When my cousin was staying over last Christmas, I sang her some of my favourite Bluegrass songs. After she'd sat through about five of them she said to me, Can't you sing me some cheerful songs? To which I responded that This is Bluegrass - there are no cheerful songs; except for a few about whisky...
So I sang her some songs about whisky.
This conversation got me thinking about the depressing content of country/folk ballads in general, and ones about infidelity (and there are a lot) in particular, and one thing that came to my attention is that in all the songs, no matter which party is guilty of being unfaithful, the outcome is certain: whether she be murdered, or die of a broken heart, it is the woman who always ends up dead. This seemed to me to be rather imbalanced; so, admittedly at the expense of my own sex, I attempted to right the wrong, and to this end I wrote So Tall.
...You can listen to a recording of it in Little Grey Rabbit's Music, in the column on the right...
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