![]() ![]() This 1959 cautionary tale by noted story-singer Horton ("The Ballad of New Orleans") flips the murder ballad script by retelling the action from the point of view of the victim - not the killer or some omnipresent third party. Johnny Horton, “When It’s Springtime in Alaska (It’s Forty Below)”.And, most importantly, they "don’t lose any sleep at night." A song as sassy as Natalie Maines herself. They do a Dexter-worthy job of hiding his body and then start a lucrative business selling ham and jam. Mary Ann flies to her rescue and helps plot Earl's demise: death by poisoned black eyed peas. The lyrics and video leave little to the imagination: Wanda is beat up by her husband, Earl, just two weeks after their wedding. "Goodbye Earl" is a true murder ballad performed by women, for a change, that shocked the country airwaves in 2000. Perfect harmonies describing a vicious killing is sort of like china dolls: beautiful and creepy. But murder he does and with such description. Perhaps if our narrator had just popped the question, there would have been no murder. Unfortunately the word "femicide" was coined because of stories like these from the 19th century. ![]() This song is the best example of Appalachian roots on the early country scene. Now he's six feet under, his lover is forced to hide her grief, her husband is without a best buddy, and the real murderer is still on the loose! And everyone wonders why in the world the narrator would choose death over just confessing to a lesser crime. Everyone and their mother has covered this song ( including my mother). A murder is committed while the narrator - who's apparently the killer's doppelgänger - is in bed with his best friend's wife. ![]()
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