murder-ballad-ballot - Tumblr blog

[murder-ballad-ballot]

Hi, I've been looking for a collection of murder ballads for some time (ideally in a format with both the lyrics and the melody), but I couldn't really find any. Would you happen to know any good books like that? (Sorry, if you've already answered an ask like that)

ohh i don't rly know of any books devoted to murder ballads unfortunately as most of my knowledge comes from recordings, but i do know that the books folk song usa (compiled by alan lomax) and rise up singing (compiled by annie patterson and peter blood) have some murder ballads included (folk song usa has the lyrics and the music in standard notation and rise up singing has lyrics and chords), but they're general folk songbooks not only murder ballads. folk song usa is also obviously limited to american folk music so if you were looking specifically for non-american stuff it won't be much help (rise up singing does have some non-american stuff but it's also pretty american-focused). i don't rly know of anything else so sorry for the non-answer but maybe some of my followers know?

[murder-ballad-ballot]

i am proud to announce wind and rain as the winner of the murder ballad ballot! thanks to everyone who participated by submitting songs, spreading posts or voting in polls. see you in a few days for the losers’ bracket!

final round: frankie vs wind and rain

examples & descriptions

wind and rain

(alternate title: the cruel sister)

"harp made of murdered sister's breastbone reveals her murderer"

"a girl murders her sister out jealousy and then a harp made of the drowned sister's bones & hair sings the entire story at the murderer's wedding feast"

"how to make a musical instrument out of the bones of your sister"

old blind dogs, pentangle, gillian welch

frankie

(alternate titles: frankie and johnny, frankie and albert)

"murder is ok if your boyfriend cheats"

mississippi john hurt

[murder-ballad-ballot]

final round: frankie vs wind and rain

examples & descriptions

wind and rain

(alternate title: the cruel sister)

"harp made of murdered sister's breastbone reveals her murderer"

"a girl murders her sister out jealousy and then a harp made of the drowned sister's bones & hair sings the entire story at the murderer's wedding feast"

"how to make a musical instrument out of the bones of your sister"

old blind dogs, pentangle, gillian welch

frankie

(alternate titles: frankie and johnny, frankie and albert)

"murder is ok if your boyfriend cheats"

mississippi john hurt

[murder-ballad-ballot]

the final match will be posted on sunday, september 10th

it will remain active for a week

list of round 4 results and list the round 5 matchup can be found under the cut

murder ballad ballot poll tournament

welcome to the murder ballad ballot!

the playlist with all (or most) of the submitted songs and recordings can be found here.

song propaganda is more than welcome, either in the reblogs or through the askbox

polls for round 1 will be posted four per day, starting on sunday, july 2nd

each poll will stay active for a week

all songs were submitted by followers

full list of matchups under the cut

round 1

rain and snow vs pretty polly

greenwood sidey vs jellon graeme

how came that blood vs knoxville girl

poor ellen smith vs long lankin

henry lee vs banks of the ohio

the bonnie banks o' fordie vs tom dooley

the cruel lowland maid vs frankie

down in the willow garden vs polly vaughn

wind and rain vs rolling of the stones

willie's fatal visit vs the twa sisters

omie wise vs lady diamond

child owlet vs the murder ballad

matty groves vs the bramble briar

false sir john vs stagolee

frankie silvers vs little sadie

hiram hubbard vs lord randall

[murder-ballad-ballot]

round 4 results

henry lee vs long lankin vs frankie

stagolee vs wind and rain

[murder-ballad-ballot]

sorry for dropping off the face of the planet for a bit, school has been crazy. the final round will be up sometime tomorrow.

