From Maggie May to Ronnie Kray, crooks have long inspired songs, as a new book proves
In the 1960s when Sir Stephen Sedley, the former appeal court judge, was a young barrister, he successfully defended a number of Travellers in Kent who had been charged under an old law of “being a Gypsy encamped on a highway”. Getting the charges thrown out gave him status and an introduction to local singers who taught him some of the songs featured in Who Killed Cock Robin? British Folk Songs of Crime and Punishment, the book he has just co-authored with the musician Martin Carthy.
It explores the origins and history of ancient ballads dealing with the wilder sides of life. There are some familiar songs, such as the Black Velvet Band, which was originally about a young man transported for pickpocketing in Belfast, and there is an 1870 version of Maggie May, who is punished the same way for stealing sailors’ clothes. But what about songs of crime and punishment today?