Author Archives: Jan Bross

Irish Protest Folk Song

Main Piece:

When I was young I used to be as fine a man as ever you’d see;
The Prince of Wales, he said to me, “Come and join the British army.”

When I was young I had a twist of punching babies with me fist
And I thought I would enlist and join the British army.

Too ra loo ra loo ra loo, they’re looking for monkeys up in the zoo
If I had a face like you, I would join the British army.

Sarah Camdon baked a cake; it was all for poor old Slattery’s sake.
I threw me-self into the lake, pretending I was balmy.

Corporal Duff’s got such a drought, just give him a couple of jars of stout;
He’ll kill the enemy with his mouth and save the British Army.
Too ra loo ra loo ra loo, Me curse is on the Labour crew;
They took your darling boy from you to join the British army.

Captain Heeley went away and his wife got in the family way,
And all the words that she would say was “Blame the British Army.”
Too ra loo ra loo ra loo, I’ve made me mind up what to do
I’ll work my ticket home to you and leave the British army

Sarah Comden baked a cake, it was all for poor ‘oul Slattery’s sake
I threw herself into the lake, pretending I was barmy
toora loora loora loo, it was the only thing I could do
to work my ticket home to you and fuck the British army”
Background information about the piece by the informant: Carolina was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland to a strongly anti-British family. They see the British forces as an oppressor for the Irish people, and they have taught Carolina anti-British army protest folk songs since she was a child. She doesn’t necessarily share the sentiment of hating every single British person, but she does think that the country has not treated Ireland well, for which she enjoys singing these songs.

Context of the piece: The song is supposed to be sang in a community whenever there is a manifested anti-British feeling. This could be in more organized events like a street march, to more casual occurrences like an entire pub collectively singing the song while drunk. This is due to the British establishing colonies in the Irish island and still keeping the North as part of the UK. The people who sing these kinds of songs see this as an invasion from an oppressive empire, and their songs serve to represent them as the underdogs against the big authority.

Thoughts on the piece: Singing these kinds of songs with other people creates a strong sense of community, and it this case, it would be of nationalism. They are singing specifically about the British army rather than the British as a people, which already paints the nation in a military dictatorial fashion. Although there is anger shown in the song, it is mostly a ridicule of the idea of joining the British army, which further places the British outside of the trust circle of the Irish.

The Biltmore Hotel

Main Piece: It’s the most haunted building in all of L.A. There have been so many deaths, serial killers, and plain weird stuff in there. Where do I begin? Well, first of all, that place was the last sighting of Elizabeth Short, better known as Black Dahlia. The next day, she was found cut in half in a neighborhood lawn with a smile carved into her face by cutting her cheeks open. It remains one of the biggest unsolved murder cases in L.A. The hotel was later used as the residence of serial killers like Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacey, and they killed lots of people while they were staying there. The freakiest one is from last year, where a student named Elisa Lam was found drowned naked inside of one of the hotel’s water tanks. They found out of this because the residents complained that the water was black and had a funny smell. There was no way she could have crawled in there by herself. Those lids are heavy as hell. Someone had to put her in there, but no one knows how. There even a video of her on Youtube in the elevator where it looks like she’s talking to someone, but no one’s there, and then she starts convulsing. Some say that she was being possessed by one of the hotel ghosts. This could be Black Dahlia or one of the serial killers, which would explain why these spirits murdered her. Some even say that they have seen a woman with a wound on her stomach walking around the halls and disappearing into the walls, which we could assume to be black dahlia. I would never stay in that hotel. Bad stuff just seems to happen there.

Background information about the piece by the informant: Melissa is an enthusiast for local ghost stories, serial killers and unsolved mysteries. She knows about all of this because she is n avid reader and investigator on the subject. She claims that the Biltmore in Downtown L.A. is like the Mecca of people fascinated with these subjects. It still operates today and people still claim it to be haunted.

Context on the piece: Melissa brought this up in a group dinner conversation where we were all telling ghosts anecdotes to scare each other. According to her, that was the perfect setting to tell these kinds of urban legends. They are classically told around a campfire in the dark to enhance the performance atmosphere.

Thoughts o the piece: In American tradition, ghosts seem to always inhabit really old hotels or houses. The setting of a ghost story is rarely set in a high tech modernist building. This could be due to the fact that America is a future-centric society, and it might be manifesting guilt of letting go of the past through these legends. Perhaps that is why there is a prevailing theme of unsolved mysteries that haunt the hotel, as the truth behind the cases has been let go of to look to the future which brings guilt and fascination to the problem. It’s also interesting that the de-facto explanation to the odd occurrences in these mysteries is an intervention from the other world. It goes to show that it is a society with great interest on life after death.

