(no subject)

[dodont]

I have been thinking briefly about slasher folk love songs where someone ends up killing the other because they won't put out, or similar, like Down By The Banks of the Ohio
I asked my love to take a walk
To take a walk, just a little walk
Down beside where the waters flow
Down by the banks of the Ohio

Chorus
And only say that you'll be mine
And in no other's arms entwined
Down beside where the waters flow
Down by the banks of the Ohio

I held a knife against his breast
As into my arms he pressed
He cried, "My love, don't you murder me
I'm not prepared for eternity"

[chorus]

I started home 'tween twelve and one
I cried, "My God, what have I done?
I've killed the only man I love
He would not take me for his bride" or Clementine
In a cavern, In a canyon,
Excavating for a mine,
Dwelt a miner forty-niner,
And his daughter Clementine.

Chorus:
Oh my darling, Oh my darling,
Oh my darling Clementine,
You are lost and gone forever,
Dreadful sorry Clementine.

Repeat chorus

Light she was and like a fairy,
And her shoes were number nine;
Herring boxes, without topses,
Sandals were for Clementine.

Repeat chorus

Drove she ducklings to the water,
Every morning just at nine;
Hit her foot against a splinter,
Fell into the foaming brine.

Repeat chorus

Ruby lips above the water,
Blowing bubbles, soft and fine;
But Alas! I was no swimmer,
So I lost my Clementine.

Repeat chorus

When the miner forty-niner,
Soon began to peak and pine,
Thought he oughter "jine" his daughter,
Now he's with his clementine.

Repeat chorus

In a corner of the churchyard,
Where the myrtle boughs entwine,
Grow the roses in their poses,
Fertilized by Clementine.

Repeat chorus

In my dreams she still doth haunt me,
Robed in garments soaked in brine.
Though in life I used to hug her,
Now she's dead, I'll draw the line.

Repeat chorus

How I missed her, how I missed her
How I missed my Clementine.
So I kissed her little sister,
And forgot my Clementine.

Repeat chorus

Now you Boy Scouts, there's a moral
To this little tale of mine.
Artificial respiration,
Would have saved my Clementine.

Repeat chorus. And I was thinking you just don't get good stuff like that anymore.

The only one I can think of is Goodbye Earl by the Dixie Chicks.

Anyone know any other contemporary slasher folk love songs? A bit of an obscure request, I'll admit.

Comments

[kizeesh.livejournal.com]

Where the Wild Roses Grow by Nick Cave springs to mind, but thats about all.

lyrics:
CHORUS:
They call me The Wild Rose
But my name was Elisa Day
Why they call me it I do not know
For my name was Elisa Day

From the first day I saw her I knew she was the one
As she stared in my eyes and smiled
For her lips were the colour of the roses
They grew down the river, all bloody and wild

When he knocked on my door and entered the room
My trembling subsided in his sure embrace
He would be my first man, and with a careful hand
He wiped the tears that ran down my face

CHORUS

On the second day I brought her a flower
She was more beautiful than any woman I'd seen
I said, 'Do you know where the wild roses grow
So sweet and scarlet and free?'

On the second day he came with a single rose
Said: 'Will you give me your loss and your sorrow?'
I nodded my head, as I layed on the bed
He said, 'If I show you the roses will you follow?'

CHORUS

On the third day he took me to the river
He showed me the roses and we kissed
And the last thing I heard was a muttered word
As he stood smiling above me with a rock in his fist

On the last day I took her where the wild roses grow
And she lay on the bank, the wind light as a thief
As I kissed her goodbye, I said, 'All beauty must die'
And lent down and planted a rose between her teeth

CHORUS

pretty grim.

[broonie.livejournal.com]

There's some of that going about in country/folk sorts of circles, though it's a bit debatable how contemporary that is even if it's recently written.

Aside from the Nick Cave stuff the most obvious example that springs to mind that's less genre is Down by the River from the Low/Dirty Three album In The Fishtank; sounds lovely until it becomes apparent that the central character has just killed someone (probably her child).

[dangerouslysane.livejournal.com]

How about Hey Joe, performed by Hendrix?

Down By The River (I Shot My Baby) Neil Young?

Those are from the early 1970's, but are probably downloadable by now.

[0olong.livejournal.com]

I was going to suggest Nick Cave too, isn't there a whole Murder Ballads album full of that stuff?

Maxwell's Silver Hammer by The Beatles, not all that contemporary but fits. Similarly Tom Lehrer's version of Clementine if you're counting that, though I'm not sure the protagonist is really supposed to be a killer in either version... unlike, of course, his An Irish Ballad, more often known as Ricketty Ticketty Tin.

Not contemporary at all, but do you know Old Mother Lee? Listen to it here if you're interested, along with dozens of other folk songs which probably don't have much to do with murder (the version I linked to the lyrics of doesn't have the rousing chorus, for some reason).

Belle and Sebastian's I Could Be Dreaming is largely a murder fantasy. 'Do you wanna do it now, outside the butcher's with a knife and a bike chain?'

Looper's disturbingly upbeat Fucking Around is the monologue of someone robbing someone else at gunpoint, I suppose that doesn't quite count but it's close enough that it seemed worth mentioning.

[andabusers.livejournal.com]

Oh lord that Virtual Campfire site is awesome, thank you! Aw it makes me feel like I'm with family, I'll probably have to download them all.

[0olong.livejournal.com]

Heehee, I thought you might like it, glad you do! :) Speaking of family, that's my brother leading off there on Old Mother Lee...

[difazio.livejournal.com]

THE BROKEN FAMILY BAND. it's not slasher as such, but they have awesome lyrics. like 'alone in the makeout room':


I want you to die with my hands round your throat
Or with me in the castle and you in the moat
And everyone you know stood around laughing

I wanna watch you swing from a tree
Or fry in the chair while you're looking at me
And everyone in the world will be glad when you're gone

Oh, it's silly to say we were never happy
All those nights we spent kissing under the moon
But I died inside when you ran out with my pride
Why did you leave me alone in the make-out room?

I wanna watch you drown in a lake
Or get stamped by a bull or bit by a snake
And there is not a single doctor who will come and help you

I want you to move to Australia
With me a success and you facing failure
And all of the friends you had ignoring your calls

Oh, it's silly to say we were never happy
All those nights we spent kissing under the moon
But I died inside when you ran out with my pride
Why did you leave me alone in the make-out room?

I wanna leave you by the side of the road
Or out in a field in the rain and the snow
People walking past could come and take pictures

I'm gonna treat you the best that I can
'Cause I'm your girl and you're my man
And we'll make 'em jealous with our laughing and our carrying on

Oh, it's silly to say we were never happy
All those nights we spent kissing under the moon
But I died inside when you ran out with my pride
Why did you leave me alone in the make-out room?

Why did you leave me alone in the make-out room?


i looooove them :)