Frontier Partisans

The Adventurers, Rangers and Scouts Who Fought the Battles of Empire

Oh, The Dreadful Wind And Rain

October 5, 2016, by JimC

john-fraed-cruel-sisterOctober is the month for the weird, the macabre, the haunted. In other words, it’s the month for ancient murder ballads. Was listening to the Jerry Garcia/David Grisman “Shady Grove” collection yesterday as the wind blew in an autumn storm and hit repeat a couple of times on “Oh, The Dreadful Wind And Rain.”

There were two sisters came walkin’ down the stream
Oh the wind and rain
The one behind pushed the other one in
Cryin’ oh the dreadful wind and rain

Johnny gave the youngest a gay gold ring
Oh the wind and rain
Didn’t give the oldest one anything
Cryin’ oh the dreadful wind and rain

They pushed her into the river to drown
Oh the wind and rain
And watched her as she floated down
Cryin’ oh the dreadful wind and rain

Floated ’till she came to a miller’s pond
Oh the wind and rain
Mama oh father there swims a swan
Cryin’ oh the dreadful wind and rain

The miller pushed her out with a fishing hook
Oh the wind and rain
Drew that fair maid from the brook
Cryin’ oh the dreadful wind and rain

He left her on the banks to dry
Cryin’ oh the wind and rain
And a fiddlin’ fool come passing by
Cryin’ oh the dreadful wind and rain

Out of the woods came a fidder fair
Oh the wind and rain
Took thirty strands of her long yellow hair
Cryin’ oh the dreadful wind and rain

And he made a fiddle bow of her long yellow hair
Oh the wind and rain
He made a fiddle bow of her long yellow hair
Cryin’ oh the dreadful wind and rain

He made fiddle pegs of her long finger bones
Oh the wind and rain
He made fiddle pegs of her long finger bones
Cryin’ oh the dreadful wind and rain

And he made a little fiddle of her breast bone
Oh the wind and rain
The sound could melt a heart of stone
Cryin’ oh the dreadful wind and rain

And the only tune that the fiddle would play
Was oh the wind and rain
The only tune that the fiddle would play
Was oh the dreadful wind and rain

Sibling sexual rivalry, murder, fiddle pegs from finger bones. Song’s got it all. It’s an old one, dating back to at least 1656, and it takes a number of forms. Originating in Scotland  as “The Twa Sisters,” it migrated across the water and put down roots in the Appalachian Highlands.

Here’s a fine version by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings:

Crooked Still… Oh, that’s purity…

And then there’s Loreena McKennitt’s variation “The Bonny Swans.”

Nothing like sitting by the fire on a blustery autumn night listening to the gruesome old ballads from three centuries and more ago.

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Comments

  1. deuce says

    October 6, 2016 at 8:02 am

    Great selections all! Here in SEK, it’s been raining steady (with titanic thunder) for 12+hrs. As you say, good weather for songs such as these.

    Reply
  2. Matthew says

    October 6, 2016 at 10:23 am

    That is truly macabre and deeply sad. People complain about darkness in heavy metal songs, but really this is nothing new.

    Reply
    • JimC says

      October 6, 2016 at 10:49 am

      Hell, fairy tales are DARK. We’ve got nothing on our ancestors…

      Reply
  3. deuce says

    October 6, 2016 at 12:17 pm

    Back in the ’90s, Rolling Stone asked Johnny Cash about lyrics in “modern rock” and he basically said “Look at ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ or the old murder ballads.” Johnny was so damned cool.

    Reply
    • JimC says

      October 6, 2016 at 12:27 pm

      Yep.

      Reply
      • Matthew says

        October 6, 2016 at 1:14 pm

        “Stagger Lee” is basically gangsta rap and it dates back to before the Civil War. “House of the Rising Sun” a song about gambling addiction does too.

        These things aren’t actually new.

        Reply
        • JimC says

          October 6, 2016 at 1:20 pm

          Stagger Lee = OG

          Reply
          • deuce says

            October 7, 2016 at 12:45 am

            Well, we might as well add “Whiskey in the Jar”: Whores, whiskey and pistols (“both barrels”). Oh, and shootin’ cops. Good enough for the 1600s, good enough for Thin Lizzy, good enough for Metallica. Plus, that tune got me laid in Ireland, so I’m biased. 🙂

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMZMI2gFW54

          • JimC says

            October 7, 2016 at 6:30 am

            A grand one. Good to know the Irish lassies respond well to it.

  4. Greg Marshall says

    October 6, 2016 at 9:04 pm

    Garcia’s latter-years voice works really well on that version. Thanks for the others. I’d not heard the Loreena McKennit version
    As a side note, there was a mediocre movie called ‘Songcatcher’ that dealt with the music of the hill country and made the explicit connection with the Scots-Irish. The plot was overly dramatic and romanticized but the sound track is still on my favourite playlists. It was the first time i heard “Oh, Death”. Chilling.

    My family didn’t come over until the 1820’s, so we’re late Scots immigrants to North America. Stiff-necked Presbyterian Orangemen, all.

    Reply
    • JimC says

      October 6, 2016 at 9:21 pm

      Concur on Songcatcher. Melodramatic– but oh, the music!

      Reply
    • john roberts says

      October 7, 2016 at 9:11 pm

      The definitive version of “Oh, Death” was sung by my wife’s great-uncle, Dock Boggs. Just to brag.

      Reply
      • JimC says

        October 8, 2016 at 9:03 am

        Dock Boggs?!?!?!? You married into some SERIOUS badass Old Weird America genes.

        Oh, Death. Dock Boggs.

        Reply
  5. Wayne says

    October 11, 2016 at 7:09 am

    I recommended Ancient Tones & Death Knells by the High Strange Drifters to you in an earlier comment. and I urge you to take a moment on Amazon to listen to a sample of their rendition of this and other bloody Celtic ballads. The plus is their new song about Buffalo hunters.

    Reply
    • JimC says

      October 11, 2016 at 8:57 am

      Off like a shot.

      Reply
      • JimC says

        October 11, 2016 at 9:01 am

        Me like. Nice and creepy.

        Reply
  6. Wayne says

    October 11, 2016 at 12:23 pm

    Reminds me of the bumper sticker message I saw on a young woman’s car the other day – Polite but just a little creepy.

    Reply

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