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Interesting Questions, Facts and Information
- There are a total of 80 general entries. We are selecting 30 for display.
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 Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information
 Tragedy in Songs
The Hooker. She takes the Bible from the dying preacher, and reads it to her son who later becomes a preacher himself.
The Night the Lights Went Out In Georgia. A 1992 song, Reba tells how she shot her brother's cheating wife and lover, but her brother ends up taking the fall (a ten foot fall, as it were). This song was originally recorded by Vicki Lawrence in 1973.
| What song tells the story of a condemned prisoner who dreams of his old town, his parents, and the girl he left behind, the day before his execution? | Tragedy in Songs, Part 2: Hangings
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Green, Green Grass of Home. Johnny Cash and Tom Jones have covered this depressing song.
25 Minutes to Go. You just have to look at the funny side of this sort of thing.
| In this song, a man goes to the gallows for a murder he didn't commit, rather than admit where he really was on that cold dark night. Can you name it? | Tragedy in Songs, Part 2: Hangings
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Long, Black Veil. And where was he? With his best friend's wife, of course. Written by Danny Dill, it's been covered by such notables as Johnny Cash, the Greatful Dead, and Joan Baez.
Highwayman. Written by Jimmy Webb, covered by Johnny Cash, and others.
Sabotages the bell. In 'Hang on the Bell, Nelly,' Nelly hangs on the clapper of the bell so it can't ring. Luckily, her father is pardoned shortly after. The song's by Erad Connor.
Tomas C. Dula. Dula was hanged in North Carolina in 1868 for the murder of Laura Foster, though the exact circumstances were a matter of debate. ('Rise Up Singing,' 1992).
| Woody Guthrie sang this song about a bad man who is executed for killing a man over the theft of his Stetson hat. What is this song named? | Tragedy in Songs, Part 2: Hangings
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Stagolee. Subsequent artists change it to a fight over a gambling debt. In this version Stagolee goes to the electric chair. He was allegedly a real person around the turn of the century. ('Rise Up Singing, 1992)
Joy to the world, the school burned down.... 'Joy to the world, the school burned down, and all the teachers died/ but where is the principal, up on the flagpole, with a rope, around her (or his) neck!' Don't worry, I'm a teacher myself now and paying for it.
| Let's end it on a happy note. A broken-hearted prospector learns to love again after nearly being lynched by bandits. What is this song? | Tragedy in Songs, Part 2: Hangings
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The Hanging Tree. By Mack David, Recorded by Marty Robbins. 'They took the gold and let me free/ and I walked away from the hangin' tree/ and my own true love, she walked with me.'
| Let's start with a classic. Tennessee Ernie Ford says he has one fist of iron and another of steel in this ballad for people with low-paying, thankless jobs. What song is this? | Tragedy in Songs, Part 3: Coal Miners
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Sixteen Tons. Written by Merle Travis, 1947. 'I owe my soul to the company store...'
Paradise (Kentucky). Written by John Prine, 1971. You can hear this song in the forgettable Steven Seagal movie 'On Deadly Ground.' Spring Hill, TN, is where they build Saturns.
Big Bad John. John holds a collapsing timber while the other miners escape, only to be crushed himself before they can get him out. This song hit number one in 1961.
Dark as a Dungeon. 'It's dark as a dungeon way down in the mines.' 1947.
They eat him. You wonder how songs like this become hits. So far as I know, this is the only popular song about cannibalism.
Coal Tattoo. His veins turned blue from coal dust, making it look like he had a weird tattoo on the side of his head. Coal mining is bad for one's health, in case you'd not guessed. The scientific name for black lung disease is pneaumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoiosis.
| Peggy Seeger wrote a song about twelve Canadian miners who survived for eight days trapped in a (guess what?) mine collapse. Can you name this song? | Tragedy in Songs, Part 3: Coal Miners
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Ballad of Springhill. 1961. Most of the men are rescued at the end.
The BeeGees. I'll spare you the obvious 'Stayin' Alive' joke.
Lee Dorsey. Later recorded by Devo and the Judds.
| As usual, we'll end on an upbeat note. It seems most folk songs deal with mine disasters or train wrecks. The 2003 movie 'A Mighty Wind' goes one step further, and has a song about a train wreck in a coal mine. What's the name of this farcical song? | Tragedy in Songs, Part 3: Coal Miners
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Blood on the Coal. 'Blood on the tracks/blood in the mine/brothers and sisters what a terrible time/ Old 97 went in the wrong hole/here in Mine #60 there's blood on the coal.' The movie was a parody of folk singers.
Much of this information came from 'Rise up singing,' 1992. Thanks for playing.
He jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge. This is a weird song by Bobbie Gentry that hit the charts in 1967. The singer never reveals her true relationship with Bobby Joe, we don't know what sparked his suicide, and there are several unexplained lines. For instance the singer and Billy Joe being seen throwing something off the Tallahatchie Bridge. The song later inspired a movie and has been covered by Sinead O'Conner.
| In another depressing song, the singer's parents forbid him to see his poor girlfriend. She responds by drowning herself 'in that dirty old river.' He ends the song by saying he'll do the same thing. What is the name of both the girl and the song? | Tragedy in Songs, Part 4: Shipwrecks and Drownings
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Patches. 'Patches,' by Dickie Lee, 1962. 'Though it may not be right, I'll join you tonight...'
The Turkish Song of the Damned. From 1988. 'You remember when the ship went down you left me on the deck?/ The captain's corpse jumped up and threw his arms around my neck/ for all these years I've had him on my back/ this debt cannot be paid with all your jack.'
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. This song is based on a true shipwreck in 1975.
| Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson (along with Kris Kristofferson and Waylon Jennings) sing a song about a man who's had many incarnations. In one life, he was a sailor who died when he was blown off the mast during a storm. What's the name of this song? | Tragedy in Songs, Part 4: Shipwrecks and Drownings
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The Highwayman. This song is by Jimmy Webb.
| Johnny Richardson (aka 'The Big Bopper') wrote a very politically incorrect song about two Native American lovers who drown while swimming across a river to meet each other. What was the name of the song? | Tragedy in Songs, Part 4: Shipwrecks and Drownings
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Running Bear. This was recorded by Johnny Preston. It made the charts in the 60's. 'As their hands touched, and their lips met/ the raging river pulled them down/ now they'll always be together/ in the Happy Hunting Ground.' This was followed by a bunch of war cries.
Kern River. 1985. 'I'll never swim Kern River again.' BTW, did you know that Merle Haggard once went to prison for burglary? He was so drunk he didn't know the bar he was robbing was still open.
The Irish Ballad. 'My tragic tale I won't prolong/ and if you did not enjoy my song/ you've yourselves to blame if it's too long/ you should never have let me begin.'
Morrissey. Thanks for playing and keep your life vest handy!
El Paso. A big hit in 1960, and one of the greatest country ballads ever. As a child I often wondered how the singer was singing, as he's fatally shot in the chest in the final verse.
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