"Sam Hall" (Roud 369) is an English folk song about an unrepentant criminal condemned to death for robbing the rich to feed the poor.
[3] Prior to 1988, the song had been collected from about 18 singers in the oral tradition, limited to England and the United States, and there had been only six sound recordings made.
The song also appears to have been adapted to fit the region in which it was sung; some versions refer to Sam Hall being hanged at Tyburn, some at Cootehill.
Various versions have Sam Hall call his executioners "muckers", "fuckers", "buggers", "muggers", "critters" or "bastards".
Le Hibou Coffee House, Ottawa, 1966, Brand used the following lyric: "... My name is Samuel Hall and I hate you one and all, You're a bunch of fuckers all, Goddamn your eyes, Son of a bitch, Shit."
If a young person came into the club, Brand would edit this for comic effect to "... Gall darn his eyes, Son of a gun, Shucks."
Carl Sandburg, poet and Abraham Lincoln biographer, recorded it twice, once in 1964, as "Sam Hall" and later as "Gallows Song".
Johnny Cash recorded a version of this song on Ballads of the True West (1965), re-recording it for American IV: The Man Comes Around (2002).
The self-professed "steamcrunk" band Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys performed a version of this song on their album Steamship Killers (2010).