it is stagolee, right? same way that people with out-of-print literature and people who could not appeal to a -- appeal to authority. the african-american community who developed stagolee, they cannot look to authority to avenge their wrong, they have to create a situation in which there can be some sort of justice meted out without authorities. the songs that arrived on this frontier are largely songs about violence. about the fragility of life, about the dangers of getting overly emotional. what happens to people if they are swept up in emotion, and what is the biggest emotion you get swept up in?

the african-american community , theyveloped stagolee cannot look to authority to avenge their wrong, they have to create a situation in which there can be some sort of justice meted out without authorities. songs that arrived on this frontier are largely songs about violence. about the fragility of life, about the dangers of getting overly emotional. what happens to people if they are swept up in a motion, and what is the biggest emotion you get swept up prof. seiler: love. , what wee key genres call murder ballads. ballads are tales of love gone wrong. didactic stories of how not to live. they abound in the tradition of hillbilly music. , in to give you an example the middle of the 20th century, a great country music duo recorded a song called "knoxville girl." it recounts the murder of a young woman by her lover, who accuses her of being faithless. go down, go down, you knoxville girl, with the dark and roving eye. go down, go down, you knoxville girl. you will never be my bride. he murders her with a stick and then comes back to his family's cabin with blood all over him. he tells