"MUSIC TO DIE FOR" Death Discs 1914-1960

"MUSIC TO DIE FOR" Death Discs 1914-1960: This one is a gasser! It's also a suicidal killer, murderer, and a reckless driver. Here we have some of the finest (and also easily the most dangerous) wild, and downright morbid songs from early Country music to the first five years of the Rock & Roll era plus a few offshoots in several different musical directions. It contains 52 songs about death. Most of them pretty violent deaths too. Among the many highlights is a tune about a father drunkenly driving over his own son, a two hour honeymoon, and a school bus swerving off the road killing 27 children.
Big hits ranging from The Louvin Brothers' Knoxville Girl, to Lloyd Price's Stagger Lee, to Ray Peterson's Tell Laura I Love Her. Novelty songs like Wild Dogs Of Kentucky by Nervous Norvus, Ballad Of Thunder Road by Robert Mitchum, Music To Be Murdered By from Alfred Hitchcock, and Message From James Dean by Bill Hayes. Johnny Cash, The Everly Brothers, George Jones, Gene Vincent, Jacques Brel, Lena Horne, Ferlin Husky, and many more diverse talents take you on a perilous journey, but don't worry; it's only a record, right?
This is certainly a compilation to kill for with excellent sound, plus lots of notes and photos etc. (Amazon)

So called “death discs,” commercial recordings dealing with fatal car and train wrecks, shootings, hangings, doomed and drowning lovers, and myriad other tragedies, have been around since the advent of recording (and long before that -- there are countless ancient ghost-filled old ballads floating around in the Appalachians and elsewhere), and whether they’re maudlin, nostalgic, macabre, tragic, romantic (think Romeo and Juliet), or just plain silly, they serve as cautionary tales of a sort, and we remain fascinated by them. This two-disc set collects 52 of these death discs, going as far back as 1914 and running through 1960, and it’s a surprisingly varied playlist, given the gloomy nature of the subject matter, with classic sides from Vernon Dalhart (“Wreck of the Old ‘97” from 1924), Louis Armstrong (a majestic “St. James Infirmary” from 1928), Lena Horne (“Frankie and Johnny” from 1946), Red Foley (“Old Shep” -- yep, all good dogs go to Heaven -- from 1949), Donald Woods & the Vel-Aires (“Death of an Angel” from 1955), the Four Freshmen (“Their Hearts Were Full of Spring,” also from 1955), Gene Vincent (“Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” from 1960), and many others. No, it’s not a particularly cheerful set, but in a way it is -- one can’t help but think “well, I’m still here” while listening to it, and it’s all pretty fascinating in a graveyard humor kind of way. (Steve Leggett, Allmusic)

trax CD 1:
1. Excelsior! - Messrs. Ernest Pike And Walter Miller 2. Don't Go Down The Mine Dad - Frank Miller 3. Wreck Of The Old '97 - Vernon Dalhart 4. St. James Infirmary - Louis Armstrong 5. Tallahatchie River Blues - Mattie Delaney 6. Miss Otis Regrets - Ethel Waters 7. Wreck On The Highway (I Didn't Hear Nobody Praying) - Dorsey Dixon 8. Ol' Man Mose - Eddy Duchin featuring Patricia Norman 9. We Mourn The Loss Of Sir Murchison Fletcher - Lord Executor 10. Gloomy Sunday - Artie Shaw featuring Pauline Byrne 11. Black Girl - Lead Belly 12. Goin' Down Slow - St Louis Jimmy Oden 13. Frankie And Johnny - Lena Horne 14. The Death Of Little Katy Fiscus - Jimmie Osborne 15. Riders In The Sky - Vaughn Monroe 16. Old Shep - Red Foley 17. I Hold Your Hand In Mine - Tom Lehrer 18. Sinner's Dream - Eugene Fox 19. The Drunken Driver - Ferlin Husky 20. Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring - The Four Freshmen 21. The Death Of An Angel - Donald Woods & The Vel-Aires 22. Black Denim Trousers And Motorcycle Boots - The Cheers 23. Sweeney Todd The Barber - Stanley Holloway 24. Message From James Dean - Bill Hayes 25. Down Bound Train - Ken Colyer's Skiffle Group
trax CD 2:
1. KnoXVIlle Girl - The Louvin Brothers 2. Wild Dogs Of Kentucky - Nervous Norvus 3. Chicken - The Cheers 4. Ballad Of Thunder Road - Robert Mitchum 5. The Grave - Tony Casanova 6. The Tragedy Of School Bus 27 - Ralph Bowman 7. No School Bus In Heaven - The Stanley Brothers 8. Down In The Willow Garden - The Everly Brothers 9. Endless Sleep - Jody Reynolds 10. Music To Be Murdered By - Alfred Hitchcock 11. Stagger Lee - Lloyd Price 12. Don't Take Your Guns To Town - Johnny Cash 13. Take A Message To Mary - The Everly Brothers 14. Three Stars - Ruby Wright 15. Who Shot Sam - George Jones 16. La Mort - Jacques Brel 17. Two Hour Honeymoon - Paul Hampton 18. Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain - Gene Vincent 19. Teen Angel - Mark Dinning 20. Sail Ho! - Robert Horton 21. Grandpa's Grave - Peter Sellers 22. Running Bear - Johnny Preston 23. Tell Laura I Love Her - Ray Peterson 24. Tell Tommy I Miss Him - Marilyn Michaels 25. Car Crash - The Cadets 26. The Water Was Red - Johnny Cymbal 27. The Wreck Of Old '97 - The Creed Taylor Orchestra
...served by Gyro1966...