songs about abortion
Susan Lerner
For a research project that I am doing, I would appreciate any
information on folk songs (traditional or composed) dealing with
abortion and unwanted pregnancy. I'm also interested in any recordings
of such songs. Thanks. Please feel free to email me directly at
Mey...@ix.netcom.com
Susan Lerner
Sally Greenberg
>For a research project that I am doing, I would appreciate any
>information on folk songs (traditional or composed) dealing with
>abortion and unwanted pregnancy. I'm also interested in any recordings
>of such songs.
One of the most powerful songs I know about unwanted pregnancy is Mary
Coughlan's "Magdalen Laundry". It's available on 2 of her CDs:
Live in Galway (Martello Records 95CD 001, 1996?)
Sentimental Killer (East West Records 9031-77175-2, 1992)
Sally
--
=======================================================================
Sally Greenberg Berkeley, CA
sal...@ccnet.com http://www.ccnet.com/~sallyg
=======================================================================
Jonathan Dresner
>On Wed, 10 Sep 1997 23:53:53 -0700, Susan Lerner
><Mey...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>
>>For a research project that I am doing, I would appreciate any
>>information on folk songs (traditional or composed) dealing with
>>abortion and unwanted pregnancy. I'm also interested in any recordings
>>of such songs.
Bob Blue, "Freedom to Choose," recorded by Kim Wallach. No easy
answers, but great questions.
Jonathan
kevin kelly
Sally Greenberg wrote:
>
> On Wed, 10 Sep 1997 23:53:53 -0700, Susan Lerner
> <Mey...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>
> >For a research project that I am doing, I would appreciate any
> >information on folk songs (traditional or composed) dealing with
> >abortion and unwanted pregnancy. I'm also interested in any recordings
> >of such songs.
I don't know what side of the issue you wanting but there is "Unborn
Child" by Seal & Croft. Can't say I agreed with them but I loved the
tune.
musically
Kevin
dav...@nospam.dimensional.com
Susan Lerner <Mey...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
: For a research project that I am doing, I would appreciate any
: information on folk songs (traditional or composed) dealing with
: abortion and unwanted pregnancy. I'm also interested in any recordings
: Mey...@ix.netcom.com
: Susan Lerner
Judy Collins did a magnificent song about abortion called "Mama Mama" on
her "Times Of Our Lives" album. Judy has publicly discussed her own
abortion, so she knows the subject well.
--
David
David R. McLallen
dav...@dim.com http://www.dimensional.com/~davi3d/index.html
Join the official James Lee Stanley mailing list! Send email to
jameslee-...@dimensional.com with "sub-scribe" (no quotes or dashes)
in the body. And visit James' home page at
http://www.pond.com/~zanapd/stanley/
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"Everything I've ever learned in life I've had to learn again."
-James Lee Stanley
"The opposite of war isn't peace - it's creation."
-Jonathan Larson
Woolley73
"lost woman song" by ani difranco
taken from a poem called "lost baby song" by lucille clifton
dave cohen
dav...@nospam.dimensional.com wrote:
: Susan Lerner <Mey...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
: : For a research project that I am doing, I would appreciate any
: : information on folk songs (traditional or composed) dealing with
: : abortion and unwanted pregnancy. I'm also interested in any recordings
: : of such songs. Thanks. Please feel free to email me directly at
: : Mey...@ix.netcom.com
: : Susan Lerner
"will the foetus be aborted" to the tune of "will the circle be
unbroken" performed by jello biafra and mojo nixon on Priarie
Home Invasion.
--dave
Timothy Jaques
You shouldn't have any trouble finding folk songs about unwanted
pregnancies. How about "Oh, No, Not I". Stan Rogers sang it on
"Turnaround", as did the PEI singer Teresa Doyle on "Stowaway." It is
listed as being a Newfoundland folk song but I suspect its origins are
Irish or English, as there are no lords of high degree in Newfoundland.
(Perhaps from Devon, as many Newfoundlanders trace their origins to there.)
The other one is "A Young Girl Cut Down In Her Prime". I know it from
Doyle's "Prince Edward Island, Adieu" tape (not out on CD) but I think it
is English in origin.
