There's a famous line from an early Johnny Cash song
"I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die.'
Last night I was watching my Martin Simpson DVD. He does a song titled "Duncan and Brady" which was made famous by Leadbelly but certainly predates that singer. Brady is a policeman who gets murdered. Or, perhaps, a taste of his own medicine because the first verse goes like this
Well it's twinkle, twinkle, little star
Along came Brady in his 'lectric car
He's got a mean look right in his eye
He's gonna shoot somebody just to see 'em die
That last line sounds pretty familiar, but in fact this song predates Cash's.
Some notes on "Duncan and Brady" and the song's origins.
http://www.thecabinet.com/blogs/blogentry.php?sub_id=horror_blogs&blog_id=thecabinetcom_blog&entry_id=477
Folk song oftens borrows from or retales actual events. EG Stagger Lee/Stack O'Lee/Stagolee. There are some pretty gory English folk songs that turn out to be based on real events.
Sometimes the events seem almost unbelievable. Norma Waterson sings a song "Anna Dixie" that was written by her sister Lal Waterson.
A yeoman farmer, he loved me dearly
So did my father, but not that clearly
Trying to spoil things for my man and me
He set a trap would break the back of any tree
Then. of course, things go wrong
My man and me went walking
My man did all of the talking
Down by Bosworth Park, green in the dark
Taking the long way back
I fell in my father's trap
Causing the birds above to wake up
This turns out to be based on a the story of Sir Woltan Dixie who, in the early 19th century, was so determined that his daughter should not marry below her station that he set a trap to kill her suitor. The daughter, Anna, fell into the trap whilst sneaking out of the house to rendezvous with her beau.
Last month in Wales we visited Powis Castle. They had on display there what looked like traps, the sort of thing that you might set for a stag, but very large. I asked what they were. "Oh... those are man traps. You'd set them for poachers or for other folks you didn't want snooping around the grounds."
