Monday, October 27, 2008

Oh No

I was walking down the street minding my own business, when this poster in the window of a local shop stopped me dead in my tracks and made me laugh with Halloween-y glee. Perhaps I should attend my memorial service. I imagine few people have that opportunity. I wonder if they'll have cake.

This seems like a good time to tell you all about my adopted nom de blog. There's an old Appalachian ballad known around these parts as "The Knoxville Girl." It's thought to be a derivation of a 19th century Irish murder ballad called "The Wexford Girl."

The ballad begins pretty innocuously:

I met a little girl in Knoxville
A town we all know well
And every Sunday evening
Out in her home I'd dwell.

Unfortunately, the story goes downhill from there:

We went to take an evening walk
About a mile from town
I picked a stick up off the ground
And knocked that fair girl down.

To make a long ballad short, he kills her, throws her in the river, she floats down to Knoxville, and he's put in jail for her murder. This is Halloween material, to sing by the light of a full moon.

And yes, I knew this when I chose my name. Blame it on my black sense of humor. Or living in the town that brought you the Body Farm.

Now, where's that cake?

11 comments:

marley said...

Someone I work with wants to be able to go to her wake (memorial) to see who turns up! I bet you couldn't believe it when you saw this sign! And the song, very...um...very...odd.

Hope said...

I bet your heart literally skipped when you saw this poster! Very interesting about the song about Knoxville Girl...I've never heard of it.

Jane Hards Photography said...

Absloutely made my day. I have a very very, black sense of humour. This is right up my street. My screen name was almost "morticia." but babooshka was a softer choice. I can't get the body farm link working. If they are ineterested I would happily supply them with some manxies.

Virginia said...

Well that all was so creepy I had to get JD out. Cheers!
B, are you there? I'll share.

Patty said...

Oh that is priceless. I lived in Knoxville 7 years and never heard about that ballad. I do however know about the body farm..
Happy Halloween

Tash said...

He-he! I bet it did stop you dead in your tracks. I like the Murder-a-Ballad - classy stuff.

Laurie Allee said...

This is great!

Jim Klenke said...

LOL, I was going to ask, how I could get my name on there.

Knoxville Girl said...

Heh, I'll see what they dig up on Friday...
B, link is fixed, thanks for the heads-up.

Louis la Vache said...

Uh, "Louis" hates to tell you this, but the cake was last seen floating down the river....

Victor said...

Grinning over here on Gabriola...