Love-and-Murder Ballads and Songs in Country Music

Abstract

Some lyrics of old country music deal with violence and death. We can find examples of love-and-murder in those lyrics. This paper cites two traditional country lyrics: “Knoxville Girl” and “Banks of the Ohio.” A man brutally kills a woman without any reason of doing it in a song. Why is it? In order to study reasons of murder, this paper takes a historical and social approach toward the problem. It also discusses how and why men wanted to have their own way. And this paper verifies the continuity of gothic elements transferred from the traditional country music to the modern country music.