytash, Mike and I will be at RHB in June - our B&B is booked. Now I've got to get on with some serious research if you've nicked the Shoals of Herring. See you in the Dolphin?

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: Gareth
Date: 19 May 03 - 07:59 AM

Gresford ?

Gareth

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: GUEST,noddy
Date: 19 May 03 - 07:43 AM

the "Blantyre minning disaster" took quite a few.

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: Clean Supper
Date: 19 May 03 - 07:36 AM

If that song from Tom Lehrer with the predicted deaths IS acceptable then this punk song by Belinda Carbumcle must go in too.

The Polar Bear Song
(sung - largely - to "The Farmer in the dell")
(sung in a rush to fit all the syllables in )

You cut the forests down, you covered the countryside in towns
YOu burnt all the coal and made a hole in the sky so you'll all go brown.

There's cnacer on your tongues and tar inside your lungs,
YOur full of smoke you cugh and choke and breathe out of your bums.

But I don't care I'm a polar bear I breathe the nice clean Arctic air,
I have a good laugh wherever I go I piddle and play in the Arctic snow

The end is coming soon cos there isn't any room
For all of you what can you do fuck off and live on the moon.
Ha ha ha, doom doom doom,
You're all gonna die, you're all gonna die,
Tough shit you asked for it, up your bum goodbye

but I don't care I'm a polar bear, I breathe the nice clean Arctic air
I have a good laugh wherever I go, I piddle and play in the Arctic snow
And I know Santa ho ho ho.

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: Raggytash
Date: 19 May 03 - 07:31 AM

Greg,
As I stated at the outset this is all very tongue in cheek, The "rules" we apply state that a number should be specified in the song. However we acknowledge that many songs do not contain a specific number thus one, two, lots, (three) many (four). This way both establishments are playing on a level playing field. If we took it to it's logical conclusion such songs would have to be excluded. In the Irish Rover there's eight million bales of nanny goats tails, having looked extensively at nanny goats tails we decided at it take at least 4 to make a bundle, them being tapered and all that, thus 32 million goats are added to the total. You get the picture!!.So far this is the best death tally in any one song we've got

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: greg stephens
Date: 19 May 03 - 07:14 AM

I like your rules, Raggytash, you've obviously given this serious thought. If "many" counts as 4, how about "lots/ a lot".I am thinking, for example, of 16 Tons: "a lot of men didnt and a lot of men died". What would you get for that?
   I think you might be being a bit strict making "many" as low as 4. Because if "many" is only 4, then "not many" must be even less. So how would you interpret the famous headline "Small earthquake in Chile: not many killed". Would that imply only 1,2 or 3? These are serious questions that need answers.

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: Raggytash
Date: 19 May 03 - 06:53 AM

Greg,
I qualify many to be 4 as in one two lots many, so many thousand would become 4 thousand
This "competition" which sways between the Dolphin in Robin Hoods Bay During the RHB Festival) and the Tap & Spile in Whitby (during Whitby Folk Week)We both use the same calculating technique

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: greg stephens
Date: 19 May 03 - 06:44 AM

For a really spot-on precise number, the Gresford Disater must be hard to beat:

Youve heard of the Gresford diasater
The terrible price that was paid
Two hundred and forty two colliers were lost
And three men of the recue brigade.

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: greg stephens
Date: 19 May 03 - 06:37 AM

How specific, Raggytash? Would the spiritual "Many thousand gone" be all right, or is that a bit vague?

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: The Walrus
Date: 19 May 03 - 06:35 AM

On the grounds that every little helps, you could throw in "Snoopy and the Red Baron", light hearted and 80 men die every chorus.
Does "The Old Barbed Wire" count? The 'old/whole battalion' amounts to 840 - 1000 men.

Walrus

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: Raggytash
Date: 19 May 03 - 05:58 AM

Greg,
On a previous contribution I said that certain songs had to be excluded in the interest of competition. Thus the Carpenters End of the World is out. There has to be a specific number mentioned in the song for it to qualify.

IanC,
Is there a song about the flu epidemic which states the number who died, if not the comment is not really relevant to this thread. We could state that Stalin was responsible for 20 million Russian deaths but without a song .............

I would like to avoid going off at tangents if at all possible as I have a feeling this thread may grow and grow enough as it is

Regards

Raggy

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: greg stephens
Date: 19 May 03 - 05:48 AM

I would like to nominate the old spiritual "In Every Graveyard".
The relevant verse is:
Just behold that number
Just behold that number
Just behold that number
In every graveyard.
   
This is clearly meant to refer to EVERYONE who has ever died, so is unlikely to be beaten. There may of course be songs that refer to the fact that everyone is going to die in the future, which could be considered to refer to a larger number; but I think songs like that should be classed as hypothetical and should be disqualified.

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: IanC
Date: 19 May 03 - 04:59 AM

Ely

If you're talking about "natural disasters", wasn't the 1918/19 Flu epidemic rather bigger ... it killed 600,000 people in the US and over 40 million worldwide.

:-)

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: Ely
Date: 18 May 03 - 10:31 PM

I've always been partial to the one about the Galveston Flood, which kills of "1,000 souls" in one verse (actually, between 6,000 and 8,000 people died; it's still the worst natural disaster in US history).

