SOUNDING THE LAST MILE: MUSIC AND CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN THE UNITED STATES SINCE 1976 BY MICHAEL SILETTI DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Musicology in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2018 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Professor Jeffrey Magee, Chair and Director of Research Professor Gayle Magee Professor Donna A. Buchanan Associate Professor Christina Bashford ABSTRACT Since the United States Supreme Court reaffirmed the legality of the death penalty in 1976, capital punishment has drastically waxed and waned in both implementation and popularity throughout much of the country. While studying opinion polls, quantitative data, and legislation can help make sense of this phenomenon, careful attention to the death penalty’s embeddedness in cultural, creative, and expressive discourses is needed to more fully understand its unique position in American history and social life. The first known scholarly study to do so, this dissertation examines how music and sound have responded to and helped shape shifting public attitudes toward capital punishment during this time. From a public square in Chicago to a prison in Georgia, many people have used their ears to understand, administer, and debate both actual and fictitious scenarios pertaining to the use of capital punishment in the United States. Across historical case studies, detailed analyses of depictions of the death penalty in popular music and in film, and acoustemological research centered on recordings of actual executions, this dissertation has two principal objectives. First, it aims to uncover what music and sound can teach us about the past, present, and future of the death penalty. Second, it considers what the death penalty reveals about music, sound, and the extent to which they can serve as vital sources of information, knowledge, and emotion. Ultimately, I hope to inspire further musicological research on this complex and controversial practice in the United States and in other countries. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS While all scholarship is autobiographical to some extent, the acknowledgments section dramatically brings this maxim to the foreground. Untethered from the restraints of conventional academic prose, the acknowledgements section pulls back the curtain on the dissertating process, often revealing clear traces of the triumphs, tribulations, and tears that accompanied the author’s creation of the finished document. For the unique insight it offers into this otherwise solitary and esoteric process, the acknowledgements section is typically the first and, admittedly, sometimes only part I turn to when reading dissertations and other scholarly works. Nevertheless, it is with a marked sense of trepidation that I approach my own contribution to the genre. Having incurred significant interpersonal debts over the course of my education thus far, words alone are not sufficient in expressing the immense gratitude I feel toward the many people, institutions, and organizations that have helped me along the way. The following, however, offers a start. At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, I am privileged to have learned from an accomplished group of musicologists whose intellectual rigor is eclipsed only by their kindness. My academic advisor, Jeffrey Magee, deserves much credit for helping me get to this point. Never seeming to doubt my ability to take on this daunting project, he enthusiastically took time out of his busy schedule as director of the School of Music to meet with me and review drafts of my work. His keen critical eye, finely tuned ear, and penchant for clear, concise prose have profoundly influenced my work for the better. Enormous thanks to my other dissertation committee members—Christina Bashford, Donna A. Buchanan, and Gayle Magee—for their invaluable feedback, support, and encouragement. Warm thanks go to other current and former Illinois faculty—Nili Belkind, Lillie Gordon, Joseph Jones, William Kinderman, Erik Lund, Christopher Macklin, Mary Paquette-Abt, Ulrike Präger, Michael Silvers, Thomas Turino, and iii Aaron Ziegel—for helping to develop my scholarly and pedagogical skills over the years. I also wish to acknowledge the librarians and other unsung heroes who work hard to keep the University Library one of the finest information-sharing resources in the world. During my time at Illinois, I have been incredibly fortunate to be surrounded by a close- knit, supportive, and gifted group of colleagues who have taught me much about music, writing, teaching, and life in general: Casey Jo Brege, Kyle Carmack, Natalie Cherwin, Molly Cryderman-Weber, Rick Deja, Jessica Hajek, Tara Hatfield, Lucas