FAWM: "The Courting of Fanny McGee"

The Courting of Fanny McGee

Liner Notes

Well, I was feeling pretty smug about being ahead of schedule in the first few days of FAWM, so February did its usual thing of offering me a number of small fires to put out. They're out now (mostly), but here I am on the 13th with only two songs and having barely listened to any of yours.

Ah well. Here's a quick one to get momentum going again. It's a little mini-Western, but the music feels more continental European to me. That's FAWM for you.

#wildwest #folk

Lyrics

she crawled into town, busted and weary the blood of three men on her chest the drizzling rain was cleaning her up some she fell in a horse trough to wash off the rest she limped to the bar, the old western star she ordered a whiskey and loudly confessed 'oh, one of you fools has run off with the key to my heart'

she surveyed the room, so suddenly silent she swallowed her whiskey and said 'okay now, boys, see this here's the story the four fools you hired to murder me dead? i killed the first two with a knife from my shoe the third one encountered a spade to the head but one of you fools has run off with the key to my heart'

it took a sweet while till somebody answered a handsome young man by the door 'i guess it was me, and i guess that i love you they paid me to kill you but i ain't so sure' she pulled out her gun, shot him in one kissed his pale lips as he slid to the floor, and said 'that's what you owe me for stealing the key to my heart'

he died pretty quick, they buried him simple a box in a hole in the rain and as for mcgee, they say she's still out there stealing a stallion or robbing a train and if you feel brave, go visit his grave you may find her there singing this sad old refrain 'oh, you were the fool who ran off with the key to my heart'

Comments

@pippa 4d

This is great. I love the odd notes out of whack when the lyrics go also out of whack. I love the final line of each verse, so sweet, and carrying such a load of menace. This is really really good. Excellent listen.

@froggymagee 6d

Fantastic storytelling skills! Loved every single second of reading along, and the music mirrors the story so well!

@beacon 6d

Wow, this is a story! So involved with character development. And so interesting melodically and chordally. While I wasn't expecting this, it is so you! Great job.

@bethdesombre 6d

I was on the edge of my seat waiting for what would happen. What a story. You're doing such interesting things musically here, which nicely reflects the story (that last line in the verse in a different mode, and then the musical interlude).

@bradbrubaker 1w

The piano/accordion between stanzas a fun little interlude, made more fun by the different time signature. A captivating story, I wasn't sure how it would end. It feels like she asserts her dominance by killing the man, but then seems tethered to visiting his grave...so who is the real winner? (I mean, he's dead, but seems to hold the power.)

@richardmasters 1w

This is superb, what a set of lyrics. A visual, haunting narrative with a tight rhyme scheme to boot. The arrangements just sprinkle even more fairy dust over the affair. I shall listen again

@itneverhappened 1w

I love the intimate recording, feels almost like sitting inside the muffled piano, every little creak and key release audible. The subtle brushes and bursts of accordion add just the perfect nuances in the right places. Very elegant and minimal. The vocal is superb as usual and the story fascinating and captivating.

@lcad 1w

Great story telling and classic Mike Debenham songcraft with that meter and accordion. Love the refrain, would love to hear it a couple of times at the end just to close it off.

@philnorman 1w

A delightful cowboy waltz of a murder ballad! Put that on the poster for the film adaptation.

Love the deliberate structured cadence and rhyme of each stanza. The slight brush drag before the snare hits has a whip-like quality that works so well to set the space for the demo. The abrupt ending is contextually appropriate, but I wanted it to meander on.

@fearlessflight2014 1w

Oh! I’m a complete sucker for mode changes like this - the subtle shifts between minor and major, and then you add a waltz feel and a quirky tale of a mysterious stranger and I’m done.

@coolparadisoMod 1w

what a full story. love the quirky changes and subtle bits of instrumentation. As always its those little touches everywhere that follow that great vocal delivery with a bit of echo this time! Really nice

@oldlostjohn 1w

Mini-wetern you say, but what a story. And so well played out and delivered, with the framing and everything. I like how the melancholic tell-tale tone shifts slightly at the end of the verse when the woman speaks. Rather far-fetched I guess, but the scene made me associate to Hemingway's Killers.

@ayeahmur 1w

Oh this is a lot quirkier than I expected from reading the lyrics earlier. Love the story first of all, and the music-box-style waltz temp is brilliant for this. The shuffling drums are especially atmospheric. Favourite thing though is the tiny moment of melodic brightness in the final lines, a brief modulation through a dream of happiness before resolving back into the minor. Superb.

@paulhenry 1w

Another wonderful song from you. I'm not sure there's much to say really. Let me listen again and update this post....

Okay, listened again. Still not much to say. Oh yes, well that cute little skip rhythm in 5 between the stanzas is inspired. The entire arrangement is inspired. The story is the kind of love & blood stuff that packs them into the theater, or the theatre. It does, as you say, sound more European than stereotypically American West. But that is not necessarily inaccurate, as many folks came from many places. In fact, I'd say it fit quite nicely.