Both of these songs seem to have an abortion reference too. The first
refers to not putting your trust in "the green willow tree", which I assume
must have been used to induce miscarriage. I may be make the wrong
inference here, though, as the lyrics aren't clear on the point. The
second song refers to "pills of white mercury", which again I assume was
used for the same purpose.
--
Timothy Jaques
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
"Men's evil manners live in brass: their virtues we write in water."
Susan Lerner <Mey...@ix.netcom.com> wrote in article
<341795...@ix.netcom.com>...
M. Garvey
Butcher Boy, Mary of the Wild Moor, In the Month of January, There is a
Blackbird on yonder tree..She's like the Swallow,
email me if you want the words..
mg
Hodagg
>For a research project that I am doing, I would appreciate any
>information on folk songs (traditional or composed) dealing with
>abortion
Susan,
back in the 70's, Graham Parker recorded a song on his "Squeezing Out
Sparks" that dealt with abortion. I believe it was called "You Can't Think
To Much".......but someone more familiar with Graham's work will probably
correct me if I'm wrong. It seemed to be a very critical look at abortion,
as it's first words began...."Did they tear it out with talons of steel?,
give you a drug so that you wouldn't feel?.......etc.
It was a very good song and I was really surprised at the the time that he
would record something with lyrics so graphic.
Rick>
Howard Kaplan
Susan Lerner wrote:
>
> For a research project that I am doing, I would appreciate any
> information on folk songs (traditional or composed) dealing with
The following have not yet been mentioned by other correspondents:
1. "The stranger", by Kat Eggleston, on her CD "Second Nature".
2. "Ten o'clock all is well", by Bob Gibson and Hamilton Camp, on
Judy Collins' LP "#3".
3. "I'm a friend of the fetus", by Carole Rose Livingston [I don't
know where, if anywhere, it's been recorded]
4. A song by Valerie DePriest of Oak Park, Illinois, which I can only
vaguely remember -- perhaps this will trigger someone else's memory.
5. My own song "The Harbord Street Woman" [Harbord Street was the
location of Dr. Henry Morgentaler's abortion clinic in Toronto
until it was destroyed by a firebomb] [the song is unrecorded,
but I can send words and music to anyone who's interested]
Howard L. Kaplan
Songwriter and occasional performer
Toronto, Ontario
Howard Kaplan
Abby Sale
>For a research project that I am doing, I would appreciate any
>information on folk songs (traditional or composed) dealing with
>abortion and unwanted pregnancy. I'm also interested in any recordings
>of such songs. Thanks. Please feel free to email me directly at
>Mey...@ix.netcom.com
>Susan Lerner
Good luck, Susan
In traditional song, essentially _all_ mentions of pregnancy are in the
unwanted area. (A few exceptions - and some positive mentions of birth or
children - but pregnancy per se... basically negative.)
Abortion is rarish but mentioned (barely) in the Child ballad Tam Lin" and
specifically in the Pills of White Mercury versions of "The Unfortunate
Rake." (see "UNFORTUNATE LASS" in the Digital Tradition.)
The Digital Tradition folk song base http://www.deltablues.com and/or
http://www.onstagemedia.com/mudcat ("Don't look for songs without it.")
gives one specific reference only onder the Keyword "@abortion":
ROSIE JANE
(Malvina Reynolds)
1. This song is addressed to my sister.
Any man who is present may listen.
Any priest, any public official, any physician.
But it gives him no licence to touch us,
We make the decision.
Me and Lydia, Josie, Rosie and Eve.
We handle this matter ourselves,
You'd better believe, or you'd better leave.
Chorus
Rosie Jane, are you pregnant again?
Rosie Jane, you can hardly take care
Of the four you had before
What in heaven's name were you thinking of?
Rosie Jane, was it love?
In a word I was drunk, so was Bill
(At least I think it was Bill)
And I'd forgot to take my pill.
I guess it was God's will.
