Murder Ballads

This folder houses my ten entries for:

SURVEY

Musicology Anthology  (13+) An annual challenge to write a short story collection based on an album! Runs April-June. #1377819 by Jeff

Inspired by the Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds album Murder Ballads

Now, I have to tell you a bit about this album and why I chose it as my inspiration.

The album was released in 1996 and contains 9 songs of gruesome murder and 1 Bob Dylan cover (Death is Not the End). Each song tells of some horrific crime, sometimes in graphic and expletive laden terms. Its most famous track is the haunting duet with Kylie Minogue, Where the Wild Roses Grow. Elsewhere Cave and co. explore traditional songs of killing and dream up some highly disturbing narratives of their own, including the 15 minute blood bath that is O’Malley’s Bar. The aforementioned song of slaughter in a small town watering hole has a death count of 11, while the toll for the album as a whole is 64, probably the highest for any album, certainly in my collection (not including songs about natural disasters, war or the wrath of god, obviously). The Bob Dylan cover is the only number not featuring an actual death.

I didn’t choose this album because it’s one of my favourites, although it is fast establishing itself as one of them. I didn’t choose it because I am a morbid individual, chronically obsessed with death. I chose it because each song already tells a story of its own, including characters, setting and powerful imagery. Each song offers the opportunity to expand on the tale in either direction (pre or post) or to borrow characters, or even to inject the song as a kind of folklore behind a story. I also hope to capture not only the dark tone of the album, but also its surprising and often subtle touches of humour.

For some reason, the wind is a recuring theme in the album - look out for it in the lyrics posted at the end of each story.

The Track Listing (and running order for stories inspired by them) is:

1. "Song of Joy"
2. "Stagger Lee"
3. "Henry Lee"
4. "Lovely Creature"
5. "Where the Wild Roses Grow"
6. "The Curse of Millhaven"
7. "The Kindness of Strangers”
8. "Crow Jane"
9. "O'Malley's Bar"
10. "Death Is Not the End"

The contest is an 18+ rating, and each item must feature the lyrics of the song in question. Since many of the lyrics alone would push the stories beyond 18+ (well beyond in the case of Stagger Lee) I will be omitting certain letters in certain words. After the contest is wrapped up, I will return and uncensor the lot, because I don’t like censorship.

Anyway, the stories probably aren't going to be linked, so read as many or as few as you like.

K, I lied, "Invalid Item"  & "Invalid Item"  are linked, but they still stand up on their own. A few others reference more than one song and there is another pair which are linked, but I don't want to give away too much; you'll have to read them to find out.