The Song that Never Ends: Murder Ballads, Abortion, and Forgotten Women
Originally, the murder ballad subgenre sprung from the ballad tradition, a narrative song form that often depicted an event. In the case of murder ballads, the killing is the event. While many ballads remembered and performed in the US today largely originate from the British Isles, there are various ballad traditions from all over the world. And in the US, many murder ballads come out of Appalachia, where the majority of the early settlers were from the Anglo-Scottish border country.
In this context, ‘ballad’ has a different meaning from modern day musical parlance; historically, it’s a song or poem that chronicles a particular story, with or without music. ‘Broadside ballads’ were poems about real events that were printed and distributed to the public. Eventually, there were melodies added to some of these poems, and many renditions were performed by an array of musicians, which accounts for the variations of these songs (often with no known author) that one might hear today. These broadside ballads were used to make money, chronicling a crime and sometimes sold as souvenirs outside of court houses. They also acted as a way to convey information throughout communities — and in some ways, they were almost like tabloids.
Murder ballads focused exclusively on homicide, and often the homicide of women. The women in these songs were perceived as innocent, helpless victims who were “led astray” by their lovers — who, more often than not, were also the murderers — powerless against their fate. The messages of these songs were heard as warnings to other young women of the time to not to go down the same path, while the men were often portrayed in a bizarrely sympathetic way, seemingly not responsible for their own actions, but rather co-victims in these “crimes of passion.”
What many listeners don’t realize is that traditional American murder ballads sometimes depict the real murder of a woman. Many were pregnant, often slain by the father of their unborn child (maybe their lovers were already married, or of a different social standing, and these women became a problem that needed to be taken care of) — in any case their pregnancies apparently made them inconvenient and disposable.
There are several famous murder ballads that were inspired by true stories. One of the most famous murder ballads, “Omie Wise,” tells the story of the 1808 murder of Naomi Wise, who died in North Carolina. According to folklorist Eleanor R. Long-Wilgus, it was suspected that John Lewis, who was thought to be the father of Naomi’s unborn child, killed her. It is believed that Naomi may have been older than Lewis and knew that he was engaged to be married to someone else. When Naomi became pregnant, it appears that her fate was sealed. In one of the most famous versions of the song, by guitarist and singer Doc Watson, the lyrics state:
John Lewis, John Lewis, will you tell me your mind?
Do you intend to marry me or leave me behind?
Little Omie, little Omie, I’ll tell you my mind
My mind is to drown you and leave you behind.
Have mercy on my baby and spare me my life
I’ll go home as a beggar and never be your wife.
Meanwhile, “Pearl Bryan,” another well-known and particularly gruesome ballad about the killing and beheading of a pregnant 22-year-old Indiana woman in 1896, does not usually reference her pregnancy, but it does refer to her alleged killer, Scott Jackson, as her beloved:
What have I done Scott Jackson that you should take my life
I’ve always loved you dearly. I would have been your wife.
While dozens of songs recounting the murder of Bryan have been recorded, they all vary in the way the story is told. The real story, according to folklorist Sarah Bryan (no relation), began when Bryan contacted Scott Jackson, whom she believed could be the father of her unborn child. With the help of Alonzo Walling, it’s been speculated that the two either brought her to a doctor in Cincinnati who mishandled the abortion, or Jackson and Walling, using what they learned in dental school, attempted to perform the procedure and failed, resulting in her death. The two brought Bryan to Kentucky and disposed of her body, but not before beheading her as an attempt to prevent identification. Jackson and Walling were eventually caught, found guilty, and sentenced to a double hanging.
Many of these stories were originally made into broadside ballads, as previously discussed. The ballads were printed and distributed. You could say they were early versions of “true crime” shows that we see today. Several of these infamous murderers were sentenced to death by hanging. Many people today do not realize that we used to practice public hangings in the United States. These were major events. It was not uncommon to have hundreds of people gathered to watch the hanging. Sometimes, people would distribute these broadsides at such events as a way to make money. At a later point, the words were set to music. This is why you sometimes would have multiple tunes about the same story. One example of this is “Tom Dooley.” If you listen to the Doc Watson version, it is a completely different song than the one made famous by the Kingston Trio. However, both songs are still about the murder of Laura Foster by Tom Dula (the actual name of Tom Dooley.)