[murder-ballad-ballot]

since the results of matches 1a and 1b were a 50.8/49.2 split in favour of long lankin in match 1a and a 59/41 split in favour of frankie in match 1b, per the rules laid out beforehand frankie will be considered the winner because it won by a larger margin

[murder-ballad-ballot]

round 4, match 2: wind and rain vs stagolee

examples & descriptions

wind and rain

(alternate title: the cruel sister)

"harp made of murdered sister's breastbone reveals her murderer"

"a girl murders her sister out jealousy and then a harp made of the drowned sister's bones & hair sings the entire story at the murderer's wedding feast"

"how to make a musical instrument out of the bones of your sister"

old blind dogs, pentangle, gillian welch

stagolee

(alternate titles: staggerlee, stackerlee)

"If You Know What's Good For You You Won't Go Within A Mile Of Stagolee's Hat"

mississippi john hurt

[murder-ballad-ballot]

round 4, match 1a: long lankin vs henry lee

explanation of why this poll is split into two can be found here

examples & descriptions

long lankin

(alternate titles: cruel lincoln, bo lamkin)

"cautionary ballad of Always Pay Your Contractor otherwise he'll murder your wife and infant child in recompense"

"pay your mason or they’ll kill your family"

alasdair roberts, shirley collins, frank proffitt

henry lee

(alternate titles: love henry, young hunting)

"getting blackmailed by a bird over killing your lover"

"believing him unfaithful, woman kills her lover"

[murder-ballad-ballot]

round 4, match 1b: long lankin vs frankie

explanation of why this poll is split into two can be found here

examples & descriptions

long lankin

(alternate titles: cruel lincoln, bo lamkin)

"cautionary ballad of Always Pay Your Contractor otherwise he'll murder your wife and infant child in recompense"

"pay your mason or they’ll kill your family"

alasdair roberts, shirley collins, frank proffitt

frankie

(alternate titles: frankie and johnny, frankie and albert)

"murder is ok if your boyfriend cheats"

mississippi john hurt

[murder-ballad-ballot]

sorry folks, screwed up the time limits on the polls. don't have time to repost now so will be posting when i get home from work

[murder-ballad-ballot]

round 4 will begin on thursday, august 24th

one poll will be posted per day, and each will remain active for a week

list of round 3 results and list of round 4 matchups can be found under the cut

results

pretty polly vs long lankin

henry lee vs frankie - tie

wind and rain vs omie wise

stagolee vs lord randall

matchups

henry lee vs long lankin; frankie vs long lankin

wind and rain vs stagolee

murder ballad ballot poll tournament

welcome to the murder ballad ballot!

the playlist with all (or most) of the submitted songs and recordings can be found here.

song propaganda is more than welcome, either in the reblogs or through the askbox

polls for round 1 will be posted four per day, starting on sunday, july 2nd

each poll will stay active for a week

all songs were submitted by followers

full list of matchups under the cut

round 1

rain and snow vs pretty polly

greenwood sidey vs jellon graeme

how came that blood vs knoxville girl

poor ellen smith vs long lankin

henry lee vs banks of the ohio

the bonnie banks o' fordie vs tom dooley

the cruel lowland maid vs frankie

down in the willow garden vs polly vaughn

wind and rain vs rolling of the stones

willie's fatal visit vs the twa sisters

omie wise vs lady diamond

child owlet vs the murder ballad

matty groves vs the bramble briar

false sir john vs stagolee

frankie silvers vs little sadie

hiram hubbard vs lord randall

[murder-ballad-ballot]

round 3 results

pretty polly vs long lankin

henry lee vs frankie - tie

wind and rain vs omie wise

stagolee vs lord randall

[murder-ballad-ballot]

since the frankie vs henry poll resulted in a perfect tie, i have decided that i will split round 4, match 1 into two polls (round 4, match 1a and round 4, match 1b). one will be frankie vs long lankin, and the other will be henry lee vs long lankin

the results will be interpreted as follows:

if long lankin wins both polls, it will be considered the winner

if each poll has a different result (eg, frankie and henry lee win their respective polls or henry lee wins but frankie loses), the winner will be the one which won by the widest margin (eg, if frankie vs long lankin results in a 70/30 split in favour of frankie and henry lee vs long lankin results in an 80/20 split in favour of henry lee, henry lee would be considered the winner)

if somehow it's still a perfect two- or three-way tie i will likely end up running a three way poll to select a winner

[murder-ballad-ballot]

bracket will start up again tomorrow! thanks everyone for putting up with the delay

[murder-ballad-ballot]

quick heads up: the bracket will be on hiatus from the end of round 3 on saturday until august 23rd, because i am leaving the country and likely won't have time to post polls