Possibly the creepiest folk song ever
Mar. 14th, 2020 02:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luzulaWhich 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"?
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"?
Highly relevant to my interests!
Date: 2020-03-14 03:38 pm (UTC)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!
Date: 2020-03-14 07:50 pm (UTC)Thanks for the links! *listens*