Video: Hurray for the Riff Raff, “The Body Electric” (Live)

Delia’s gone — and she isn’t the only one.

The murder ballad is a staple of American folk music. The names change, but the plot is the same: boy loves girl, boy ruthlessly kills girl, boy faces justice. The tale is told from the killer’s perspective, and while he’s often repentant, the song’s sympathies are with the criminal rather than his victim.

Johnny Cash first told Delia’s story; now Hurray for the Riff Raff‘s Alynda Lee Segarra adds another chapter to it with “The Body Electric.” She and the band recently performed the song live in Studio 360 — watch the video below.

“I’m kind of having my own little talk with Johnny,” she told Kurt Andersen. “Folk music is so great because it’s a conversation throughout the generations. I thought it was really important for someone like myself to add my voice into these old songs and also just give those women characters their humanity back and their voices back.”

In the song, Segarra retrieves Delia’s body from a river. Instead of striking back at her assailant (as in Gillian Welch’s “Caleb Meyer“), Segarra asks:

Oh, and tell me what’s a man with a rifle in his hand
Gonna do for a world that’s just dying slow?
Tell me what’s a man with a rifle in his hand
Gonna do for his daughter when it’s her turn to go?

“A lot of people are very focused on this idea of revenge,” she tells Kurt. “What I want to do is create music that inspires love and not revenge — a feeling of let’s all change together.”