Silent Little Bells (Sad Little Bells)

from Samples by Heather Aubrey Lloyd

/

about

Heather always wanted to write a murder ballad, but didn't undertake it until this topic was pulled from a hat. The hardest part was figuring out how to kill off the characters (something timeless, ya know?). The easiest part was deciding (with so many murder ballads leaving women as victims or written off as "crazy" with no say of their own) to tell a murderess' story in her own, complex voice. No, the song is NOT autobiographical (people have asked). This song (and the murder-ballad research rabbit hole it took Heather down) helped shape the ilyAIMY educational program: "Murder Ballads: Why Do the Women Always Die?" (given a classier title about gender roles, depending on the audience).

Footnotes:

This is Heather's Most-Covered Song:
Midway Fair: midwayfair.bandcamp.com/track/silent-little-bells
midwayfair.bandcamp.com
Acacia Sears: youtu.be/d-LxaaqeHl4
acaciasears.bandcamp.com
Mike Taylor: youtu.be/G1dg3aq6IPM

ilyAIMY's version of "Silent Little Bells:"
ilyaimy.bandcamp.com/track/silent-little-bells

Heather's favorite book on the subject, The Rose and the Briar: Death, Love and Liberty in the American Ballad:
books.google.com/books/about/The_Rose_the_Briar.html?id=9z0vJTHfoCAC

ilyAIMY's Cover of the murder ballad, "Frankie & Johnny":
youtu.be/8b6A3fzvHVo

The Actual History of "Frankie & Johnny:"
www.mentalfloss.com/article/78308/story-behind-frankie-and-johnny

lyrics

Into a hole in the cold, cold ground on a grey, grey day
Into a hole, down, down-soft place for us to lay
I buried us in a secret place none will go
Bluebells in the field, the only wreath we’ll ever know.

No churchyard will ever hold our sad, sad sin
No coin of copper, silver, gold to buy our way in
No stone to mark the bitter place where we lie
No stone but my heart … and no one’s tears but mine.

Can you hear … judgment in the trees
How they say … I'll never rest in peace
And they will say … lies I can never untell
See, the only hymns sang for him were from silent little bells
Silent little bells …

I loved a man in the worst of ways, loved me once
Loved me but he left, left me with his son
But the son he did not rise when it was his time
And I begged my love bury our son, but he said “was none of mine.”

The world it judged me hard for what it did not see
The woman is a whore, while the man he goes free
So tell me now for all my pain, can it be a sin
For a woman done wrong to do the man done it – do that man right in?

Can you hear … judgment in the trees
How they say … I will never rest in peace
And they will say … lies I can never untell
See, the only hymns sang for him were from silent little bells
Silent little bells …

I took my love to an old, old place on the edge of town
Told him he could take me, take and lay me down
I let him kiss me deep upon the edge of the well
I took my lover in my arms and took us both to Hell.

Into a hole in the cold, cold ground on a grey, grey day
Into a hole, down, down-soft place for us to lay
I buried us in a secret place none will sing
Bluebells in the field, bluebells in the field, bluebells in the field
And not a one to ring.

credits

from Samples, released August 1, 2010

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Heather Aubrey Lloyd image

Heather Aubrey Lloyd Baltimore, Maryland

Recovering reporter turned songwriter, Heather Aubrey Lloyd also co-fronts Baltimore’s ilyAIMY. Her 2017 solo release, “A Message in the Mess,” spotlights Lloyd’s emotive alto and a polished departure from her band’s alt-folk grit. Awards from the likes of No Depression Magazine, Telluride Troubadour, National Women’s Music Fest, etc. soon followed. Lloyd will release new music in late 2020. ... more

contact / help

Contact Heather Aubrey Lloyd

Streaming and
Download help

Report this track or account

If you like Heather Aubrey Lloyd, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Featured guests are the golden-voiced Baby Rose and psyche soulsters Brainstory.
listen now