Possibly the creepiest folk song ever

[luzula]

Which is a high bar, I know--and I'm counting the Swedish ballad that contains the line "We will fry our grandmother like a fish on hot coals." At least she did something to deserve it.

So I'd been listening to Banks of Red Roses a couple of times, since I liked the arrangement/melody/singing, but I hadn't really listened to the lyrics. La la la, "bridal bed" something, I guess it's a love song. And then when I did, wow. For the first two verses it's a pretty standard love song, with the nice addition of the woman being a rambler and liking to "sport and play" (which hopefully isn't a sign that she deserves her fate).

But then, in the third verse, the man brings the woman to a cave where he's been digging her grave all night. And then comes: Yes, my dearest Jane, that your bridal bed shall be. Which means...he's raping her before killing her? And what's with the "my dearest"?

And then after that comes the last verse, where the man walks home, and every face he saw, he thought it was his dear. Like...now he's sorry or something, and we're supposed to see it from his POV? OMG that is creepy.

What is your contender for "creepiest folk song"?

Comments

[seascribble]

the one where the lady kills and buries her newborn babies in the greenwood because they're illegitimate and then sees their ghosts playing and says if they were hers she'd dress them up in pretty clothes and they're like "we are yours, you killed us and are going to hell."

[luzula]

That is also pretty creepy! I suppose the man who was also responsible for making those babies does not feature...

[regshoe]

'The Cruel Mother'! That is a good one. I think the weird specificity of the fate she'll suffer ('for seven years you'll ring the bell, for seven years you'll wait in hell') makes it even creepier.

[desireearmfeldt]

There's Fanny Blair, which is about an 11-year-old girl falsely accusing a man of rape, told from his POV as the sympathetic viewpoint character: "We'll catch her and crop her/She's a perjuring young whore/Young Higgins is innocent/Of that we're all sure."

[luzula]

Wow, that is really exceptionally creepy!

[aurumcalendula]

Lucy Wan and Long Lankin are two of the creepiest I can think of at the moment

Steeleye Span's The Elf-Knight is fairly creepy, but also cathartic when the titular character's latest potential victim ends up turning the tables on him.

[luzula]

*searches for lyrics*

Those are indeed creepy! It's a bit unclear what Lankin wants the baby's blood for, though? Hmm.

Highly relevant to my interests!

[jesse_the_k]

That is exceptionally creepy. Many folk ballads seem to have served as the horror fiction of the time.

My candidate is “Bruton Town,” (aka Brambles Briar) where two brothers gang up and murder their sister’s lover because he’s just a servant so too low class for them. The linked site is a great resource for folk researchers!

It leads with the nastiness: In Bruton town there lived a farmer
Who had two sons and one daughter dear
By day and night they were contriving
To fill their parents’ heart with fear

I learned it from Pentangle’s elegant 1968 arrangement, lyrics

At first read, I was afraid that I’d not been listening closely enough to one of my top five songs, “The Banks of the Sweet Primroses.” I was happy to see your song was just a similar title. Primroses is the better-world version: she gets away safe.

June Tabor’s version of "The Banks of The Sweet Primroses, and lyrics

Re: Highly relevant to my interests!

[luzula]

That is indeed creepy, with a side serving of class contempt.

Thanks for the links! *listens*

[regshoe]

...yep, that sounds like folk music all right.

It reminds me a little of 'The Elf Knight' (/Lady Isabel/May Colven/etc.), which also evokes the image of the bridal bed in describing murder ('then lie you here, a husband to them all'), but without the happy ending (or the random parrot).

It's hard to pick a single creepiest folk song! I think 'Bonnie Banks o' Fordie' and 'Sheath and Knife' are strong contenders in the 'disturbing' sense of creepy. There are lots of good ghost ballads for the 'spine-chilling' sort of creepy, too—I think the 'The Suffolk Miracle' is one of the best of those.

[luzula]

Ha, Bonnie Banks of Fordie is like, why only murder one woman when you can murder several...

Ooh, The Suffolk Miracle is lovely.

[regshoe]

It is lovely, and such a good twist ending—I always shiver at that last line :D

[ride_4ever]

Your own filk -- your dS F/K version of The Unquiet Grave -- is the one that creeps me out more than any other creeps-me-out ballad. It's beautifully done -- I listen to it often -- but every time it makes my heart race and makes me feel disturbed -- and then I immediately go listen to your dS F/K version of Northwest Passage and tell myself "Whew, that was just Fraser having a bad dream after they both survived in MotB".

[luzula]

Oh, but The Unquiet Grave is just sad, not creepy! At least in my head--creepy would have been if it was revealed at the end that Fraser drowned Ray or something...

[ride_4ever]

Well, yes, I agree that the primary note is one of sadness, but creepiness is in the heart of the experiencer...and since IRL someone tried to drown me when I was a child I'm set to be creeped-out by the drowning trope and even more creeped-out by the drowned-and-a-ghost.

[luzula]

OMG, I'm so sorry! Yes, I can really see why it would creep you out then.

[ride_4ever]

Also explains why I have such a kink for reading fic and for writing fic where RayK is either saved from drowning or where he drowns but is still "with" Fraser (your filk being a case in point of the latter).

[feroxargentea]

Not actually a folk song, but Nick Cave's "Where the Wild Roses Grow" is pretty creepy, from the Murder Ballads album (see also "Lovely Creature", "The Kindness of Strangers" etc). The line "then I leant down and planted a rose 'tween her teeth" always makes me wince.

[luzula]

That's pretty similar to the one in my post, actually! Also with murder and red roses.