Murder Ballad
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Murder Ballad
Murder ballads are a subgenre of the traditional ballad form dealing with a crime or a gruesome death. Their lyrics form a narrative describing the events of a murder, often including the lead-up and/or aftermath. The term refers to the content, and may be applied to traditional ballads, part of oral culture. Defining the subgenre The term ballad, applied to traditional or folk music, means a narrative song. Within ballads, the "event song" is dedicated to narrating a particular event, and the murder ballad is a type of event song in which the event is a murder. This definition can be applied also to songs composed self-consciously within, or with reference to, the traditional generic conventions. Atkinson, referring to traditional English ballads, comments that "there is no shortage of murders in the corpus of ballads ..and few of them are concealed with any success." Perspectives are numerous. Some murder ballads tell the story from the point of view of the murderer, or atte ...
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Nick Cave
Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian singer, songwriter, poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional actor. Known for his baritone voice and for fronting the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Cave's music is generally characterised by emotional intensity, a wide variety of influences and lyrical obsessions with death, religion, love and violence.Stephen Thomas Erlewine and Steve Huey, AllMusic, _Biography))).html" ;"title="(((Nick Cave > Biography)))">(((Nick Cave > Biography))) Retrieved 30 September 2009. Born and raised in rural Victoria, Cave studied art in Melbourne before fronting the Birthday Party, one of the city's leading post-punk bands, in the late 1970s. They relocated to London in 1980. Disillusioned by life there, they evolved towards a darker and more challenging sound that helped inspire gothic rock and acquired a reputation as "the most violent live band in the world". Cave became recognised for his confronta ...
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Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and transitioned into the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery. The Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history: classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is itself subdivided into the Early, High, and Late Middle Ages. Population decline, counterurbanisation, the collapse of centralized authority, invasions, and mass migrations of tribes, which had begun in late antiquity, continued into the Early Middle Ages. The large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the 7th century, North Africa and the Middle East—most recently part of the Eastern Ro ...
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John Henry Pyle Pafford
John Henry Pyle Pafford (6 March 1900 – 11 March 1996) was an English librarian of the University of London Library from 1945 to 1967 and – as Major J H Pafford, the Wiltshire Regiment ‒ joint Instigator and team Leader of The Army Standard Unit Library Project of the AEC, later the Royal Army Educational Corps, from 1942 to 1945. He acted as an editor of ''The Year's Work in Librarianship'' from 1939–1950. He worked as an editor of literary texts, including the Arden edition of William Shakespeare's ''The Winter's Tale''. Librarian and soldier Sources for the following account are:Obituary 'John Pafford' by George Kane, Independent 26 March 1996; Pafford: Books and Army Education, 1944–1946: Preparation and supply, by J. H. P. Pafford, London 1946; Milne: Prefatory memoir by A. T. Milne, 'Dr J H P Pafford' in Librarianship and Literature: Essays in honour of Jack Pafford, ed. A. T. Milne or Pafford’s 70th birthday Lo ...
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The Irish Ballad
''Songs by Tom Lehrer'' is the debut album of musical satirist Tom Lehrer, released in 1953 on his own label, Lehrer Records. In 2004 it was included into the National Recording Registry. Production and release history ''Songs by Tom Lehrer'' was recorded in a single one-hour session on January 22, 1953, at the TransRadio studio in Boston for the total studio cost of $15. The first pressing was an issue of 400 copies, produced at Lehrer's own expense in the 10" LP record format. Records were sold for $3.50, and later $3.95. Later releases were issued in 10" and 12" LP format. The songs from ''Songs by Tom Lehrer'' were rerecorded for the 1960 live album '' Revisited''. ''Songs by Tom Lehrer'' was re-released alongside Lehrer's second album, '' More of Tom Lehrer'', as part of '' Songs & More Songs by Tom Lehrer'' in 1997 and as part of the 2000 box set ''The Remains of Tom Lehrer''. Track listing ;Side 1 #"Fight Fiercely, Harvard" #"The Old Dope Peddler" #"Be Prepared" #"The Wild ...
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Tom Lehrer
Thomas Andrew Lehrer (; born April 9, 1928) is an American former musician, singer-songwriter, satirist, and mathematician, having lectured on mathematics and musical theater. He is best known for the pithy and humorous songs that he recorded in the 1950s and 1960s. His songs often parodied popular musical forms, though he usually created original melodies when doing so. A notable exception is " The Elements", in which he set the names of the chemical elements to the tune of the "Major-General's Song" from Gilbert and Sullivan's ''Pirates of Penzance''. Lehrer's early musical work typically dealt with non-topical subject matter and was noted for its black humor in songs such as "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park". In the 1960s, he produced a number of songs that dealt with social and political issues of the day, particularly when he wrote for the U.S. version of the television show ''That Was the Week That Was''. The popularity of these songs has far outlasted their topical subjects ...