The women in these songs are flattened into narrative stereotypes: the poor murdered girl or the damsel in distress. The actual stories behind these murders, and the people involved, are much more complex. I feel like people like to compartmentalize and put things in boxes. It’s easier to simplify than to deal with actual reality.
There is a need to deal with the dark sides of our culture, but we rarely get the chance to do that. Music, and other forms of art, gives us the opportunity to wrestle with our collective demons.
These songs are also popular because of the collective, ingrained misogyny built into American society. It’s hard not to come to the conclusion that we, as a society, hate women. Why else would we have overturned Roe v Wade? Women are currently being denied life-saving medical care for miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies. They have to travel to other states to receive care. Several women in these situations suffered permanent damage to their reproductive organs. Does this sound like a country that likes women? Does this sound like a country that values women? These murder ballads, when listened to without thought, celebrate and reinforce this misogyny.
One of my favorite songs that wrestles with this is Hurray for the Riff Raff’s “The Body Electric.” Songwriter Alynda Segarra sings,
Said you’re gonna shoot me down, put my body in the river
Shoot me down, put my body in the river
While the whole world sings
Singing like a song
The whole world sings like there’s nothing going wrong
Segarra has said about the song:
“I am mostly familiar with how [‘The Body Electric’] has taught me there is a true connection between gendered violence and racist violence. There is a weaponization of the body happening right now in America. Our bodies are being turned against us. Black and brown bodies are being portrayed as inherently dangerous. A Black person’s size and stature are being used as reason for murder against them. This is ultimately a deranged fear of the power and capabilities of black people. It is the same evil idea that leads us to blame women for attacks by their abusers. Normalizing rape, domestic abuse and even murder of women of all races is an effort to take the humanity out of our female bodies. To objectify and to ridicule the female body is ultimately a symptom of fear of the power women hold.” — “The Political Folk Song Of The Year,” NPR
I don’t mean to suggest that we should be policing ourselves on the music that we listen to. For instance, I think “Banks of the Ohio” is a great song. Johnny Cash’s version of “Delia’s Gone” is phenomenal. There is nothing wrong with liking a good song. However, I think it is important to realize that there is context to everything. Music does not exist in a vacuum. Music (and all art) exists within the culture that it sprang from. Each songwriter is influenced by the world around them and the time they were brought up in. It’s important to experience these songs with a very wide lens. Think about the time they were written in. Think about what society was like at that time.
Then pan out more. What parallels or similarities can we draw between the time the song was written and now? What are the differences? Do you agree with what the song says? Does it repulse you? Why?
My experience with studying and presenting these murder ballads and other songs of violence is that the majority of people tend to listen to music passively. They are not always aware of the lyrics of whatever song they are hearing. We are all guilty of that. Sometimes, our understanding of a lyric changes over time. I remember the first time, as an adult, that I really understood the lyrics to AC/DC’s “Let Me Put My Love into You.”:
Don’t you struggle
Don’t you fight
Don’t you worry
’Cause it’s your turn tonight
Let me put my love into you, babe
Let me put my love on the line
Let me put my love into you, babe
Let me cut your cake with my knife
“Don’t you struggle. Don’t you fight. Don’t you worry, ’cause it’s your turn tonight.” This is a song that I had listened to since I was about 11 years old. It’s about rape. Read those lines again. How can that be interpreted differently? To be clear, I don’t think these songs should be banned or not performed. I do not advocate banning anything. However, I do think they should be understood in their proper context. They are songs glorifying violence against women. Period.
In these songs, law enforcement tends to be depicted heroically. The local sheriff finds the accused and puts them in prison. Order has been restored. The public does not need to be worried and there is justice for the murdered woman.
