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Track of the Week - 11/5/07
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Thin Lizzy - Whiskey in the Jar Listen to Whiskey in the Jar on Rhapsody Kicking off our horror Track of the Week is this classic rock tune that launched the band Thin Lizzy's career. Granted, this song has been around for a long time. In fact, some historians date it back as far as the 17th or 18th Centuries. It hails from Ireland and is one of the better-known songs that have that label of "Traditional," which basically means that no one knows who the original author was and/or how much the lyrics have changed since. Interestingly enough, the hero may have a solid connection to another popular figure from horror in music we have already covered - Mack the Knife. More on that later. The "narrator" of Whiskey in the Jar is a highwayman - a rogue thief that prowled the isolated roads of the British Isles and robbed innocent travelers of the valuables they had on them. In this case, somewhere on the Cork and Kerry Mountains (elsewhere in other versions), the highwayman robs one Captain Farrell (Pepper in other versions). He then takes his booty home to his lover Molly (sometimes Jenny), who betrays him. Being drunk and weary I went to Molly's chamber Takin' my money with me and I never knew the danger For about six or maybe seven in walked Captain Farrell I jumped up, fired off my pistols and I shot him with both barrels Sometimes Whiskey in the Jar ends with the narrator wilting away in prison and cursing Molly, but in other versions, he escapes and goes off to pursue the "good life" once again. In this version, it follows the path of the former. It is a fairly typical broadsheet song with love, murder, and betrayal. As mentioned, Whiskey in the Jar has been around for centuries, which makes Thin Lizzy's cover all the more fascinating. They covered the band in 1973 and it became their first big hit. Given the fact that the band is Irish probably didn't hurt either. Led by the iconic vocals of singer Phil Lynott, the song launched the band into the international spotlight. Their cover was so successful that most modern versions are a cover of Thin Lizzy's version. The version has been covered by the likes of U2 and, probably most famously by Metallica in 1998. So what does Whiskey in the Jar have to do with Mack the Knife? In the 1960 book, The Folk Songs of North America, author Alan Lomax traces the roots of Whiskey in the Jar. He finds some close resemblance between this song and the 1728 opera, The Beggar's Opera and appears confident that the former greatly influenced the latter. The highwayman of The Beggar's Opera is none other than MacHeath, who would undergo a sinister transformation in a 1928 adaptation. A new tune was penned to highlight that character's introduction to the audience and that tune just happened to be Mack the Knife. This entry was edited on November 13, 2007, 8:29 pm.
Filed under: Music, Murder Ballads, Track of the Week	November 5, 2007, 8:41 pm | Permalink | 0 Comments
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