Weird Tales 359. Conrad Williams
Smith” by Current 93; my own preference is for the deceptively cheerful version by Steeleye Span.
Speaking of the Span (my favourite group of any folk revival), their “Allison Gross” is close to being a perfect example of the weirdness of the Child Ballads. It starts off simply, both lyrically and in terms of its arrangement, and the music becomes more raucous and intense as the lyrics turn into the dark side of the Beauty and the Beast legend.
“Tam Lin” has similar themes of transformation caused by a supernatural creature (the Queen of Faerie in this case). If you want a more raucous, modern-Celtic version of the song, look for the version by Coyote Run (from Between Wick and Flame); if your preference is to the more ethereal, listen to Mediaeval Baebes (from Mirabilis). Or listen to both and keep reminding yourself that it’s the same song.
Two songs inspired this article. The first, “White Winter Hymnal,” I’ve already discussed. The second is a Child Ballad and so the mother, in a sense, of the first. I know it as “The Cruel Sister,” though Child called it “The Twa Sisters” and it has several other names besides. The first version I ever heard (and hence the best, because that’s how our minds work) is by Pentangle, from their 1970 album of the same name. The album may have been a flop, but this performance of “Cruel Sister” isn’t. Jacqui McShee’s voice is crystal-clear but sounds almost numb in her deadpan telling of this tale of murder and supernatural revenge, and the addition of a sitar adds a hint of disturbance or disconnect to what is otherwise a fairly straightforward (at least for this band) folk-style rendition of the song.
What makes “The Cruel Sister” the perfect example of the weird in music, though, is the device by which the murdered sister obtains her revenge. That the woman’s body itself becomes the instrument—in a literal sense—of her killer’s undoing is creepy and marvelous and wondrous in the best sense of that word.
My senses have been assaulted delightfully during the writing of this piece, and I trust that this sampling, limited as it is, will provide you with sufficient inspiration to assemble your own collection of the weird. What I’ve listed here will at least make an entertaining mix-tape or shuffle list for anyone with an interest in the subject. As a matter of fact, I’ve been assembling just such a shuffle playlist in the writing of this article. I’m not quite finished yet, though. So if you’ll excuse me, I’ve some more shopping to do.
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Michael Skeet is an award-winning Canadian writer and broadcaster who began writing for radio before finishing college. In addition to extensive publishing credits as a film and music critic, he writes short sf/f/h and is a two-time winner of Canada’s Aurora Award for excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy.
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