“Murder!” he says: The Spade Cooley Story

Fred Bals
13 min readJan 27, 2020

He says murder, he says, every time we kiss
He says murder, he says, at a time like this
He says murder, he says, is that the language of love?

Let us consider the case of one Donnell Clyde Cooley. Born in 19 and 10 in a tornado cellar in Pack Saddle Creek, Oklahoma. Parents a mix of Native American and Anglo, so the young Cooley was legally considered a Native American. Taught how to play…

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Fred Bals

Corporate Storyteller. Tech enthusiast. Mini Cooper fanboy. One-time chronicler of Bob Dylan’s Theme Time Radio Hour. Husband of Peggy. Human of Lily Rose.