Art take a look at the lineage of perhaps the most widely interpreted traditional folk ballad, The Unfortunate Rake. This song is not particularly well known by its given name but has spawned a large numbers variants on the basic theme including The Streets of Laredo, St. James Infirmary, and The Dying Crapshooters Blues. The song always tells the tale of a male (or female in some variations) who dies in their prime and tells about the ritual funeral which follows.