Tyrannocaster
Junior Member
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- 83
Sometimes you just get the urge to create an epic folk murder song, you know? I came across the story of Jenny Greenteeth and had to do this one, and it was one of the most enjoyable projects I've done lately. I have a bit to say about this, so impatient people can just skip down to the link below.
Jenny Greenteeth is a legend from Lancashire, England; it fits in the tradition of the Russalka or any of the other murderous water women who lurk below and snatch unwary children, taking them down to a watery grave. It has antecedents which I recognize easily from Beowulf, as well as numerous cautionary boogieman (woman) tales from just about everywhere. The legend itself really only goes into the fact that Jenny exists and catches children, so I had to fabricate the story.
This song is something of a production; it uses one of my Warmoth Telecasters for all the electric guitar parts (there are quite a few), but there's also an electric baritone (also Warmoth), an acoustic guitar, a bouzouki, a couple of pianos, and a synth, as well as the obligatory bass and drums. One of the hardest things was writing the lyrics and assembling a song to go with them; for the basic melody I used the old American tune Shady Grove, but then I had to write a bridge for it, as it doesn't have a B section at all; that was daunting. Culturally, it's set in a vaguely 19th Century Appalachia that never existed. The language is basically Old English influenced faux Victorian; I realized while doing this that most people think that Yoda's odd syntax in Star Wars was original, but when you hear Aragorn say "Long have I waited..." in Lord of the Rings you realize that Tolkien was probably where Yoda came from linguistically.
For non-native English speakers the lyrics are below. There are a lot of them.
Streaming link: https://hearthis.at/tyrannocaster/jenny-greenteeth-1q/
Lyrics:
Jenny she will pull you down, down into the water
Pull you down and then you'll drown
She is Grendel's daughter
When I was just a snot-nosed boy and I knew everything-o
I wouldn't listen to my Da and I'd drink straight from the stream-o
Jenny, Jenny Greenteeth down, down beneath the water
Jenny, Jenny - you will drown
She is Grendel's daughter
My Da, he said "Be careful son, be careful what you do-o
Jenny Greenteeth's old, so old - and clever more than you know."
"It's dark, it's cold where you will die in Jenny Greenteeth's home
And you will join the other children in her pile of bones."
"Sam and Gray and Judy-o, Geoff and One-leg Mary
Disappeared to lie below, no bodies home to carry."
I will take my father's knife and keep it by my side-o
And when she tries to take my life a lesson she will learn-o.
------------
He kept his father's Bowie knife when Da was killed by lightnin'
And kept it sharp and by his side for Jenny Greenteeth fightin'
And every time that he passed by the water's edge he told her
"One day I will kill you and be rid of you forever."
He's eighteen now and fine and hale but Jenny there so strong-o
And little children still get caught and taken down along-o
Jenny's eyes are inky black, her teeth a moldy green-o
Her fingers long, that end in claws so sharp with webs between-o
------
------
And so each day as he went by the water where she waited
He made his plan to leave her down in the Hell she had created
He called upon his father's ghost, to Geoff and One-leg Mary
The Bowie knife was sharp and long, and Jenny it would bury
He bent down to the water's edge and made as though to drink-o
But saw a movement there below and felt his courage shrink-o
She rose up like a flash of fire, fire and water blended
And struck with all her claws outstretched; his life would soon be ended
Fast she was, but faster he; the blade was sharp and heavy
It severed Jenny's arm but left the other at the ready
-------
The water turned a bloody red as Jenny was sore wounded
But she struck him with the other hand and now his eyes were blinded
"Oh have you killed me, Jenny bitch?" he cried, inhaling water
"Well I will take you with me then" and thrust the knife inside her
Twisted it and turned it round, while she tore at his throat
And red the water it did turn into a ghastly moat
Jenny Jenny Greenteeth go down beneath the water
Jenny Jenny Greenteeth CRONE, she is Grendel's daughter
Though she grew weak he could not see, for everything was midnight
He sank until his feet touched rock then pushed up to the sunlight
Up he came while Jenny sank, the knife still in his hand
He struggled to the riverbank, and pulled up on the land
Jenny Greenteeth died that day while he lived on, but sightless
And children of the village played their games while she lay lifeless
----------
Today I am an old, old man and children are my eyes now
Something there is that I must say before my candle blows out:
Grendel had six daughters green and so that still leaves five-o
And someone must kill all the rest to keep my eyes alive-o
Jenny Greenteeth is a legend from Lancashire, England; it fits in the tradition of the Russalka or any of the other murderous water women who lurk below and snatch unwary children, taking them down to a watery grave. It has antecedents which I recognize easily from Beowulf, as well as numerous cautionary boogieman (woman) tales from just about everywhere. The legend itself really only goes into the fact that Jenny exists and catches children, so I had to fabricate the story.
