Deathly Lyrics: Songs of Virginia Tragedies
Ye daughters and sons of Virginia incline
your ears to a story of woe....
--"The Battle Song of the Great Kanawha"
For centuries real-life tragedies--especially deaths by accident or at the hands of another--have been memorialized in song. Creative Virginians have enriched that tradition with numerous ballads and poems about local events. The western portion of Virginia has been particularly fertile ground for both singers and composers of "story" songs.
Songs documenting actual history were more popular years ago, though they are still being sung and written today. Some, such as the eighteenth-century "Battle Song of the Great Kanawha," have survived only as texts in folksong collections. Others, such as "The Wreck of the Old 97," not only remain in oral tradition but also have been commercially recorded by professional musicians. A good song of murder or hardship grabs the heart; when the events are real, the grip is all the stronger.
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