Full Description
This book examines the murder ballad form, songs about death and killing, from a legal history perspective. It is held that taking on the long history of the murder ballad is a way that we can understand how death and killing in song has a function in dealing with the world around us. The book integrates law and humanities scholarship with diverse musical case studies to construct a typology of murder ballads and thus conceptualise the central messages of how murder ballads have treated death and killing. Drawing on a cultural form in which assessment and consideration of death and killing are so vigorously and richly enacted gives lawyers a guide to how those who do not see these matters through a primarily legal lens might understand this part of their world. The study will be of interest to academics and researchers working in the areas of Criminal Law, Legal History, Socio-Legal Studies, Criminology, and Musicology.
Contents
1. Death, Killing and Murder Ballads; 2. Investigating Murder Ballads; 3. Morality; 4.Vehicles for Bigotry; Chapter 5. Means of Resisting Equality; 6.Tribute and Memorial; 7. Shock Value; 8. Gallows Humour; 9. Image Management; 10. Faith; 11. The Legacy of Criminality in Music
