Today's classic country clip goes out to Suzy who wanted to make sure that some Louvin Brothers made it into this month's celebration of classic country music.
It's a creepy tune to be sure but there you go, sometimes classic country is all about the murder of innocent women. Thanks for the request Suzy! Enjoy.
15 comments:
Oh Dr. Monkey... Tragic Songs of Life.
This is brilliant and of course, Suzy to thank for the inspiration.
I love the Louvin Brothers. When I was a kid (pre-Beatles) they were one of my top favorite bands/artists. I was raised on murder ballads and other songs with very bizarre stories in them (no weirder than the religious tunes when you think about it). Not sure if it damaged my brain.
Oh I enjoy that creepy song. I liked the Lemonheads cover of it, but I did not know of its origins. Learning!
I love that tune. I know it's been used for a few different country death songs, but Knoxville Girl is the only title I remember. My kids grew up on those: Poor Ellen Smith, Banks of the Ohio, etc. Good times! MizBubs got a neat book for me a few years ago, she found it at a flea market or garage sale--it's titled "American Murder Ballads" I think.
Where would American folk music, or English folk tunes for that matter, be without the death song? Fairly recent versions I can think of are Johnny Cash's "Delia", and the Violent Femmes' "Country Death Song." Let's face it, "Barbara Allen" was goth before the kids knew what goth was.
Wow. This is awesome?
It's like a folksey, perky predecessor to Nick Cave's various "murder Ballads".
Whiskeymarie, this is exactly the vein Nick Cage has been mining for years! God bless him
Ooooh Barbara Allen - gives me goosebumps. Look up The Dillards, they played The Darlings on the Andy Griffith show. They have a wild song about a boy named Willie killing off his girlfriend and burying her - the name is escaping me right now.
I'm a sucker for the old Andy Griffith show - the ones in b&w.
Even though I am a Boston boy, and a product of the north east, I LOVE love love the Louvin Brothers. Satan is Real has one of the best album covers out there.
Bubs- you mention Nick Cage and I get all weak in the knees and need more libation from the tiki hut.
The "murder ballads" like Knoxville girl and Barbara Allen are parable. They were a perhaps not-so-subtle way of telling young girls not to let young boys talk them into hanky-panky, don'tcha know. Some of them were incredibly brutal.
My favorite one is a revenge balad called "Little Mathie Grove", who seduces the wife of a rich Lord. The Lord kills Mathie Grove and ends up killing his wife by cutting off her head and kicking against the wall. It dates back to Shakespeare's time. Great stuff. You can listen to a bit of it at http://www.last.fm/music/Ralph+Stanley/_/Little+Mathie+Grove
I saw Richard Thompson's "History of Music" tour a few years ago, where he did an absolutely hilarious (and deadpan) introduction to "The Wife at Usher's Well", where, for a change, the children get murdered!
This Louvin Bros. song really has to go out to Enriched Geranium. He is their biggest fan.
All-Wow, who knew there was this much love for the Louvin Bros? You kids rock.
I love the Louvin Brothers! I even forgive them their fundamentalist christian lyrics. Thanks for posting this.
I case you're interested, Bill Malone, a retired professor of musicology (Duke, maybe?) and country music expert does a radio show called "Back to the Country" on WORT FM every Wednesday morning from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm (central time) and, thanks to the miracle of the internets, you can listen to it anywhere in the world. Just go to
http://wort-fm.org/listen.php
It's a great show if you like old country or are interested in the history of country. He once did a show where he traced "Knoxville Girl" from it's earliest known version to it's most recent recording.
Yes, Nick Cave got the idea for his Murder Ballads from all these cheery songs.
The Louvins are both talented and kind of scary.
Great clip!
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