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+--- Thread: gothic songs? (/showthread.php?tid=821)
gothic songs? - bronte - 08-29-2010
I can think of a least two songs that I would consider gothic. Does anyone know any others?
Dolly Parton's Song "Carroll County Accident" and Bobbie Genty's "Ode to Billy Joe: Here goes.
Carroll County's pointed out as kind of square
The biggest thing that happens is the county fair
And I guess that's why it seemed like such a big event
What we all call the Carroll County accident
The wreck was on the highway just inside the line
Walter Browning lost his life and for a time
It seemed that Mary Ellen Jones would surely die
But she lived long enough for her to testify
Now Walter Browning was a happy married man
And he wore a golden wedding ring upon his hand
But it was gone nobody knew just where it went
He'd lost it in the Carroll County accident
Mary Ellen testified he flagged her down
Said he was sick and could she drive him into town
And no one even doubted what she said was true
Cause she was well respected in the county too
Now I went down to see the wreck like all the rest
The bloody seats, the broken glass, the tangled mess
But I found something no one else had even seen
Behind the dash in Mary's crumpled up machine
A little matchbox circled by a rubberband
And inside the ring from Walter Browning's hand
And it took a while to figure out just what it meant
The truth about the Carroll County accident
By dark of night I dropped the ring into a well
And I took a sacred oath that I would never tell
The secret of the Carroll County accident
Cause the county ordered dad a marble monument
I lost him in the Carroll County accident
****************************************
It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day
I was out choppin' cotton and my brother was balin' hay
And at dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eat
And Mama hollered out the back door "y'all remember to wipe your feet"
And then she said "I got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge"
"Today Billy Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"
And Papa said to Mama as he passed around the blackeyed peas
"Well, Billy Joe never had a lick of sense, pass the biscuits, please"
"There's five more acres in the lower forty I've got to plow"
And Mama said it was shame about Billy Joe, anyhow
Seems like nothin' ever comes to no good up on Choctaw Ridge
And now Billy Joe MacAllister's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge
And Brother said he recollected when he and Tom and Billie Joe
Put a frog down my back at the Carroll County picture show
And wasn't I talkin' to him after church last Sunday night?
"I'll have another piece of apple pie, you know it don't seem right"
"I saw him at the sawmill yesterday on Choctaw Ridge"
"And now you tell me Billie Joe's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"
And Mama said to me "Child, what's happened to your appetite?"
"I've been cookin' all morning and you haven't touched a single bite"
"That nice young preacher, Brother Taylor, dropped by today"
"Said he'd be pleased to have dinner on Sunday, oh, by the way"
"He said he saw a girl that looked a lot like you up on Choctaw Ridge"
"And she and Billy Joe was throwing somethin' off the Tallahatchie Bridge"
A year has come 'n' gone since we heard the news 'bout Billy Joe
And Brother married Becky Thompson, they bought a store in Tupelo
There was a virus going 'round, Papa caught it and he died last Spring
And now Mama doesn't seem to wanna do much of anything
And me, I spend a lot of time pickin' flowers up on Choctaw Ridge
And drop them into the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge
RE: gothic songs? - Monique Devereaux - 08-31-2010
Carolina Drama by the Raconteurs (Southern Gothic song)
I'm not sure if there's a point to this story
But I'm going to tell it again
So many other people try to tell the tale
Not one of them knows the end
It was a junk-house in South Carolina
Held a boy the age of ten
Along with his older brother Billy
And a mother and her boyfriend
Who was a triple loser with some blue tattoos
That were given to him when he was young
And a drunk temper that was easy to lose
And thank god he didn't own a gun
Well, Billy woke up in the back of his truck
Took a minute to open his eyes
He took a peep into the back of the house
And found himself a big surprise
He didn't see his brother but there was his mother
With her red-headed head in her hands
While the boyfriend had his gloves wrapped around an old priest
Trying to choke the man
Billy looked up from the window to the truck
Threw up, and had to struggle to stand
He saw that red-necked bastard with a hammer
Turn the priest into a shell of a man
The priest was putting up the fight of his life
But he was old and he was bound to lose
The boyfriend hit as hard as he could
And knocked the priest right down to his shoes
Well, now Billy knew but never actually met
The preacher lying there in the room
He heard himself say, "That must be my daddy"
Then he knew what he was gonna do
Billy got up enough courage, took it up
And grabbed the first blunt thing he could find
It was a cold, glass bottle of milk
That got delivered every morning at nine
Billy broke in and saw the blood on the floor, and
He turned around and put the lock on the door
He looked dead into the boyfriend's eye
His mother was a ghost, too upset to cry, then
He took a step toward the man on the ground
From his mouth trickled out a little audible sound
He heard the boyfriend shout, "Get out!"