This song is something of a production; it uses one of my Warmoth Telecasters for all the electric guitar parts (there are quite a few), but there's also an electric baritone (also Warmoth), an acoustic guitar, a bouzouki, a couple of pianos, and a synth, as well as the obligatory bass and drums. One of the hardest things was writing the lyrics and assembling a song to go with them; for the basic melody I used the old American tune Shady Grove, but then I had to write a bridge for it, as it doesn't have a B section at all; that was daunting. Culturally, it's set in a vaguely 19th Century Appalachia that never existed. The language is basically Old English influenced faux Victorian; I realized while doing this that most people think that Yoda's odd syntax in Star Wars was original, but when you hear Aragorn say "Long have I waited..." in Lord of the Rings you realize that Tolkien was probably where Yoda came from linguistically.
For non-native English speakers the lyrics are below. There are a lot of them.
Streaming link: https://hearthis.at/tyrannocaster/jenny-greenteeth-1q/
Lyrics:
Jenny she will pull you down, down into the water
Pull you down and then you'll drown
She is Grendel's daughter
When I was just a snot-nosed boy and I knew everything-o
I wouldn't listen to my Da and I'd drink straight from the stream-o
Jenny, Jenny Greenteeth down, down beneath the water
Jenny, Jenny - you will drown
She is Grendel's daughter
My Da, he said "Be careful son, be careful what you do-o
Jenny Greenteeth's old, so old - and clever more than you know."
"It's dark, it's cold where you will die in Jenny Greenteeth's home
And you will join the other children in her pile of bones."
"Sam and Gray and Judy-o, Geoff and One-leg Mary
Disappeared to lie below, no bodies home to carry."
I will take my father's knife and keep it by my side-o
And when she tries to take my life a lesson she will learn-o.
------------
He kept his father's Bowie knife when Da was killed by lightnin'
And kept it sharp and by his side for Jenny Greenteeth fightin'
And every time that he passed by the water's edge he told her
"One day I will kill you and be rid of you forever."
He's eighteen now and fine and hale but Jenny there so strong-o
And little children still get caught and taken down along-o
Jenny's eyes are inky black, her teeth a moldy green-o
Her fingers long, that end in claws so sharp with webs between-o
------
------
And so each day as he went by the water where she waited
He made his plan to leave her down in the Hell she had created
He called upon his father's ghost, to Geoff and One-leg Mary
The Bowie knife was sharp and long, and Jenny it would bury
He bent down to the water's edge and made as though to drink-o
But saw a movement there below and felt his courage shrink-o
She rose up like a flash of fire, fire and water blended
And struck with all her claws outstretched; his life would soon be ended
Fast she was, but faster he; the blade was sharp and heavy
It severed Jenny's arm but left the other at the ready
-------
The water turned a bloody red as Jenny was sore wounded
But she struck him with the other hand and now his eyes were blinded
"Oh have you killed me, Jenny bitch?" he cried, inhaling water
"Well I will take you with me then" and thrust the knife inside her
Twisted it and turned it round, while she tore at his throat
And red the water it did turn into a ghastly moat
Jenny Jenny Greenteeth go down beneath the water
Jenny Jenny Greenteeth CRONE, she is Grendel's daughter
Though she grew weak he could not see, for everything was midnight
He sank until his feet touched rock then pushed up to the sunlight
Up he came while Jenny sank, the knife still in his hand
He struggled to the riverbank, and pulled up on the land
Jenny Greenteeth died that day while he lived on, but sightless
And children of the village played their games while she lay lifeless
----------
Today I am an old, old man and children are my eyes now
Something there is that I must say before my candle blows out:
Grendel had six daughters green and so that still leaves five-o
And someone must kill all the rest to keep my eyes alive-o
