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Joseph Gillotti's avatar

'Hang down your head, Tom Dooley........'

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Alexander Scott McGrath's avatar

I can still remember the first time I heard the song "Weila Waila" as performed by the Dubliners. The lyrics perplexed me, as they sounded like essentially "murder lyrics" in spite of having a beautiful play on words (the chorus is "A Weila Weila Waila" which is ancient Gaelic for "a way by the waters").

I was too young at the time to know that this was one of the Child Ballads -- stories of crime and punishment -- that served the purpose of telling the general populace, in a gruesome reminder, that crime does not pay. Today, we have "crime dramas" that serve the same purpose: "Law and Order" and its many spinoffs provide that same reminder, alongside numerous other social issues that the creators wanted on the public conscience. Like the Execution Ballads, these were never "scientific" in execution. They were art. But they were a very utilitarian device educating the public.

One aspect of your article that intrigues me: the focus on issues other than realism. I know the execution ballads lacked a lot of that, and now, thanks to your article, I know why. Yet I would argue the same is actually true today: even "Law and Order" never shows police breaking certain rules, planting evidence, or refusing to go after political allies, for instance. They often include "moralizing" elements, and *certain* rule-breakers are allowed -- but they are usually sympathetic or glorified. Producer Dick Wolf has spoken highly of the NYPD, for example, and his work does get lots of procedure and courtroom politics correct -- but certain issues that are rampant within today's precincts are largely absent from his works.

I have looked for modern police literature in recent years, and honestly, the genre itself is often rather lacking, focusing on authors who tout their own experiences in law enforcement, or "thriller" writers who are more focused, as you say with the Execution Ballads, as first-person accounts of horrors that, again, aren't so much realistic as capable of providing shock and entertainment for readers.

It's a peculiar consistency, now that I compare them. And honestly: if it hadn't been for your article, here, I probably would not have even realized it.

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