3. When that baby is a child, it will suffer from neglect
Be picked upon and pecked, and run over and wrecked,
And its head will be crowned with the thorn
But while it's inside her, it must remain intact
And it cannot be murdered till it's born.
from The Malvina Reynolds Songbook, 1974
Copyright Shroder Music Company 1973
@political @feminist @abortion
filename[ ROSIEJAN
play.exe˙ROSIEJAN
JB
apr96
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---
I am Abby Sale - abby...@orlinter.com (That's in Orlando)
Jonathan Dresner
Fred Small's "Face in the Window" has a couple of fairly gripping lines
about abortion.
Jonathan
Irwin Silber
Tom Dooley who was "bound to die" was convicted of murdering his
sweetheart presumably because she was pregnant.
Irwin Silber
Gail Gurman
SG> <Mey...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>> For a research project that I am doing, I would appreciate any
>> information on folk songs (traditional or composed) dealing with
>> abortion and unwanted pregnancy. I'm also interested in any recordings
>> of such songs.
I'm sure there are plenty of old Child ballads about unwanted
pregnancies.
--
Gail Gurman | Email.................gail@homemail.com
Technical Writer | Personal Web Page.....http://www.wco.com/~gailg/
Wink Communications | Company Web Page......http://www.wink.com/
Karen Cunningham
--Cyberdog-MixedBoundary-0020D750
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On Thu, Sep 11, 1997 1:53 AM,
--Cyberdog-MixedBoundary-0020D750
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wrote:
For a research project that I am doing, I would appreciate any
information on folk songs (traditional or composed) dealing with
abortion and unwanted pregnancy. I'm also interested in any recordings
of such songs. Thanks. Please feel free to email me directly at
Susan Lerner
John Prine's "Unwed Fathers", on Aimless Love
--Cyberdog-MixedBoundary-0020D750--
The StinkyCheeseMan
In article <19970912023...@ladder01.news.aol.com>,
Hodagg <hod...@aol.com> wrote:
>>For a research project that I am doing, I would appreciate any
>>information on folk songs (traditional or composed) dealing with
>>abortion
>
> back in the 70's, Graham Parker recorded a song on his "Squeezing Out
>Sparks" that dealt with abortion. I believe it was called "You Can't Think
>To Much".......but someone more familiar with Graham's work will probably
>correct me if I'm wrong.
Actually, the title was "You Can't Be Too Strong".
Others from the 70's ...
Seals and Crofts did a song called Unborn Child (I think)
The Sex Pistols did the gruesome "bodies" on their first album.
John D.
R. Kyle Justice
The Vigilantes of Love have a song called "Odious" that deals
with abortion. It is not for the faint of heart.
Kyle
Eric Berge
In Article<APC&1'0'7c92df47'9...@igc.apc.org>, <isi...@igc.apc.org> writes:
> Tom Dooley who was "bound to die" was convicted of murdering his
> sweetheart presumably because she was pregnant.
..and as for Mary ("The gallows to be my share") Hamilton, she was
guilty of infanticide.
Eric Berge
(Remove "spambegone" for correct email address)
Hodagg
>Actually, the title was "You Can't Be Too Strong".
Yes, you're right. Thanks for correcting me. I knew after I sent it that I
had probably gotten the title wrong.
Rick
Delastraw
>Hodagg <hod...@aol.com> wrote:
>>>For a research project that I am doing, I would appreciate any
>>>information on folk songs (traditional or composed) dealing with
>>>abortion
Ani DiFranco does Lost Woman Song about Abortion
Daniel R. Reitman
>Tom Dooley who was "bound to die" was convicted of murdering his
>sweetheart presumably because she was pregnant.
IIRC, the historical case was about disease. I haven't located a copy
of the original opinion yet, however; my local law library is missing
that volume.
Daniel Reitman
Jonathan Dresner
In article <341a4481...@news.teleport.com>,
The liner notes to the recently released Kingston Trio double
album "The Kingston Trio/Hungry i" agree that Tom Dula was suffering from
venereal disease.
