If you're a fan of old school folk, country, and jazz, chances are you've heard a song or two about Delia. But what you may not know is that these songs are inspired by real people. Songwriters through the years have taken varying degrees of creative license when telling the tale of Delia's fate, and the actual events surrounding her life and death are largely forgotten. She was a gambler in some versions, a prostitute in others. Today, the most well known version describes her as an evil woman whose luck ran out when she messed with the wrong guy. Read more...

There's a trail of dead bodies in the centuries worth of works songwriters have left behind: tales of countless victims who were drowned, stabbed, bludgeoned, and poisoned, set to music and passed on through the years via memorable sing-alongs. A common theme among murder ballads, including those mentioned above, is that they are very often populated by women who, come song's end, are no longer breathing. Adding another macabre layer to an already grisly genre, these songs are sometimes inspired by real life events. Read more...

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