And Billy said, "Not till I know what this is all about"
"Well, this preacher here was attacking your mama"
But Billy knew just who was starting the drama
So Billy took dead aim at his face
And smashed the bottle on the man who left his dad in disgrace, and
The white milk dripped down with the blood, and the
Boyfriend fell down dead for good
Right next to the preacher who was gasping for air
And Billy shouted, "Daddy, why'd you have to come back here?"
His mama reached behind the sugar and honey, and
Pulled out an envelope filled with money
"Your daddy gave us this," she collapsed in tears
"He's been paying all the bills for years"
"Mama, let's put this body underneath the trees
and put Daddy in the truck and head to Tennessee"
Just then, his little brother came in
Holding the milk man's hat and a bottle of gin singing,
La la la la, singing La la la
Well now you heard another side to the story
But you wanna know how it ends?
If you must know, the truth about the tale
Go and ask the milkman
RE: gothic songs? - SpookySweetness - 09-01-2010
Hi,
my favourite is The Long Black Veil - I so much love that song - sooo spooky and quite sad.
It first appeared in the 60s and various performers/bands have used it over the years, including Johnny Cash. I like the version by The Chieftains.
Here are the lyrics:
Long Black Veil
Ten years ago on a cold dark night,
someone was killed 'neath the town hall lights.
There were few at the scene, but they all did agreed,
that the slayer who ran he looked a lot like me.
Chorus: She walks these hills, in a long black veil.
She visits my grave, when the night winds wail.
Nobody knows, nobody sees, nobody knows, but me
The Judge said son, what is your alibi,
if you were somewhere else, then you won't have to die.
I spoke not a word, though it meant my life,
for I'd been in the arms of my best friends wife.
Chorus: She walks these hills, in a long black veil.
She visits my grave, when the night winds wail.
Nobody knows, nobody sees, nobody knows, but me
Now the scaffold was high, and eternity near.
She stood in the crowd, and shed not a tear.
But some times at night, when the cold wind moans,
In a long black veil, she cries all over my bones
Chorus: She walks these hills, in a long black veil.
When the cold winds blow, and the night winds wail.
No body knows, no body sees.
No body knows, but me.
RE: gothic songs? - bronte - 09-02-2010
Rose in Paradise sung by Waylon Jennings
She was a flower for the takin', her beauty cut just like a knife...
He was a banker from Macon, he swore he'd love her all of his life...
He bought her a mansion on the mountain,
with a formal garden and a lot a land...
But paradise became her prison, that Georgia banker was a jealous man!
Chorus:
Every time he'd talk about her, you could see the fire in his eyes...
He'd say,
"I would walk through Hell on Sunday, to keep my Rose in Paradise...
He hired a man to tend the garden,
and keep an eye on her while he was gone..
Some say they ran away together... Some say that gardner left alone...
Now the banker is an old man... that mansion's crum-ble-ing down...
He sits all day and he stares at the garden... not a trace of her was
ever found...
(Chorus)
Now there's a rose out in the garden... its beauty cuts just like a knife...
They say that it even grows in the winter time...
and blooms in the dead of the night...
RE: gothic songs? - SpookySweetness - 09-03-2010
(09-02-2010, 08:12 PM)bronte Wrote: Rose in Paradise sung by Waylon Jennings
She was a flower for the takin', her beauty cut just like a knife...
He was a banker from Macon, he swore he'd love her all of his life...
He bought her a mansion on the mountain,
with a formal garden and a lot a land...
But paradise became her prison, that Georgia banker was a jealous man!
Chorus:
Every time he'd talk about her, you could see the fire in his eyes...
He'd say,
"I would walk through Hell on Sunday, to keep my Rose in Paradise...
He hired a man to tend the garden,
and keep an eye on her while he was gone..
Some say they ran away together... Some say that gardner left alone...
Now the banker is an old man... that mansion's crum-ble-ing down...
He sits all day and he stares at the garden... not a trace of her was
ever found...
(Chorus)
Now there's a rose out in the garden... its beauty cuts just like a knife...
They say that it even grows in the winter time...
and blooms in the dead of the night...
ooh that's so moving and spooky. I expect it's even more so with the music.