I’m sure my American friends are familiar with Charles Guiteau as the preacher/lawyer/writer who assassinated President Garfield, a crime for which he was hanged. He did the deed on July 2, 1881, but Garfield didn’t perish untiil 11 weeks later on September 19. Anything else I might know about the whole business is as a result of the folk song written in Guiteau’s voice. Was Garfield a good president? Beats me. I’m trying to think of where I first heard the song. It may have been on that old folk radio show on CKLN here in Toronto, years ago when it was hosted by Joe Lewis.  Mr. Lewis began hosting Folk Music and Folk Ways in 1966 and kept at it for over 30 years. I listened to it on Saturday aftenoons for many years and through that show I learned a lot about folk music. Through the same period I also listened to Ted O’Reilly’s fantastic jazz show that I think was called The Jazz Scene. Later, I had at least one version of Charles Guiteau on vinyl. I think it must have been on the Harry Smith anthology. That would have been the 1927 Kelly Harrell version. By the way, if you’re interested in American Folk Music and you don’t have the Harry Smith Anthology, do not pass go, get it immediately. Harry Smith was a very interesting character as well. Not only was he an ethnomusicologist and archivist, he was also an experimental film-maker of the first order.  He lived for years in the Chelsea Hotel in New York and finally died in his room. You can read a little about Harry Smith in Patty Smith’s wonderful book, Just Kids.

I checked the YouTube machine to see if I could find some performances of this murder ballad.

Here’s Lew Dite

Sometimes it seems that YouTube has everything. Here’s Kelly Harrell and the Virginia Stringband. Fantastic!

Here’s one more version with a much different flavour by Clay Riness.