Banshee
The wailing female figure of Irish and broader Celtic folklore: a harbinger of death whose cry signals impending loss or grief. Associated with the keening tradition (women lamenting at funerals) and with the bereaved or wronged woman whose voice carries beyond the boundaries of the living.
The banshee stands in for grief made vocal: the cry that cannot be silenced and that precedes or follows loss. In Taylor's writing the banshee register surfaces where the speaker's grief or rage takes the form of a sustained, often skyward, address no human listener can answer.
Appears in 2 songs
“Old habits die screaming”
The screaming functions in multiple registers, the black dog's blood-curdling howl from folklore, the dying scream of the speaker's old habits/relationship, and the wraith's final scream that drives the hearer insane. Uncle Jerry identifies the folklore connection: 'the black dog in folklore is generally known for its howl, for its blood curdling scream of a howl' and adds that 'the last scream of a wraith is supposed to drive you insane... if he hears it, he'll die. Or at least he goes insane... or his soul is sucked away.'
“Even if I die screaming And I hope you hear it”
The wraith / banshee register, the final scream of a spirit that is supposed to drive the hearer insane or suck away their soul. Uncle Jerry: 'the last scream of a wraith is supposed to drive you insane... if he hears it, he'll die. Or at least he goes insane... or his soul is sucked away.' The skyward / unanswerable address fits the banshee/keening tradition rather than the generic ghost register.
“And I still talk to you (when I'm screaming at the sky)”
The scream at the sky is the speaker's banshee-like cry, a sign of her liminal state between living grief and supernatural wrath, directed at someone she can no longer reach directly.