Music To Die For:death Discs 1914-1960

Various Artists

- Disc 1 - 1 Excelsior! - (Walter Miller/ Ernest Pike) 2 Don't Go Down the Mine Dad - (Frank Miller) 3 Wreck of the Old '97 - (Vernon Dalhart) 4 St. James Infirmary - (Louis Armstrong) 5 Tallahatchie River Blues - (Mattie Delaney) 6 Miss Otis Regrets - (Ethel Waters) 7 Wreck on the Highway (I Didn't Hear Nobody Pray) - (Dorsey Dixon) 8 Ol' Man Mose - (Eddy Duchin/ Patricia Norman) 9 We Mourn the Loss of Sir Murchison Fletcher - (The Lord Executor) 10 Gloomy Sunday - (Pauline Byrne/ Artie Shaw) 11 Black Girl - (Leadbelly) 12 Goin' Down Slow - (St. Louis Jimmy Oden) 13 Frankie and Johnny - (Lena Horne) 14 The Death of Little Kathy Fiscus - (Jimmie Osborne) 15 Riders in the Sky - (Vaughn Monroe) 16 Old Shep - (Red Foley) 17 I Hold Your Hand in Mine - (Tom Lehrer) 18 Sinner's Dream - (Eugene Fox) 19 The Drunken Driver - (Ferlin Husky) 20 Their Hearts Were Full of Spring - (The Four Freshmen) 21 Death of an Angel - (Donald Woods ; the Vel-Aires) 22 Black Denim Trousers and Motorcycle Boots - (The Cheers) 23 Sweeney Todd the Barber - (Stanley Holloway) 24 Message from James Dean - (Bill Hayes) 25 Down Bound Train - (Ken Colyer's Skiffle Group) - Disc 2 - 1 Knoxville Girl - 3:49 (The Louvin Brothers) 2 Wild Dogs of Kentucky - 2:33 (Nervous Norvus) 3 Chicken - 1:57 (The Cheers) 4 Ballad of Thunder Road - 2:31 (Robert Mitchum) 5 The Grave - 2:32 (Tony Casanova) 6 The Tragedy of School Bus 27 - 2:39 (Ralph Bowman) 7 No School Bus in Heaven - 2:42 (The Stanley Brothers) 8 Down in the Willow Garden - 3:04 (The Everly Brothers) 9 Endless Sleep - 2:23 (Jody Reynolds) 10 Music to Be Murdered By - 4:55 (Alfred Hitchcock) 11 Stagger Lee - 2:24 (Lloyd Price) 12 Don't Take Your Guns to Town - 2:59 (Johnny Cash) 13 Take a Message to Mary - 2:27 (The Everly Brothers) 14 Three Stars - 2:59 (Ruby Wright) 15 Who Shot Sam? - 2:24 (George Jones) 16 La Mort - 2:52 (Jacques Brel) 17 Two Hour Honeymoon - 3:14 (Paul Hampton) 18 Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain - 2:15 (Gene Vincent) 19 Teen Angel - 2:40 (Mark Dinning) 20 Sail Ho! - 5:01 (Robert Horton) 21 Grandpa's Grave - 3:21 (Peter Sellers) 22 Running Bear - 2:36 (Johnny Preston) 23 Tell Laura I Love Her - 2:55 (Ray Peterson) 24 Tell Tommy I Miss Him - 2:44 (Marilyn Michaels) 25 Car Crash - 2:31 (The Cadets) 26 The Water Was Red - 2:53 (Johnny Cymbal) 27 Wreck of the Old '97 - 1:38 (The Creed Taylor Orchestra)

So called “death discs,” commercial recordings dealing with fatal car and train wrecks, shootings, hangings, doomed and drowning lovers, and myriad other tragedies, have been around since the advent of recording (and long before that -- there are countless ancient ghost-filled old ballads floating around in the Appalachians and elsewhere), and whether they’re maudlin, nostalgic, macabre, tragic, romantic (think Romeo and Juliet), or just plain silly, they serve as cautionary tales of a sort, and we remain fascinated by them. This two-disc set collects 52 of these death discs, going as far back as 1914 and running through 1960, and it’s a surprisingly varied playlist, given the gloomy nature of the subject matter, with classic sides from Vernon Dalhart (“Wreck of the Old ‘97” from 1924), Louis Armstrong (a majestic “St. James Infirmary” from 1928), Lena Horne (“Frankie and Johnny” from 1946), Red Foley (“Old Shep”-- yep, all good dogs go to Heaven -- from 1949), Donald Woods & the Vel-Aires (“Death of an Angel” from 1955), the Four Freshmen (“Their Hearts Were Full of Spring,” also from 1955), Gene Vincent (“Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” from 1960), and many others. No, it’s not a particularly cheerful set, but in a way it is -- one can’t help but think “well, I’m still here” while listening to it, and it’s all pretty fascinating in a graveyard humor kind of way. ~ Steve Leggett, Rovi

Price: $22.98

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