Jonathan
Bev and Jerry Praver
Abby Sale wrote:
>
> On Wed, 10 Sep 1997 23:53:53 -0700, Susan Lerner <Mey...@ix.netcom.com>
> wrote:
>
>
> In traditional song, essentially _all_ mentions of pregnancy are in the
> unwanted area. (A few exceptions - and some positive mentions of birth or
> children - but pregnancy per se... basically negative.)
>
> Abortion is rarish but mentioned (barely) in the Child ballad Tam Lin" and
> specifically in the Pills of White Mercury versions of "The Unfortunate
> Rake." (see "UNFORTUNATE LASS" in the Digital Tradition.)
>
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---
> I am Abby Sale - abby...@orlinter.com (That's in Orlando)
We believe that the "pills of white mercury" in the Unfortunate Rake
etc. refers to a cure for syphillis rather than a prescription to
abortion. At least that's the way we heard it.
Jerry and Bev Praver Bev....@thegrid.net
Brett Weiss
Check out Si Kahn's "Nobody's Body But Mine" on his I Have Seen Freedom
album.
Brett
Susan Lerner wrote in article <341795...@ix.netcom.com>...
>
>For a research project that I am doing, I would appreciate any
>information on folk songs (traditional or composed) dealing with
Jo Newman
Susan Lerner <Mey...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>For a research project that I am doing, I would appreciate any
>information on folk songs (traditional or composed) dealing with
>abortion and unwanted pregnancy. I'm also interested in any recordings
>of such songs. Thanks. Please feel free to email me directly at
>Mey...@ix.netcom.com
>Susan Lerner
Try 'Carry The Blame' by River City People. Thye were based in the UK
but I think they have split up now, so you may have trouble getting
hold of it.
Jo Newman
lanza
Try, "Ode to Billy Joe."
PS: Whatever happened to Janis Ian? Just curious. Anybody know?
--
**********************************
We must laugh and we must sing,
We are blest by everything,
Everything we look upon is blest.
--YEATS, A Dialogue of Self & Soul
**********************************
Abby Sale
On Sat, 13 Sep 1997 17:27:14 -0700, Bev and Jerry Praver
<Bev....@thegrid.net> wrote:
>Abby Sale wrote:
>>
>> specifically in the Pills of White Mercury versions of "The Unfortunate
>We believe that the "pills of white mercury" in the Unfortunate Rake
>etc. refers to a cure for syphillis rather than a prescription to
>abortion. At least that's the way we heard it.
>
Absolutely! Brain-slip on my part there. Thanks for correction.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---
Mike Russell
Dar Williams has a song entitled "Anthem" on her self released tape "All My
Heroes are Dead" which precedes her first CD "The Honesty Room"
"...and now I'm hanging over the sink with a pregnancy test.
You can relax, babe, results are negative
Oh, but how I thought of kids, who they'd be,
about where we'd live...."
Hard tape to find...though I think the semi-official Dar policy is that
there is a dubber who will make ya a copy for a donation to a charity Dar
has set up...."
--
Mike Russell / PowerLines
http://www.powerlines.com
Kevin Sheils
Daniel R. Reitman wrote:
>
> On Fri, 12 Sep 1997 09:37:20 -0700 (PDT), Irwin Silber
> <isi...@igc.apc.org> wrote:
>
> >Tom Dooley who was "bound to die" was convicted of murdering his
> >sweetheart presumably because she was pregnant.
>
> IIRC, the historical case was about disease. I haven't located a copy
> of the original opinion yet, however; my local law library is missing
> that volume.
>
That is my understanding. There are however many songs of the Pretty
Polly, Ghost Ship, Ekefield Town variety where the man kills his
girlfriend. Frequently no explicit reason is given although pregnancy
is likely. The last lines of the Ghost Ship, where the murdered
girlfriend's Ghost returns for revenge, as I sing it are
She whipped him, she ripped him, she tore him in three
Because he had murdered her baby and she.
K Goldman
Susan Lerner <Mey...@ix.netcom.com> writes:
|> For a research project that I am doing, I would appreciate any
|> information on folk songs (traditional or composed) dealing with
|> abortion and unwanted pregnancy. I'm also interested in any recordings
|> of such songs. Thanks. Please feel free to email me directly at
I need some help on this, but I remember a song called (or about)
"Mary Elizabeth" sung (and I think written by) by a male singer
at the red tent at Clearwater about 2-3 years ago.