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: Cluin
Date: 18 May 03 - 09:26 PM

...I saw Willie's handiwork on the road to Taneytown
And in the border wars in Mexico
We mowed those peasants down...


from Garnet Rogers' "Young Willie".

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: mg
Date: 18 May 03 - 09:16 PM

yikes.

mg

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: GUEST, GEST
Date: 18 May 03 - 08:47 PM

And here's another 173 from the Southern Cross sealing tragedy.

What Happened To The Southern Cross?

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: GUEST, GEST
Date: 18 May 03 - 08:43 PM

Well, there's at least 77 in this related sealing song.:-)

Death On The Ice

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: Rapparee
Date: 18 May 03 - 07:41 PM

Okay, dammit, try this one.


Easier to read anyway....

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: Rapparee
Date: 18 May 03 - 07:39 PM

Only one guy, but you might do A Dying Business (as sung by the Chad Mitchell Trio).

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: Raggytash
Date: 18 May 03 - 12:41 PM

Guest,
the number of dead has to be mentioned in the song like "10 million fishes" which I will use this year (Thanks Sooz) Death the ultimate Price does not mention a figure and I will reiterate this is all very tongue in cheek. IT IS NOT MEANT TO BE SERIOUS

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: Raggytash
Date: 18 May 03 - 12:37 PM

Lets spread a little light on this,

Sooz it will be held again (God willing I've not shuffled off this mortal coil by then, my good lady nearly did last year so we missed it, but thtas another story)
Jenny, yes it is a very light hearted look at a potentially depressing subject, lets make it as gory as possible
JennyO,Bill D, and Guest I disallowed a song last time on the basis of competetion. One thought was Why do the sun keep on shining, why does the sea, rsuh to the shore, don't they know it the end of the world.................great idea, but not conducive to the idiocy behind our initial idea

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: Bill D
Date: 18 May 03 - 12:24 PM

"We will all go together when we go,
Every Hottentot and every Esquimo.
When the world becomes Uranious,
We will ALL go simultaneous..."

.....Tom Lehrer

(yeah, yeah...it was ONLY a prediction...still)

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: JennyO
Date: 18 May 03 - 11:26 AM

As a pagan myself, Peg, I am aware of all that you say, about the numbers and the men.

I'm sure many songs are guilty of exaggeration and inaccuracies, and as you say, the figure of even one million is still shocking, so I feel the song has some value.

However, this is not really what the thread is about. Human beings seem to enjoy making light of grisly subjects like death - it probably helps us to cope with the idea of our own inevitable future (look at "Isn't it Grand Boys"). This is just about a not-very-serious competition about numbers mentioned in song lyrics, and that is how I am approaching it.

Jenny

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: Peg
Date: 18 May 03 - 11:00 AM

I like that Burning Times song but it does help perpetuate that myth modern pagans have hard time letting go of. Do keep in mind that the figure of nine million women for the witchcraze is far from accurate...probably more like one million. Still an obscene number, but closer to the truth. And it wasn't just women!

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: GUEST, GEST
Date: 18 May 03 - 10:42 AM

Death, The Ultimate Price by Everett Adams (Newsflash Sounds) ©1996 makes me want to play the Dies Irae every time I view the lyrics.

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: JennyO
Date: 18 May 03 - 10:05 AM

"The Burning Times" by Charlie Murphy is in the DT.

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: Sooz
Date: 18 May 03 - 10:04 AM

PS. Will there be a repeat attempt at the record at the Robin Hood's Bay Folk Weekend at the beginning of June?

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: Sooz
Date: 18 May 03 - 10:03 AM

We had a great night doing a body count at our club but we abandoned ship when someone sang "Shoals of Herring" (10 million fishes was thought to be cheating).

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: mack/misophist
Date: 18 May 03 - 09:58 AM

The best one I know is 'Jug of Punch'.

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: Raggytash
Date: 18 May 03 - 09:00 AM

I know of the song, need little Roz to attend cos she knows the worms

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: JennyO
Date: 18 May 03 - 08:29 AM

I remember being involved a competition like this once, I think it was at a folk festival. There were two teams which took turns singing these songs, and someone kept score. I came up with a song which boosted our score enormously - The Burning Times, where "nine million European women died".

Jenny

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: sweetfire
Date: 18 May 03 - 08:17 AM

well, I sing a song by iris dement, the opening line is "my father died a year ago today" [NO TIME TO CRY], which can get put a downer on the fact that he'd be sitting right next to me!!!

Subject: RE: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: Raggytash
Date: 18 May 03 - 08:00 AM

The more the merrier as it were !!!!

Subject: SONGS ABOUT DEATH
From: Raggytash
Date: 18 May 03 - 08:00 AM

As many of you will know, folk sesssions can frequently be morbid events with songs about death and destruction.
Some years ago Dave Mason, Landlord of the Dolphin in Robin Hoods Bay, and I decided to see how many people or things we could kill off in a one hour session and set a World Record during RHB Folk Festival first weekend in June.
All songs had to be genuine I.E. Nothing written specially to mention 56 billion suicicdes etc.
The first year saw about 16 million, current record is 104 million including the occupants of the Irish Rover. I am looking for genuine songs that kills off loads of things, could be fish or fowl or folk as long as something or someone gets the chop