Henry, Eduardo Herrera, Putu Hiranmayena, Holly Holmes, Tina Horton, Hannah Jellen, Jamil Jorge, Matt Knight, Ryan McNulty, Ian Middleton, Thornton Miller, Hilary Brady Morris, Jamie Porche, Linda Remaker, Ellen Rice, Mike Schokmiller, Jason Senchina, Jonathon Smith, John Stanislawski, E.J. Stokes, Priscilla Tse, Nolan Vallier, Justin Vickers, Mike Warner, and Jud Wellington. Whether offering feedback on each other’s work, or simply sharing a few laughs over drinks and pizza, my deepest gratitude goes to my good friends Catherine Hennessy-Wolter, Jonathan Hollis, Steve Wilson, Alex Woller, and Megan Woller for providing some of the most formative and memorable experiences during my time in Champaign-Urbana. I am also thankful to the audiences at various conferences who listened and responded to early iterations of some of these chapters, including at AMS Midwest, the Society for American Music, and an event on music and social justice hosted by Thomas Kernan and David Kjar at Roosevelt University. As an unmarried, out-of-state, low-income, first-generation college student with no interest in accumulating hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of crippling student-loan debt, receiving this degree simply would not have been possible without generous financial assistance from the University of Illinois. Waiver-generating teaching assistantships not only provided iv much-needed financial assistance for much of my time here, but also helped me realize my longstanding dream of teaching in higher education. To this end, I am immeasurably grateful to each of the 739 students who entrusted me with providing part of their education at Illinois. While having the opportunity to teach and learn from this diverse, dynamic, and immensely talented group of students has been one of the greatest honors of my life, I am also grateful to have been awarded the Dissertation Completion Fellowship, which eliminated my teaching responsibilities during my final year here so that I could finish this dissertation. I would also like to acknowledge the Graduate Employees’ Organization for working to preserve tuition waivers for graduate students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, especially those of us in the College of Fine and Applied Arts. I certainly would not have made it to Illinois, however, without the advice, education, and support given to me by friends, mentors, bosses, and teachers at home and during my four years as an undergraduate at the State University of New York at New Paltz. Although they did not have a direct hand in the writing of this dissertation, their voices, whether they know it or not, continue to echo in my head. I sincerely thank Chris Arbisi, Mark Bellomo, Sylvia Buccelli, Colin Cheyne, Jonathan Cimmino, Carole Cowan, Mark Dziuba, Joel Evans, John B Hedges, Ping Jin, Edward Lundergan, Craig Magnano, Adam Makofske, Vinnie Martucci, William McCann, Justin O’Shea, Ruthanne Schempf, Harris Schwartzreich, Susan Seligman, Lucas Sperber, and Ben Tepler. Finally, I want to recognize those closest to my home and heart. A very heartfelt thank you is due to my best friend, Emily Wuchner. With her wonderful sense of humor, sunny disposition, and inquisitive mind, she helped ensure that the time I spent alone working was always the least enjoyable part of my day. Additionally, I long to give an imagined chin scratch v to our beloved late cat, Gracie Sue, who was always eager to provide warmth and companionship as I wrote much of this dissertation. I also wish to thank my wonderful family, including Alison, Jorge, Julian, Maryann, and Patty, for their continued love and support. Last but certainly not least, a very sincere and loving thank you to my parents, Joseph and Martha, who supported and sacrificed in hopes of furthering my education. Without them, nothing would be possible. This dissertation was written in Urbana, Illinois; Champaign, Illinois; and New York, New York. vi To Mary Ruth Fletcher (1922-2013), for teaching me that there is always more to learn vii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................1 CHAPTER ONE: MUSIC, SPECTACLE, AND THE EXECUTION OF JOHN WAYNE GACY ................................................................................................................................34 CHAPTER TWO: DEPICTIONS OF CAPTIAL PUNISHMENT IN POPULAR RECORDED MUSIC ...............................................................................................................................82 CHAPTER THREE: MUSIC AND SOUND DESIGN IN FILMIC DEPICTIONS OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT ................................................................................................................147 CHAPTER FOUR: ACOUSTEMOLOGIES