--
Ken Goldman kg...@watson.ibm.com 914-945-1466
Tom Christopher
> Susan Lerner <Mey...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>
> >For a research project that I am doing, I would appreciate any
> >information on folk songs (traditional or composed) dealing with
> >abortion and unwanted pregnancy. I'm also interested in any recordings
> >of such songs. Thanks. Please feel free to email me directly at
> >Mey...@ix.netcom.com
> >Susan Lerner
>
a folk ensemble called 'ye sexe pistols' recorded a tune called 'bodies'
Gail Gurman
>>>>> "l" == lanza <la...@mail.ncku.edu.tw> writes:
l> PS: Whatever happened to Janis Ian? Just curious. Anybody know?
http://www.nauticom.net/www/hyperguy/janis.html
mrre...@admn.sait.ab.ca
Janis Ian is still doing the Folk circuit.She was up here(in Calgary) last
year at our Folk Festival and played a great set.Last I heard she had a new
CD out although I can't remember the name at the moment.She has had some
medical problems over the years but seemed genuinely happy to be back out
and playing.
Gerry Myerson
In article <01bcbef6$327e46e0$4c58b5cf@default>, "Timothy Jaques"
<tja...@netcom.ca> wrote:
> The other one is "A Young Girl Cut Down In Her Prime".... refers to "pills
> of white mercury", which again I assume was used for the same purpose.
I think mercury was a cure for syphillis.
In sufficient quantities, it was a cure for life.
Surely Vin Garbutt has written & recorded a song about (& against) abortion,
didn't he dedicate an album to the aborted fetuses of the world?
Gerry Myerson (ge...@mpce.mq.edu.au)
kbooker
Gerry Myerson wrote:
...cut...>
> Surely Vin Garbutt has written & recorded a song about (& against) abortion,
Yes he did - I remember in the early eighties running a folk club at the
then Coventry Polytechnic and being told that we couldn't book him with
student union money because of it.
Ian Lawther
In article <34200C...@barry.ac.uk>, kbooker <kbo...@barry.ac.uk>
writes
I believe it is called "Little Innocents", but know no more about it
other than the last discussion of it I saw on the 'net got long and
protracted.
You have been warned!!!!!!!!!:-)
-- /
Ian Lawther http://www.northernlight.demon.co.uk/ian2.htm O///
Faversham, <|o>
Kent, UK. |\
||
Jim Hori
I don't know if this has been mentioned, but according to Michelle
Shocked "Cotton Eyed Joe" is one.
....
jimh
Timothy Jaques
"If it hadn't been for Cotton Eyed Joe/ I'd have been married a long time
ago"????
In my innocence I just thought it meant that he or she had just spent a
great deal of wasted time singing and drinking with Cotton Eyed Joe, a
player of home-made fiddles. . .
Timothy Jaques
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
"Men's evil manners live in brass: their virtues we write in water."
Jim Hori <ji...@West.Sun.COM> wrote in article
<5vubeo$6...@abyss.West.Sun.COM>...
John M. Gamble
In article <341ba...@scooby.nildram.co.uk>,
Jo Newman <jone...@nildram.co.uk> wrote:
>Susan Lerner <Mey...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>
>>For a research project that I am doing, I would appreciate any
>>information on folk songs (traditional or composed) dealing with
>>abortion and unwanted pregnancy. I'm also interested in any recordings
>>of such songs. Thanks. Please feel free to email me directly at
>>Mey...@ix.netcom.com
>>Susan Lerner
>
>but I think they have split up now, so you may have trouble getting
>hold of it.
>
>Jo Newman
>
"The Stranger," by Kat Eggleston is a very strong song about
abortion. From the context of the lyrics, it may be set in
the time before the Roe vs. Wade decision.
It is on her disc Second Nature, on the Waterbug label.
-john
February 28 1997: Last day libraries could order catalogue cards
from the Library of Congress.