The Cobbler's Daughter

Is a truly remarkable song. The version I know is by Kate Rusby. In addition to being a truly fine piece of music, The Cobbler's Daughter presents a character that is, in my mind, the epitome of feminine sexuality. The song starts with the character identifying herself 'I am a cobbler's daughter/ and thought of rude and mean/ but a finer and a bonnier lass you have never seen/ I plagued me father's head/ for me life I wouldn't wed/ me mother's in the prison 'cause of me'. She then proceeds to relate the event that founds her identification. She invites her handsome young neighbor, who would always follow her, up to her room (presumably to get some action). He kisses her, she screams, and her parents come to the room and beat him to death. The young man's situation, as far as i can tell, is precisely what it is to be confronted, as a man, by feminine desire. He simply has no way to know, when he follows her upstairs, whether he will end up getting lucky or getting beat to death. The impossibility of the sexual relationship has never been boiled down to a purer essence. When you follow the cobbler's daughter, you can do nothing but hope for a kiss. If you come out alive, you're a lucky man.