If you are a DFH or just an aficionado of folk music, you'll recognize the title of this diary as a line from Gordon Lightfoot's "Ballad of the Yarmouth Castle". The SS Yarmouth Castle caught fire and sank on November 13, 1965.
Shortly before 1:00 a.m. on November 13, a mattress stored too close to a lighting circuit in a storage room, Room 610, caught fire. The room was filled with mattresses and paint cans, which fed the flames.
At around 1:00, a badly burned passenger emerged from a stairway and collapsed on the deck. Crewmen who rushed to the man's aid found the stairwell filled with smoke and flames. Captain Voutsinas was immediately notified of the fire by the watch officer. The captain ordered the second mate to sound the alarm on the ship's horn, but the bridge went up in flames before the alarm could be sounded. The ship's radio operator, who had been off duty, found the radio shack to be completely ablaze by the time he reached it. By this point, Yarmouth Castle was 120 miles east of Miami and 60 miles northwest of Nassau.
Using basically just three chords and a haunting melody, the balladeer who is Gordon Lightfoot takes the story of this tragedy and like minstrels of old, preserves history.
A few more ballads after the Fleur-de-Kos but first the "Ballad of the Yarmouth Castle".
While disaster movies may make for good box office, they soon end up relegated to late night movie channels and Netflix. We all know the ending, how many times can we watch Shelly Winters swim through the Poseidon or some hero save the burning building? Ballads on the other hand are preformed in concerts by the original artists, in coffeehouses, pubs, parties and around the campfire by people who love to tell a good story in song. Its part of the oral tradition, something that can be lost in this world of instantaneous communication, iPods and the yes even blogs.
The ballad doesn't have to be about a real event like The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald or The Ballad Of Spring Hill (mining disaster). Sometimes it can be the story of a condition like Bob Dylan's Ballad of Hollis Brown or If I Had A Rocket Launcher by Bruce Cockburn, which shows it doesn't have to be just an acoustic guitar and a singer although they can be reduced to just that. Its the story.
Yesterday I published "Down to the sea in ships" which had a few tunes by Stan Rogers. Because it was about songs of the sea, I left out "Harris and the mare", as one commenter on youtube posts; "One of the best love songs ever written".
Enough of my early morning ramblings, I hope you get the idea that the ballad is one of my favorite genres of music. Add your favorite ballads if you wish.