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seedarklyxeroWelcome to SeeDarkly Sunday DisCOVERies:
a weekly exploration of goth, industrial, & dark alternative cover songs!
First time here? Click here for details from first entry.
Octoberween's 2018 Shlock Edition continues! This month's series of Halloween-themed covers fall into that range of fun b-movie style, no hit wonders, and oddities that may appeal best to those with truly singular tastes in schlock! This week it's a Second Sunday Slowly downtempo cover of a creepy traditional folk song that dates back to the 1800's. I try to be diligent on this blog in presenting the "original" of each song along with its featured gothy cover. Today's feature poses a bit of a problem in that regard because I can't find any recording of the song earlier than a particular date. I'm fairly sure that what I've found is NOT actually the earliest commercial recording, but it certainly is one done by an artist who had a hand in preserving it for posterity so it wouldn't be lost to the grave.
Darken The Doorstep - The Hearse Song (Carl Sandburg)
No one seems to know who actually wrote the first version of The Hearse Song but it's commonly believed to have been popular in the British military during the Crimean War during the mid-1800's. Later documentation indicates it was also sung by American and British solders during World War I. It eventually evolved into a children's tune and then tied to Halloween, presumably for its creepy-crawly imagery.
In 1927, poet/historian/musician and later civil rights activist Carl Sandberg published The American Songbag, collecting the lyrics, musical notation, and some background on near three hundred folksongs that were considered part of American tradition. His entry for The Hearse Song details lyrics for two different versions of the song: one credited to James Stevens, Irma H. Thrane and W. W. Woodbridge of Washington, and the other from Jake Zeitlin of Los Angeles and Fort Worth. (If either of those were recorded at some time prior, it's certainly a difficult thing to find.) The choral phrase, "the worms crawl in, the worms crawl out," has origins dating back even further in popular culture, appearing as part of a poem titled Alonzo the Brave and the Fair Imogine by 18th century gothic poet/novelist Matthew Gregory Lewis. (Some suggest that is only a case of coincidental usage and not the latter being derivative of the former.)
Sandberg, also author to a book of grim American fairy tales, was fairly melancholy by his own rights. (He even appears along side Vincent Price on an album of historical speeches, though that isn't really an honest indication of the company he kept.) After the publication of The American Songbag, he set about recording albums of various songs from the book, many of which were of the more grim disposition: Gallows Song, I'm Sad And I'm Lonely, Mama Have You Heard The News? just to name a few. He released Flat Rock Ballads in 1959, featuring The Hearse Song, which he performs in a moody and depressive style.
Sandberg wrote something interesting in the introduction of his American Songbag that pertains to covering songs. "If you like a particular air and would rather sing it in a way you have found or developed yourself, departing from the musical expressions indicated, making such changes as please you at any given moment, you have full authority to do so."
The song has permeated our culture in a variety of ways without actually becoming "a hit" of any kind. It appeared in comedy shows like The Three Stooges, cartoons like Looney Tunes, children's programs, films, and occasional recordings. Most covers vary lyrically either to reflect the time in which they were recorded or for some other preference of the artist. Some even use a different name: Curse of the Hearse, Worms, et al. Many other recordings are done specifically for Halloween or children's albums and tend to have a bouncy and playful melody in stark contrast to the gruesome nature of the lyrics.
In recent years however, a number of independent and lesser known goth artists (Harley Poe, Rusty Cage, Mr. E's Ghastly Murder, etc) have released versions of the song.
Darken The Doorstep is the industrial/death pop project of a "self proclaimed musical failure," Nathaniel Varlet, from Wichita, Kansas. (Probably an unfair assessment of himself with regard to this relatively newer project considering he's already had opportunity to perform with the likes of Julien-K. It's not nothing.) He independently released his cover of The Hearse Song this year in January. Varlet apparently started developing his version in October 2016, stating on social media that he "used to sing it on the playground as a child" and he was "dying to put my own spin on this." He determined it should be a down tempo version because "it needs the tempo of a dying man's crawl." His alteration of some of the lyrics takes a bit threatening turn as he takes the role of the one burying the listener. Musically it builds from simple keys, to strong rhythms and a well placed gong to accentuate the dread nature of this dark march toward decomposition. As if there were any question where the song's story leads, he lowers it into the ground with his interpretation of Frédéric Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 2, aka Marche Funèbre, aka The Funeral March.
Varlet, in addition to releasing a couple of original tracks this year, has also previously covered Monsters by The Crüxshadows and Somebody's Watching Me by Rockwell. (Yes, I struggled a bit with the choice of which of his three covers to feature this month and the Rockwell cover almost won me over!) But Varlet's Hearse Song may be the best of them and of other modern versions, despite his claim of failure. It's a fun bit of dark cabaret industrial shlock in keeping with the spooky season!
The Cover:
Find on Bandcamp
An Original:
Want to check out or revisit the previous 3 years of SeeDarkly's Octoberween DisCoveries? Click here and scroll down the tag!
Next week:
Octoberween continues as our Third Sunday Throwback brings you some Halloween shlock from the 20th century!
Feel free to tell me what you think about today's cover! Comments, suggestions, discussions, etc... welcome!
(You do NOT need a Dreamwidth account to comment, but all comments are screened for spam prevention.)
Explore the darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
Oct 07 - Zombina And The Skeletones - Dracula's Tango [Sucker For Your Love] (Toto Coelo)
Sep 30 - Nerd Revolt - Photographic (Depeche Mode)
Sep 23 - Riviera F - Echo Beach - (Martha and the Muffins)
Sep 16 - Project Pitchfork - In The Year 2525(Zager & Evans)
Sep 09 - Skold - Pale As Chalk (Leæther Strip)
. Directory of All Previous DisCOVERies .
a weekly exploration of goth, industrial, & dark alternative cover songs!
