Murder, Betrayal and the Story of Sweet Willie in The Murder Ballad

I was listening to Bob Dylan’s latest release, ‘Tempest’, and in that album is a character called Sweet Willie. I’ve heard it said that this character is a revisit of one of his earlier characters, Gamblin Ramblin Willie, but I wonder if that is true.  I dug around and it seems that there are quite a few folk songs about ‘Sweet Willie’. Apparently in old murder ballads the character of Willie is simply a reference to the antagonist, or protagonist in early American and Scottish folk songs.

 What is a Murder Ballad? 

Simply put, a murder ballad is a song reciting the sad news of violence and death at the hands of another. Remember that back in the old days, before newspapers, before radio or movies, we had songs. Songs were the primary way in which storytellers spun their tales and these songs often contained bits of news and current events that would otherwise go unknown. If you think bias is bad in news now, well, just imaging how each story changed in the telling by each bard, each with his own take, his own morality.

These situations could often change and make the protagonist the antagonist, and events were never set in stone the way we think of it now ( truth be told, it hast changed that much) Usually the source of the murder was a jealous man, who dies because of the affections of a woman, or because said woman cheated on her man. Surely it’s the oldest story in the book.

I find it interesting that Sweet Willie wound up as the central character in many of these murder ballads. I presume that because the names in the stories often got lost, or perhaps because the songwriter was singing a sort of biography and didn’t want his name revealed, the name Willie was used as sort of an everyman; something like a John Doe is in society today.

Through the passage of time, Willie becomes his own character due to his prominence in these types of ballads  and his story is retold over and over again, circumstances and details changing with each telling. Who is this man? Well, that all depends on who’s telling the story.

Sweet Willie

As Mrs. Bragg, of North Carolina sung it in 1933, Willy rode off with a farmer’s daughter, and as they rode away, her father and brothers came after. Willie and the father shot it out on horseback, and they both died of their gunshot wounds. Willie made it to his parents’ house with his bride to be but died the next day. The Farmers daughter died soon after of heartbreak in the song indicating that Willie and she were lovers, but that Willie was not though very kindly of by the farmer, leaving us to wonder what the cause of the bad blood was. It seems as I’m Mrs. Bragg saw him as a hero and a martyr.

Knoxville Girl                                                                                                                           In Knoxville Girl, a traditional ballad, we hear the tale of a cruel Willy who beats his girl to death with a stick for apparently no reason, but it’s possible that she was pregnant out of wedlock. In the old America, especially in the pre-industrial days it was quite frowned upon to be pregnant out of wedlock. Typically they would have just gotten married, but as he killed her more likely scenario is that the child to be was not his and that might help explain why he killed her.

Pretty Polly

There is another traditional song called Pretty Polly in which Willie asks Polly to marry him, then he takes his girl down to the river and he kills her. Why? The reason is unclear but I suspect he is hurt by her rejection and cannot contain his grief sand so he lashes out, only to be arrested later in the tale. There is another version in which, like in Knoxville girl, Polly is again pregnant, possibly with another’s child and this may be the reason why Willie digs her grave in the night to toss her dead body inside. Some tales even go as far as to have Polly's ghost murder him in revenge after the deed for killing both herself and the baby however there are too many versions of the tale to be sure.

Willie Moore

Yet another ballad called simply ‘Willie Moore’, we hear of a man who again, was not allowed to marry but this time it is the girl’s parents who refuse the marriage. Now, this story is interesting because the first line of the song says, “Willie Moore was a King, his age 21”. Some say that he is an actual king, but to me that to me seems a bit shortsighted; why would her parents object to her marrying a king and why would a king settle for the approval or disapproval of the girl’s parents?

 I suspect that the first line refers to an honorary title and that Willie was not really a bona fide king, At the end of the song, Willie moves to Montreal to mend his broken heart so we know Willie is in Canada, the King being the King of England so the king reference may mean that Willie was the performer, as in the king of song, much like we consider Elvis to be the King of Rock. Now Willie being a simple bard may be a very reasonable explanation as to why Ana’s parents would refuse such a marriage. The girl is found at the bottom of the river in a way no one knows but it seems to me that she killed herself, being not able to marry the man she loves. Here Willie is definitely the protagonist, the unfortunate hero, if you will.

Ramblin` Gamblin` Willie

And our great modern poet and folklorist, Bob Dylan writes about a few 'Willies' in his songs. In ‘Ramblin Gamblin Willie’, our hero is a gambler who takes the house every time, wins steamboats, houses and land, fathers many children by many women, and became quite successful until one fateful day, he plays the ‘dead man’s hand’ in which he wins but the loser is so outraged, he takes his pistol and shoots poor Willie in the head. There is some mystery in whether or not Willie is a cheat or just a damn good card player but he is a good man at heart, as characterized by the fact that he is generous with his money, and takes care of his many illegitimate children and their mothers. Clearly, Willie is a man of contradicting morality. But it is plain that he is the protagonist and hero of the tale, a man of great legend and great tragedy.

In his latest number, Sweet Willie is mentioned in one line where he laid down to die in 'Scarlett Town', which is apparently a reference to a graveyard. Well that song may or may not refer to the same man, and it’s impossible to tell, but I suspect that he is not, being that Willie had previously died in a poker game by gunshot in the afore mentioned song.

Who is the Real Sweet Willie?

This character of Willie appears again and again, and is a mysterious figure indeed. Whether he is a murderer or victim, hero or villain largely depends on who is telling the tale. I’m of the opinion that he is the classic unsung hero, often misunderstood, and widely the subject of great controversy.

For me, Willie is the epitome of the forlorn character and is usually depicted as down on his luck in some way. The Willie that resonates with me the most is the songwriter with unrequited love either by the girl or the parents who think him unworthy of their daughters hands in marriage. I can relate to this, as I have also been defamed by scorned women and thought of as a ‘dirty musician’ but thankfully no one has ever died by my hand!

When I think of this character I see a dark winding road in the country, willows weeping all around, maybe the rain is pouring down, little cabins and houses with closed doors and faint lights in the windows as the cautious widows and would be lovers watch him walk by, carrying a guitar and many lonely songs with him on the road to either heaven or hell, depending on your point of view.

 I believe Sweet Willie is a man who for all his good intentions finds himself on the run. He seems to be courting death at every turn and usually at the hands of a spiteful father. Sometimes, he is in fact, a man who lets his emotions get the better of him and loses control, resulting in a horrendous deed and once in a while, he is the victim of jealousy or betrayal.

 He is the epitome of the downtrodden traveler, as he moves through story to story finding death and tragedy at every turn. He is as often the villain as the martyr but I believe it’s up to you to decide who the real Willie is. Whatever your opinion, he is a haunting everyman character that is easily relatable to those who have suffered heartbreak and feel the blues.

 Who hasn’t felt a murderous rage when our lover has been caught cheating? Who hasn’t angered a lover’s parents at some point? It seems to me that the best of us have been the victim of cruel rumor or been denied love at some point and Sweet Willie is ever the reflection of all the pain that comes with an unrequited love.