The Ballad of Jesse James

E775153

"The Ballad of Jesse James" is a traditional American folk song that recounts and mythologizes the life and death of the outlaw Jesse James.

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Label Occurrences
The Ballad of Jesse James canonical 1

Statements (45)

Predicate Object
instanceOf folk song
associatedWith Old West folklore
outlaw folklore
basedOn historical events in the life of Jesse James
characterizes Robert Ford as a coward NERFINISHED
collectedIn American folk song tradition
countryOfOrigin United States of America
surface form: United States
describes death of Jesse James
killing of Jesse James by Robert Ford
life of Jesse James
firstLineVariant Jesse James was a lad that killed many a man GENERATED
Jesse James was a man who killed many a man GENERATED
genre American folk
folk
outlaw ballad
hasForm strophic ballad
hasNotableRecordingBy Bruce Springsteen NERFINISHED
Johnny Cash NERFINISHED
Pete Seeger NERFINISHED
The Kingston Trio NERFINISHED
Van Morrison NERFINISHED
Woody Guthrie NERFINISHED
influenced later outlaw country songs
language English
mentions Robert Ford NERFINISHED
meter common ballad meter
mythologizes Jesse James NERFINISHED
narrativeFocus Jesse James NERFINISHED
portrays Jesse James as a victim of betrayal NERFINISHED
Jesse James as sympathetic
portraysAs Jesse James as a Robin Hood figure
refrainVariant For he’d killed many a man
That dirty little coward that shot Mr. Howard
setting American Midwest NERFINISHED
subject James–Younger Gang NERFINISHED
bank robbery
train robbery
theme betrayal
crime
outlaw mythology
social injustice
vengeance
timePeriodOfOrigin late 19th century
transmission oral tradition
usedIn American folk revival repertoire

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Chapter and Verse featuresSong The Ballad of Jesse James