From Tom Dooley (Doc Watson version):
In this world and one more
Then reckon where I’ll be
If it wasn’t for Sheriff Grayson
I’d be in Tennessee
At this time tomorrow, boys
Where do you reckon I’ll be?
Way down yonder in the holler
Hangin’ on a white oak tree
From Poor Ellen Smith:
They picked up their rifles and hunted us down.
They found us a-loafin’ all ‘round town.
The judge may convict me and God knows he can
but I know I died as an innocent man.
From Banks of the Ohio:
The very next morn about half past four
The Sheriff came knocked at my door
He said now young man come now and go
Down to the Banks of the Ohio
These songs tell us a lot about the culture during the time of these murders, and the laws that were on the books then. What would motivate someone like Scott Jackson or John Lewis to kill the mother of their unborn child? The law incentivized the murders.
Sex outside of marriage, or fornication, was illegal in numerous states. In some states, fornication laws are still on the books. A pregnant, unmarried woman was proof of a crime. She was inconvenient, to say the least.
Also, there was the issue of the bastardy bond. According to appalachianhistory.net, “Bastardy bonds placed the ultimate burden of support for a bastard child upon the father should the mother become unable to provide proper support. Otherwise, the child would become a ward of the local poor house and be an expense to the government. This English bond system was carried forward when North Carolina became a state in 1789.” North Carolina was where Naomi Wise was murdered. There were several other Southern states that utilized bastardy bonds including Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee.
Not only was the pregnancy proof of fornication, but if a man was named as the father of an unborn child through the bastardy bond process, he would be financially responsible for the child.
Lastly, children born outside of wedlock had a lower social and legal status up until fairly recently in the United States. Kingsley Davis wrote in “Illegitimacy and the Social Structure” (1939):
“The bastard, like the prostitute, thief, and beggar, belongs to that motley crowd of disreputable social types which society has generally resented, always endured. He is a living symbol of social irregularity, and undeniable evidence of contramoral forces; in short, a problem — a problem as old and unsolved as human existence itself.”
This is what society thought of children born out of wedlock. Is it any wonder that expectant mothers got killed with these laws in place? We remember women like Naomi Wise because of the murder ballad. How many murdered women have been forgotten?
If we look at the history of our country, we can see these murder ballads as the musical documentation of our negligence as a society to care for women and their children. Women like Pearl Bryan and Naomi Wise were pregnant when they got murdered. Naomi Wise was a mother to two other children. To this day, homicide is still the number one cause of death for pregnant women in the United States.
- Homicide is a leading cause of death for pregnant women in US | The BMJ
- Science Update: Pregnancy-associated homicides on the rise in the United States, suggests NICHD-funded study | NICHD — Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (nih.gov)
It should be noted that the two different studies cited here were done in 2022 and don’t include post-Dobbs decision data.
With the overturning of Roe v Wade, healthcare professionals and their patients have had to deal with the fallout of vague and conflicting laws. What have been the results? Women having to travel out of state — IF they can afford it — to receive life-saving medical care for ectopic and non-viable pregnancies.
According to the Center for Reproductive Rights:
“More than 100 pregnant women in medical distress who sought help from emergency rooms were turned away or negligently treated since 2022, an Associated Press analysis of the federal hospital investigations found.
Two women — one in Florida and one in Texas — were left to miscarry in public restrooms. In Arkansas, a woman went into septic shock and her fetus died after an emergency room sent her home.
The White House says hospitals must offer abortions when needed to save a woman’s health, despite state bans. Texas is challenging that guidance and, earlier this summer, the Supreme Court declined to resolve the issue.”
Are these women forced to miscarry in public restrooms really all that different from Pearl Bryan or Naomi Wise? Aren’t we just creating new material for more murder ballads? That vague number — “more than 100 pregnant women” — will soon turn to 1,000 and counting. We will hear about deaths, not just the near misses of sepsis and getting put on a ventilator. Countless children will be left without mothers. Unless we learn from these stories — and these murder ballads are just stories set to music — the body count will rise, and we will have no one to blame but ourselves.