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Long Black Veil
"Long Black Veil" is a 1959 country ballad, written by Danny Dill and Marijohn Wilkin and originally recorded by Lefty Frizzell. It is told from the point of view of a man falsely accused of murder and executed. He refuses to provide an alibi, since on the night of the murder he was having an extramarital affair with his best friend's wife, and would rather die and take their secret to his grave than admit the truth. The chorus describes the woman's mourning visits to his gravesite, wearing a long black veil and enduring a wailing wind. In 2019, Frizzell's version of "Long Black Veil" was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Background The writers later stated that they drew on three sources for their inspiration: Red Foley's recording of "God Walks these Hills with Me", a contemporary newspaper report about the unsolved murder of a priest, and the legend of a ...
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Lefty Frizzell
William Orville "Lefty" Frizzell (March 31, 1928 – July 19, 1975) was an American country music singer-songwriter and honky-tonk singer. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1982. Frizzell released many songs that charted in the Top 10 of the Hot Country Songs charts. His success did not carry on into the 1960s, and after becoming an alcoholic, he died at age 47. Life and career Early life William Orville Frizzell was born the son of an oilman, the first of eight children, in Corsicana in Navarro County in North Texas, United States. During his childhood, his family moved to El Dorado in Union County in south Arkansas. As a child he was called "Sonny," but later took the name "Lefty." It was believed they called him "Lefty" because he had won a neighborhood fight; however, it turned out that this tale was a part of a fake publicity stunt set up by his label. Frizzell's largest influences included the blues yodeler Jimmie Rodgers. He began listening t ...
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Stagger Lee
"Stagger Lee", also known as "Stagolee" and other variants, is a popular American folk song about the murder of Billy Lyons by "Stag" Lee Shelton, in St. Louis, Missouri, at Christmas 1895. The song was first published in 1911 and first recorded in 1923, by Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians, titled "Stack O' Lee Blues". A version by Lloyd Price reached number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1959. Background The historical Stagger Lee was Lee Shelton, an African American pimp living in St. Louis, Missouri, in the late 19th century. He was nicknamed Stag Lee or Stack Lee, with a variety of explanations being given: he was given the nickname because he "went stag", meaning he was without friends; he took the nickname from a well-known riverboat captain called Stack Lee; or, according to John and Alan Lomax, he took the name from a riverboat owned by the Lee family of Memphis called the ''Stack Lee'', which was known for its on-board prostitution. Shelton was well known locally as ...
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Lloyd Price
Lloyd Price (March 9, 1933May 3, 2021) was an American singer-songwriter, record executive and bandleader, known as "Mr. Personality", after his 1959 million-selling hit, "Personality". His first recording, "Lawdy Miss Clawdy", was a hit for Specialty Records in 1952. He continued to release records, but none were as popular until several years later, when he refined the New Orleans beat and achieved a series of national hits. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Early life, family and education Price was born on March 9, 1933, in Kenner, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans, and raised in Kenner. His mother, Beatrice Price, owned the Fish 'n' Fry Restaurant. Price picked up lifelong interests in business and food from her. He and his younger brother Leo were both musical. He had formal training on trumpet and piano, sang in his church's gospel choir, and was a member of a combo in high school. Career Art Rupe, the owner of Specialty Records, based in Lo ...
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Billboard Magazine
''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the music industry. Its music charts include the Hot 100, the 200, and the Global 200, tracking the most popular albums and songs in different genres of music. It also hosts events, owns a publishing firm, and operates several TV shows. ''Billboard'' was founded in 1894 by William Donaldson and James Hennegan as a trade publication for bill posters. Donaldson later acquired Hennegan's interest in 1900 for $500. In the early years of the 20th century, it covered the entertainment industry, such as circuses, fairs, and burlesque shows, and also created a mail service for travelling entertainers. ''Billboard'' began focusing more on the music industry as the jukebox, phonograph, and radio became commonplace. Many topics it covered were spun-off into ...
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American Old West
The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial settlements in the early 17th century and ended with the admission of the last few western territories as states in 1912 (except Alaska, which was not admitted into the Union until 1959). This era of massive migration and settlement was particularly encouraged by President Thomas Jefferson following the Louisiana Purchase, giving rise to the expansionist attitude known as " Manifest Destiny" and the historians' " Frontier Thesis". The legends, historical events and folklore of the American frontier have embedded themselves into United States culture so much so that the Old West, and the Western genre of media specifically, has become one of the defining periods of American national identity. The archetypical Old West period is generally ...
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Olive Burt
Olive Woolley Burt (1894–1981) was an American teacher and journalist, known as a folklorist for her collection of murder ballads. She was also a prolific author of books.Ann Reichman, ''8. Olive Woolley Burt, Collector of Murder Ballads'', pp. 60–66 in David Stanley (ed.), Folklore in Utah: A History and Guide to Resources, 2004 University Press of Colorado, Utah State University Press Life She was born in Ann Arbor on 26 May 1894, the daughter of Jed F. Wooley and his wife Agnes Forsyth: she had eight brothers. In 1897 the family settled in Salt Lake City. In 1913 she became an elementary school teacher in Washington County, Utah, later moving to Garfield County, Utah. She wrote newspaper article. In 1918 Olive graduated B.A. from the University of Utah, and in 1922 she married Cyril Ray Burt, with whom she had a son and two daughters. In 1927 she moved back to Salt Lake City, and began work at '' The Salt Lake Tribune''. She later worked as an editor on the '' Deseret News ...
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