Fans often complain of the imminent death of folk music, but the one binding aspect to an otherwise diverse genre is timeless: a storied nature, told from the grass roots. Folklore needn't be ancient, yet at the same time history often repeats itself.
Many will know Led Zeppellin's Gallow's Pole; a story of a man (originally a woman) about to be hung for an unstated crime, waiting for his loved ones to provide bribe money for the hangman. Some will know of earlier versions, such as Leadbelly's Gallis Pole (my favourite, [1]) and Peter, Paul and Mary's The Hangman. In truth, we may trace this many-named song back much farther in time, not merely to Old England (where its aliases range from The Maid Freed from the Gallows to Derry Gaol to The Prickly Bush; see Bellowhead [3]), but back much farther, with particularly early versions having been recovered from Scandinavia (see Garmarna's Den Bortsålda [3]).
Why should this not be the case? We need only read about the RCMP to know police corruption is as present as it ever was. Just as it was common practice to pay off the hangman in Old England, so too does Leadbelly sing of a time - not so ancient - where blacks with a little under-the-table money were treated with less harassment by local authorities.
Just as stories like this continue to live, so too does folk music.Why should this not be the case? We need only read about the RCMP to know police corruption is as present as it ever was. Just as it was common practice to pay off the hangman in Old England, so too does Leadbelly sing of a time - not so ancient - where blacks with a little under-the-table money were treated with less harassment by local authorities.
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[1] The Gallis Pole, by Leadbelly
[2] The Prickle-Eye Bush, by Bellowhead
[3] Den Bortsålda, by Garmarna
