Old and New Music, on Dying to Give Birth
Recently I saw Inside Llewyn Davis, the new Coen brothers’ film about a folksinger in Greenwich Village. The moving, fictional story takes place in the early 1960s. The protagonist, handsomely portrayed by Oscar Isaac, can’t quite make it as a musician. He roams from one friend’s apartment to another, never quite sure where he’ll go next. There’s a lot you might explore, intellectually, about his journey, a cat named Ulysses and a trip to a Chicago club called the Gate of Horn.
I liked this sad movie, a lot.
What I nearly missed, though, was the significance of one of the songs, “The Death of Queen Jane.” Fortunately an obstetrician-gynecologist and neighbor, Dr. Peggy Polaneczky, reminded me by her post on its relevance to women’s health. The English ballad tells of Jane Seymour, a wife of Henry VIII. She died in October 1537, at less than 30 years of age, days after delivering a male heir. Queen Jane’s labor was prolonged, her death attributed to complications of childbirth.
Fast-forward 475 years and a bit more…
In 2012, the WHO reported that approximately 800 women die each day from preventable causes related to pregnancy. That figure translates to over 300,000 unnecessary deaths each year, worldwide. Pregnancy-related deaths declined sharply in the United States and most of the world in the 20th Century. The CDC indicates that U.S. maternal death rates have been on the up since 1987. The reasons for this trend are not established. That some are having children at an older age may be a factor. But most pregnancy-related deaths in occur in young women. The problem is particularly grave among African Americans. Likely contributing risks, from 1987 to 2009, include lacking of access to health care, and having chronic medical conditions like diabetes, hypertension and obesity.
Shifting notes –
The music Inside Llewyn Davis is lovely, haunting. Seeking details on the traditional English folksong, “The Death of Queen Jane,” led me through a different sort of journey. Here’s a link to some information on it from the Mainly Norfolk English Folk and Other Good Music Project. On YouTube you can find versions performed by Joan Baez, among others. Wouldn’t you know it, the music of her sometimes lover, Bob Dylan, plays toward the closing of the Coen brothers’ film? Dylan has a song, “Queen Jane Approximately,” that was picked up by the Grateful Dead. The consensus on Wikipedia, though, would suggest that Dylan’s lyrics have nothing to do with the Tudor Queen.
At that point I stopped searching for answers about Jane Seymour’s cut life, whether she was in labor for two or nine days, and the meaning of the song. And I’ll close with this sound clip of “The Death of Queen Jane” from Inside Llewyn Davis, performed by Oscar Isaac. You can catch a fragment of the desperate woman’s plea.
Related Posts:
2 Comments
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Nice post, Elaine. Thanks for spreading the word on maternal mortality.
Love the link to the English Ballad website and the evolution of the song.
I’ve found that opinions on the movie are variable and strong in both directions – you either loved it or hated it. I loved it, of course.
If you can try to catch Inside Inside Llewyn Davis on SHOtime – a documentary on the making of the music.
All the best –
Peggy
Thanks Peggy, I’m a fan of the Coen brothers, I enjoy folk music, and I love the Village, so my feelings about this movie were almost a given. Thanks for the tip about the documentary. I heard a bit on NPR a few weeks ago about the actor Adam Driver in one of the scenes – that was funny and new.