Ghost Songs for Halloween

Image by ariadne-a-mazed from Pixabay

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Samhain (pronounced sow-in,  as in rhymes with “cow in”)  is an ancient Celtic festival marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. It takes place on October 31 and is the source of many of our Halloween traditions. 

Why are ghosts a typical symbol of Halloween? That's because the ancient Celts believed that the division between the realms of the living and the dead was thinnest at Samhain, which would allow the souls of the dead to pass through. Our ancestors built bonfires and offered food to honor their dead loved ones during this festival. They also dressed up in animal skins to chase harmful spirits away. Maybe this is why ghosts found their way into many Irish, Scottish, and English folk songs, which then crossed the Atlantic and inspired American versions.

She Moved Through the Fair
lyrics by Padraic Collum
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My young love said to me, "My mother won't mind 
And my father won't slight you for your lack of kind" 
And she stepped away from me and this she did say: 
It will not be long, love, till our wedding day" 

As she stepped away from me and she moved through the fair 
And fondly I watched her move here and move there 
And then she turned homeward with one star awake 
Like the swan in the evening moves over the lake 

The people were saying, no two e'er were wed 
But one had a sorrow that never was said 
And I smiled as she passed with her goods and her gear, 
And that was the last that I saw of my dear. 

Last night she came to me, my dead love came in 
So softly she came that her feet made no din 
As she laid her hand on me and this she did say 
"It will not be long, love, 'til our wedding day" 

The Unquiet Grave (sometimes called Cold Blows the Wind)

Cold blows the wind to my true love and gently drops the rain
I only had but one true love and in greenwood she lies slain
I'll do as much for my true love as any young man may
I'll sit and mourn along her grave for a twelve-month and a day

When the twelve months and one day was past the ghost began to speak:
"Why sit thou'st here along my grave and will not let me sleep?"
"There's one thing that I want sweetheart, there's one thing that I crave
And that is a kiss from your lily white lips then I'll go from your grave"

"My lips they are as cold as clay my breath smells earthy strong
And if you kiss my cold clay lips your days they won't be long
Go fetch me water from the desert and blood from out of stone
Go fetch me milk from a fair maid's breast that a young man never had known"

'Twas down in Cupid's Garden where you and I would walk
The finest flower that ever I saw is withered to a stalk
The stalk is withered and dry sweetheart the flower will ne'er return
And since I lost my one true love what can I do but mourn?
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"When shall we meet again sweetheart? When shall we meet again?"
"Ere the oaken leaves that fall from the trees are green and spring up again"

Pretty Polly, or The Cruel Ship's Carpenter
Arranged and adapted by MARC NERENBERG, July 2018

Near the harbour, where ships sail - to many a foreign town (2x)
There lived a lovely damsel - known as Pretty Polly Brown.

She courted handsome Willie - his darling wife to be (2x)
For his trade was long and steady - a ship's carpenter was he.

Willie vowed that they would marry - but her trust he did betray (2x)
Yes, he vowed that they would marry - but instead led her astray 
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Soon Polly, she could see - that things, they were not right (2x)
And Willie, he could see - that her dress was growing tight

So Willie, he told Polly – “My time has come to sail (2x)
I’ll be gone a year or more - on a ship that’s hunting whale.”

Before Willie turned to go - with the sailors out to sea, (2x)
Polly begged for him to stay - She fell down upon her knee

“Oh Willie, please Willie - do not leave me here, alone (2x)
You have not yet kept your promise - to make me your own.”

“Well now, Polly, Pretty Polly - come and take a walk with me (2x)
Before we be married - some pleasure to see.”
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Then he took her in a forest - so damp and dark and deep (2x)
It was so dark in there - that Polly soon began to weep

“Willie, oh Willie - I think you take me here to die! (2x)
I see you wish not for a wife - nor to hear a baby cry.”

“Oh Polly, Pretty Polly - Well, you’re guessing just about right, (2x)
I was here, to dig your grave – the better part of last night.” 

“Willie, oh Willie - please pardon me my life, (2x)
Nevermore will I covet – for to be your darling wife.”

“See how your grave’s wide open - and my spade is standing by, (2x)
So now into that deep grave - your fair body it must fly.”

Then he stabbed her, and impaled her - Oh how her blood did flow (2x)
And then into that deep grave - her fair body he did throw.
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He buried her so neatly - and he covered her so well, (2x)
He knew that there was no one - who had seen or who could tell.

Then he went to board the ship - for to sail the wide world round (2x)
He thought not that Polly’s awful fate - ever would be found.
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Then, early on one morning - well before the break of day (2x)
His captain stepped upon the deck - these grisly words to say:

“There's a killer on this ship - a foul murder has he done. (2x)
And our ship is now in mourning. - She refuses to sail on.”

Then up stepped the first mate - saying, “I am not the one” (2x)
“Nor I”, said every sailor - and each swore it, one by one.

And last, up stepped Willie - the ship’s carpenter, to swear, (2x)
“Indeed, it is not I, sir – I so swear and do declare.”
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And as Willie was a-turning - from his captain, feeling bold (2x)
Pretty Polly stood before him! – It made his blood run cold!

That ghastly, ghostly figure - severed Willie into three. (2x)
“That’s what you get for killing - our unborn babe and me!”

An Interesting Historical Note
by Marc Nerenberg

​I've been familiar with the song "Pretty Polly" for a long time - probably more because the melody seems to get freely borrowed for other songs - both Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan have used it for songs of their own, for instance, both of which I have had occasion to play. I never was much interested in adding the original song to my repertoire though, mainly because the American versions I'm familiar with have always seemed kind of incomplete to me: a grisly murder, and bang! it's over! But then I did a little research (which is so easy to do these days, with so many on-line resources) and discovered that the American song is but a fragment of a much longer British ballad ("The Cruel Ship's Carpenter") that goes back to the 1700s and is likely about a real event. 

​The ballad itself is known in many versions, and they pretty much all have a whole beginning set-up, and ending dénouement, that are completely absent from "quickie" American banjo versions. So I've taken bits and pieces from thither and yon, moved them around, rewrote parts, added stuff, subtracted stuff, to come up with an "American" style version of the full British ballad.

It's pretty long though, so I've been putting some work into trying to make sure it retains the listener's interest throughout. This arrangement is still somewhat of a work in progress, but I think it's reached the point where I can share it (even though I still see some parts that I may ultimately want to do differently).

So it might change over the next few weeks or months as I drive myself a little crazy with revisions - but that's my usual process. This is already about a half-dozen revised versions into the process, so it's time to put it out there for scrutiny.
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This is played clawhammer style on a Jason Romero Banjo, tuned fAEAE, but caped at the 3rd fret to be fCGCG, and I'm playing it in a C pentatonic scale.