At the end of last month, we premiered ‘Maggie‘, the new single from Cedar Sparks, the songwriting partnership of Tim Carbone (Railroad Earth) and Lou Rogai (Lewis & Clarke).
Both turned out to be fans of each other’s music and shared an affinity for obscure Gothic Folk and Psychedelic Americana. The first fruition of that collaboration is a 7” of murder ballads (pre-order here) featuring the aforementioned Maggie, along with Blood in the River, detailing a sensational and tragic true-life crime which took place over a century ago. These two songs are based on a true story of love and murder circa 1883, Easton PA. They are written in the first person from the perspective of Charles Getter, a delusional psychopath who believes he’s acting out of love.
On “Maggie”, he woos his bride-to-be with charm and clichés of courtship, but there are certain red flags in his language that are overlooked.
In “Blood in the River”, the accompanying video for which you can watch below (Filmed & Edited by Daniel James Papa), the narrator has gone mad, murdering his wife (and consequently their unborn child). He professes his love to her from the gallows above the Delaware River. Getter’s Island takes its name from this incident.
Island gallows towering
Bloodthirsty thousands gathering
In a suit of white I shine for you
Above the water, skies of blue
Here I am at the river’s bend
This is where I meet my end
Wait for me, I will join you soon
On the rise of the Black Moon
It’s not every day that we get offered such a rich insight into a creation like this, Tim and Lou have put together an interesting personal insight which you can read below. It includes details about the music as well as responses to the historical account and the creation of the video. Interestingly, the video was filmed on a Holga lens…these cheap plastic lenses have earned a strong reputation among the Lomographic community and can be incredibly rewarding to use thanks to their often unexpected artistic results…the choice seems to have been the perfect one here, giving the film a rich dreamy look and feel.
Historical Accounts:
In 1833, the island received its most familiar name, Getter’s Island. Charles Getter, accused of strangling his wife, Margaret (Rebecca) Lawall, was hanged there. Usually, hangings took place in Easton’s Centre Square, but the island was selected so the largest possible crowd could watch.
Reporters said 100,000 people watched from the riverbanks. More accurately, the crowd numbered around 20,000. It was a festive occasion, as was the custom. Getter, dressed in white, elected to walk from the prison in Centre Square to the island, rather than be taken by carriage. He made his way to the island over “a bridge of boats.”
Getter chose to be “drawn up” for the hanging, rather than being dropped through a trap door. The noose was placed around his neck. With the swing of a hatchet, the sheriff cut loose a 300-pound weight. It plummeted to earth, pulling Getter up by the neck.
But the rope broke. Getter fell to the ground.
Getter waited 20 minutes while officials found another rope. During that time, he complained that he had hurt his arm when he fell.
When weight, rope and the prisoner were all in place, Getter asked that his necktie be adjusted to cover the rope burns from the first attempt.
A written account of the event ended with these words: “Again the weight was cut loose, and Charles Getter was launched into eternity.”
Tim Carbone:
When Lou and I started writing together, the idea of writing a song about Charles Getter was one of the first things we pursued. I’d had the story in the back of my mind for a while. It’s a Delaware River legend. We’d get together in my studio space and just play and talk. We both play multiple instruments or at least know our way around them. Violin is my main instrument with guitar being Lou’s, so we’d mostly play to our strengths, Lou playing guitar while I handled the bowed parts. The drums on Maggie were me, I’m a bit more of a rock player, with the drums on Blood in the River being handled by Lou… his feel for that tune was just the vibe it needed. Just the other way ‘round with the bass guitar parts. We’d share keyboard duties… piano, reed organ, Mellotron… whatever popped into our heads. I have an assortment of different instruments set up or just lying about, so it was easy to just grab another color and dab it on the painting, so to speak.
We sat opposite each other and essentially told each other the story, filling in the spaces with imaginary bits but still holding true to the historical events. We made a conscious attempt to write the lyrics in a narrative style, using period language to the degree that it helps the listener be transported but not overdoing it to the point it sounded twee. We’d act as each other’s recording engineer and producer… I’ve a bit more experience placing mics, using compression and the other techie nonsense, including fixing my own mistakes, ha! Trial and error is a beautiful thing, especially when all the gear and time is your own! And making time could be quite tricky as all of this recording was done pre-pandemic and what with my work with Railroad Earth and Lou’s work with Lewis and Clarke occupying huge chunks of time, all whilst paying mind to our family lives and a myriad of other things. But when we did get together things always happened… our thoughts and playing became intertwined and conversational. And that’s the way we like it!
Lou Rogai:
It was important for us to preserve the actual history and be respectful of the story, these were real people we’re talking about. We approached it as part folklore, part historical myth, working with details that change with the passage of time. There are differing reports about the incident, some sources reporting that he was a cheating cad, others stating it was a crime of passion. We really dug into the “why”, and started playing around with what possibly could be going on in the protagonist’s head. We ended up talking about it to the extent that it became a sort of forensic and musical psychology, matching tones with ideas. In order to commit such a heinous crime, one must be insane, and we highlighted that insanity by having him oblivious to his own madness. We developed a character who convinced himself he was acting out of love, but the truth beneath the surface was a glib sociopath who wore a white suit to his own execution. It’s reported that when the rope broke upon first attempt. He hit the ground, brushed himself off, and stated “That was good for nothing”. The second try sealed his fate and place in Delaware River history.
We initially wanted to create a music video with charcoal animations depicting the story, but it morphed into something different, as most things do. We were filmed with the purpose of animation reference, no intention to be actually seen on camera. Dan Papa shot us through the Holga lens in such a way that we decided to go with the references and scrap the idea of animation. We worked with him to tell the story through dream-like images and impressions of the narrator’s mind. He uses layers of symbolism, hazy and smoky footage, shadows, and dissolves. The clips of Tim and I were shot entirely in the Castle Inn, which is the old hotel where our studios are located. The images of “Maggie” were filmed nearby at our local cemetery and one of our favorite spots to go walking at the junction of Cherry Creek and the Delaware River.
Pre-Order via Bandcamp: https://cedarsparksmusic.bandcamp.com/album/maggie
Photo Credit: Broady Photography