The Island of Dolls

Main piece: A very old man from back then owned the island, and he had a niece. She must have been around 15 years old and he loved her. More than any of his own children, and she had a lot, a lot of dolls that she collected. One day the girl was looking down at the canals while playing with her dolls and she fell and she drowned. Some people say that it was the old man who threw her to the water because he went insane or was possessed, but I don’t think so. It was an accident and a tragedy that happens. The old man was heart broken by this and that is when he started to loose his mind. He saw the doll that she was playing with when she fell floating in the water and he hung it up in a tree because he thought that would bring back her spirit because she loved the dolls so much. After that, the guy hung the rest of the dolls up in his trees and whenever he sees a doll floating by he hangs it up. That’s how the island got its name, and after the old man died people say that it’s haunted by the ghost of the drowned girl. Some say that the dolls move and sometimes they even lure visitors to the island where the ghost of the dead girl gets them. I don’t believe the sorties, but I don’t want to risk it either.

Background information about the piece by the informant: Eloy is a tourist guide and a local of Xochimilco, the water canals of Mexico City. One of the min touristic attractions is that of an island that is characterised by the old, decrepit dolls that hang from its trees. It creates an unsettling atmosphere and it is said that the island is haunted.

Context to the performance: The informant told the story of the haunted island to me and a group of tourists while we were passing by it on a boat.

Thoughts on the piece: The only facts that are known of the legend is that the island was originally owned by Julian Santa Barrera, the alleged old man from the story. He started the tradition of hanging dolls up in the trees of the island, but there is no way of knowing if she had a niece or if she drowned in the canals. The idea of the island being haunted by an original owner could be due to the guilt of commercializing the Xochimilco zone and making it tourist-friendly. The fact that it was a small girl who was specifically said to be around 15 (a transitioning age in Mexico to adulthood) and the use of dolls of terrifying supernatural purposes can also be a commentary on the loss of innocence that is trying be be re-obtained.

For another version of the legend see: http://www.isladelasmunecas.com/

The Coyote and The Rabbit

Main piece: You know why the coyote howls to the moon? He was chasing a rabbit and it jumped so high that it landed on the moon. That’s why we see a rabbit in the moon. Now, the coyote doesn’t want to eat the rabbit. He has fallen deeply in love with him and the moon after chasing them for so long. He sings his love every night. That’s why we hear them howl to the moon.

Background information about the piece by the informant: Emanuel lived in Lima, Peru for a year in a study abroad program. He learned this story from a street merchant woman when she sold him a wooden figurine of a wolf, which he tends to wear around his neck because it reminds him of what he considers to be “a beautiful love story”.

Context on the piece: It’s not clear from what Peruvian belief this story comes from. It might have its origins in Incan mythology, or it could have been brought by Spanish settlers. Perhaps it’s a combination of both, but seems to be a very specific myth for the locals of Lima.

Thoughts on the piece: The moon is seen as a feminine symbol of love across many cultures, and this myth is no exception. It manages to blend it with an explanation to why the moon has the silhouette of what appears to be a rabbit. This makes sense, as for a long time no one knew what the moon really was, but it was undeniable radiant and beautiful. So, having the howls f the coyote in a story like this might make their presence a more romantic one than a threatening one. It’s also interesting to see the coyote play a humbler role in this culture, as he is usually shown as the trickster or the con artists by other societies. It shows that this Peruvian folk may have a more humbling sensibility to beauty.

Two Friends

Main piece: There were once two neighbour towns that were separated by a canyon, and from each town there was a person that went to the canyon to hang around. These two people did this for many years and they saw each other every day, but didn’t utter a word to each other. One day one of them started singing a song at the top of his lungs, and the other one followed him. They discovered they could talk to each other if the talked loud enough, so the started talking to each other every day. The years passed and they became best friends by talking about their days to each other, and they always hoped that one day the towns would be united so that they could hug. Anyways, the years went by and they remained best friends until they were old, and when they both died they buried them on their ends of the canyon so that they would always be facing each other. One day many years later, they built a bridge that united the two towns, and at the ends of the bridge are the graves of the two friends.

Background information about the piece by the informant: Simon claims to have learned this story from locals while he was in a trip to the Mexican state of Oaxaca. The locals told him that the towns were real and near the city, but they had no specific names to give.

Context on the performance: This story was told to Simon in a restaurant where everyone seemed to know the story, which suggests that it is popular in that region of Mexico.

Thoughts on the piece: The tale shows a way to make connections with people without the need for physical closeness. Not only that, but the two friends were from completely separated towns, figuratively and literally, which send an inclusive message that says anyone can form bonds with someone that isn’t part of his in-group.