Unprepared to Die

Cheerfully vulgar, revelling in gore, and with an eye on the main chance, murder ballads are tabloid newspapers set to music, carrying word of the latest 'orrible murders to an insatiable public. Victims are bludgeoned, stabbed or shot in every verse and killers often hanged, but the songs themselve [...]
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Cheerfully vulgar, revelling in gore, and with an eye on the main chance, murder ballads are tabloid newspapers set to music, carrying word of the latest 'orrible murders to an insatiable public. Victims are bludgeoned, stabbed or shot in every verse and killers often hanged, but the songs themselves never die. Instead, they mutate - morphing to suit local place names as they criss-cross the Atlantic, becoming steadily more bloody as they move down the decades to fascinate each generation's biggest musical stars. Stagger Lee's "biographers" alone include Duke Ellington, James Brown, Bob Dylan, Dr John, The Clash and Nick Cave. No two tell his story in quite the same way. Renowned music writer Paul Slade traces the genre's history via eight of the most popular ballads, including "Knoxville Girl", "Tom Dooley", "Pretty Polly" and "Frankie And Johnny". Interviewees include Billy Bragg, The Handsome Family's Renee Sparks, The Kingston Trio's Bob Shane and Snakefarm's Anna Domino, who share insights into the songs they recorded. This book introduces you to the real individuals whose short lives and brutal deaths have become an indelible part of popular music.Unlike our deaths, their fate will still be sung of in a hundred years' time. Paul Slade runs the website www.planetslade.com where he discusses, amongst other things, murder ballads. It gets over 150,000 hits a year, giving the book a ready audience. The book will contain exclusive chapters not available on the website. This book will interest both music fans and lovers of true crime.