chewmeupspitmeout - Who Put Bella in the Wych Elm?

from SpinTunes 19 Round 1 by Spintunes

	/

Streaming + Download

Purchasable with gift card

about

My song is inspired by an unsolved murder case that occurred in the West Midlands, UK during WW2. Some boys were poaching for bird’s eggs in woods and discovered a woman’s body inside a hollow Wych Elm tree. Despite having distinctive crossed front teeth, police were unable trace her identity and the case went cold. Several months later, graffiti began to appear around the local area with variations on the phrase, “Who put Bella in the Wych Elm?” Many theories have been suggested over the years from witchcraft to Nazi spy rings but the case has never been solved, while the graffiti has continued to appear sporadically over the years, right up to the modern day.

lyrics

Four boys
Found something amiss
Crossed teeth
Lipless grimace
In Hagley Wood
In ‘43
A skull within a Wych Elm tree

Taffeta cloth
Forced in your mouth
Your skeleton sleeps
In a wooden shroud
Chop down the tree
No rings to count
The trail gone cold
While rumours abound

White paint graffiti
Writ for all to see
Who put Bella in the Wych Elm?
Who put Bella in the Wych Elm?

Did you awake
In your living tomb?
Scratch at the walls
Realise you were doomed?
But somebody knows what happened to you
Fear we’re unable
To unearth the truth

Who put Bella in the Wych Elm?
Who put Bella in the Wych Elm?
Who put Bella in the Wych Elm?
Who put Bella in the Wych Elm?

I don’t care what secrets you sold
No-one deserves to die in the cold

Who put Bella in the Wych Elm?
Who put Bella in the Wych Elm?
Who put Bella in the Wych Elm?
Who put Bella in the Wych Elm?

credits

from SpinTunes 19 Round 1, released March 21, 2022

license

some rights reserved

about

Spintunes Union, South Carolina

Spintunes is a semi-annual songwriting contest. Every other week, the competitors receive a challenge and a week to meet it.

Each album on this site contains the responses to a single challenge.