First time here? Click here for details from first entry.
Octoberween's 2018 Shlock Edition continues! This month's series of Halloween-themed covers fall into that range of fun b-movie style, no hit wonders, and oddities that may appeal best to those with truly singular tastes in schlock! This week it's a Second Sunday Slowly downtempo cover of a creepy traditional folk song that dates back to the 1800's. I try to be diligent on this blog in presenting the "original" of each song along with its featured gothy cover. Today's feature poses a bit of a problem in that regard because I can't find any recording of the song earlier than a particular date. I'm fairly sure that what I've found is NOT actually the earliest commercial recording, but it certainly is one done by an artist who had a hand in preserving it for posterity so it wouldn't be lost to the grave.
Darken The Doorstep - The Hearse Song (Carl Sandburg)
No one seems to know who actually wrote the first version of The Hearse Song but it's commonly believed to have been popular in the British military during the Crimean War during the mid-1800's. Later documentation indicates it was also sung by American and British solders during World War I. It eventually evolved into a children's tune and then tied to Halloween, presumably for its creepy-crawly imagery.
In 1927, poet/historian/musician and later civil rights activist Carl Sandberg published The American Songbag, collecting the lyrics, musical notation, and some background on near three hundred folksongs that were considered part of American tradition. His entry for The Hearse Song details lyrics for two different versions of the song: one credited to James Stevens, Irma H. Thrane and W. W. Woodbridge of Washington, and the other from Jake Zeitlin of Los Angeles and Fort Worth. (If either of those were recorded at some time prior, it's certainly a difficult thing to find.) The choral phrase, "the worms crawl in, the worms crawl out," has origins dating back even further in popular culture, appearing as part of a poem titled Alonzo the Brave and the Fair Imogine by 18th century gothic poet/novelist Matthew Gregory Lewis. (Some suggest that is only a case of coincidental usage and not the latter being derivative of the former.)
Sandberg, also author to a book of grim American fairy tales, was fairly melancholy by his own rights. (He even appears along side Vincent Price on an album of historical speeches, though that isn't really an honest indication of the company he kept.) After the publication of The American Songbag, he set about recording albums of various songs from the book, many of which were of the more grim disposition: Gallows Song, I'm Sad And I'm Lonely, Mama Have You Heard The News? just to name a few. He released Flat Rock Ballads in 1959, featuring The Hearse Song, which he performs in a moody and depressive style.
Sandberg wrote something interesting in the introduction of his American Songbag that pertains to covering songs. "If you like a particular air and would rather sing it in a way you have found or developed yourself, departing from the musical expressions indicated, making such changes as please you at any given moment, you have full authority to do so."
The song has permeated our culture in a variety of ways without actually becoming "a hit" of any kind. It appeared in comedy shows like The Three Stooges, cartoons like Looney Tunes, children's programs, films, and occasional recordings. Most covers vary lyrically either to reflect the time in which they were recorded or for some other preference of the artist. Some even use a different name: Curse of the Hearse, Worms, et al. Many other recordings are done specifically for Halloween or children's albums and tend to have a bouncy and playful melody in stark contrast to the gruesome nature of the lyrics.
In recent years however, a number of independent and lesser known goth artists (Harley Poe, Rusty Cage, Mr. E's Ghastly Murder, etc) have released versions of the song.
Darken The Doorstep is the industrial/death pop project of a "self proclaimed musical failure," Nathaniel Varlet, from Wichita, Kansas. (Probably an unfair assessment of himself with regard to this relatively newer project considering he's already had opportunity to perform with the likes of Julien-K. It's not nothing.) He independently released his cover of The Hearse Song this year in January. Varlet apparently started developing his version in October 2016, stating on social media that he "used to sing it on the playground as a child" and he was "dying to put my own spin on this." He determined it should be a down tempo version because "it needs the tempo of a dying man's crawl." His alteration of some of the lyrics takes a bit threatening turn as he takes the role of the one burying the listener. Musically it builds from simple keys, to strong rhythms and a well placed gong to accentuate the dread nature of this dark march toward decomposition. As if there were any question where the song's story leads, he lowers it into the ground with his interpretation of Frédéric Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 2, aka Marche Funèbre, aka The Funeral March.
Varlet, in addition to releasing a couple of original tracks this year, has also previously covered Monsters by The Crüxshadows and Somebody's Watching Me by Rockwell. (Yes, I struggled a bit with the choice of which of his three covers to feature this month and the Rockwell cover almost won me over!) But Varlet's Hearse Song may be the best of them and of other modern versions, despite his claim of failure. It's a fun bit of dark cabaret industrial shlock in keeping with the spooky season!
The Cover:
Find on Bandcamp
An Original:
Want to check out or revisit the previous 3 years of SeeDarkly's Octoberween DisCoveries? Click here and scroll down the tag!
Next week:
Octoberween continues as our Third Sunday Throwback brings you some Halloween shlock from the 20th century!
Feel free to tell me what you think about today's cover! Comments, suggestions, discussions, etc... welcome!
(You do NOT need a Dreamwidth account to comment, but all comments are screened for spam prevention.)
Explore the darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
Oct 07 - Zombina And The Skeletones - Dracula's Tango [Sucker For Your Love] (Toto Coelo)
Sep 30 - Nerd Revolt - Photographic (Depeche Mode)
Sep 23 - Riviera F - Echo Beach - (Martha and the Muffins)
Sep 16 - Project Pitchfork - In The Year 2525(Zager & Evans)
Sep 09 - Skold - Pale As Chalk (Leæther Strip)
. Directory of All Previous DisCOVERies .