Murder songs

[Johnny_L.A]

This thread got me thinking about songs about murder. Particularly this post:

@cosmosdan

a murder song thread might be interesting.

So here it is.

Tom Dooly. The way I learned it was like this:

I met her on the mountain
Swore she’d be my wife
But the gal refused me
So I stabbed her with my knife

The Kingston Trio version, which a very cursory search seems to be the more popular version uses:

I met her on the mountain, there I took her life
Met her on the mountain, stabbed her with my knife

And then there’s The Banks Of The Ohio:

*I held a knife against her brest
As into my arms she pressed
She cried, “Oh, Willie, don’t murder me,
I’m not prepared for eternity”

• Refrain

I started home 'tween twelve and one
I cried, “My God! what have I done ?
Killed the only woman I loved
Because she would not be my bride”*

At least in Frankie And Johnny Frankie was ‘done wrong’ by the cheating Johnny. But in Tom Dooly and The Banks Of the Ohio the victims did nothing but decline marriage proposals. ‘Will you marry me?’ ‘No.’ 'YOU DIE NOW!’

[Johnny_L.A]

Miss Otis Regrets

When she woke up and found that her dream of love was gone, madam
She ran to the man who had led her so far astray
And from under her velvet gown
She drew a gun and shot her love down, madam
Miss Otis regrets, she’s unable to lunch today

[Richard_Pearse]

Nick Cave did a whole album of murder songs – “Murder Ballads.”

[Johnny_L.A]

Here’s a Wiki article on Murder ballads. I haven’t heard most of them.

[Eve]

One of the creepiest is Little Mary Phagan, given the backstory.

[Otto]

Frankie and Johnny

I haven’t heard it but there’s an opera about slain SF politician Harvey Milk so I imagine that the murders of him and SF mayour George Moscone by Dan White are sung about.

[GingerOfTheNorth]

I’m a fan of ‘Murder by Numbers’ by The Police.

[SkeptiJess]

A couple of modern country murder songs:

Independence Day by Martina McBride

Goodbye Earl by the Dixie Chicks

And The Thunder Rolls and Papa Loved Mama both by Garth Brooks

[Shagnasty]

You’re All I Need by Motley Crue

“The blade of my knife
Faced away from your heart
Those last few nights
It turned and sliced you apart
This love that I tell
Now feels lonely as hell
From this padded prison cell”

[Shagnasty]

I used to Love Her But I Had to Kill Her by Guns N Roses
“I used to love her, but I had to kill her
I used to love her, but I had to kill her
I knew I miss her
So I had to keep her
She’s buried right in my back yard”

[JpnDude]

The first one that came to mind was Mack the Knife which has been recorded in various versions. The song mentions various crimes by Macheath, including murder.

The song attributes many crimes to Macheath:

* A dead man in London, on the famous street Strand
* A rich man, Schmul Meier, disappeared for good
* Jenny Towler, killed with a knife in the chest
* Seven children and an old man killed in an arson fire
* Rape of an underage widow (minderjährige Witwe) in her bed

The arson and rape were omitted from the Blitzstein version.

[Campion]

Jess, I came in to mention those, as well as SheDaisy’s A Night To Remember. What better anniversary gift for a cheating spouse than a murder-suicide?

[Paul_in_Qatar]

Well, now about:

Maxwell Edison was studying medicine?

and of course:

I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die

[minlokwat]

“Hey Joe” - Jimi Hendrix

“Smoking Gun” - Robert Cray

“I Shot the Sheriff” - Bob Marley (Clapton)

“Don’t Take Me Alive” - **Steely Dan **

[Cisco]

Interesting note: Tom Dula (correct spelling) was tried and hung in the same town I went to high school in, just a few miles from where I grew up. That wouldn’t mean much if the town were, say, St. Louis, but Statesville, NC does not have many famous residents, past or present.

[Stranger_On_A_Train]

@Johnny L.A.

Miss Otis Regrets

When she woke up and found that her dream of love was gone, madam
She ran to the man who had led her so far astray
And from under her velvet gown
She drew a gun and shot her love down, madam
Miss Otis regrets, she’s unable to lunch today

Well, I was going to say “Mack The Knife” (with Armstrong burbling along) and “Hey Joe” (“I’m going down to shoot my old lady, caught her messin’ 'round with another man, that ain’t too cool,”) but if you’re going to bring Lady Fitzgerald into this, I think “To Keep My Love Alive” is the definitive Ella-on-a-murderous-streak song:
Sir Philip played the harp/I cussed the thing.
I crowned him with his harp/to bust the thing.
And now he plays where harps/are just the thing,
To keep my love alive.
Who can blame her? What a bunch of losers she married.

Stranger

[Evil_Captor]

Thanks for reminder of “Smoking Gun.” EXCELLENT song. mmmm, mmmm.

My contribution: Bohemian Rhapsody.

Mama, just killed a man
Put a gun against his head
Pulled the trigger, now he’s dead

Also,

“Well, a man fell over my razor
In the middle of a barroom brawl
But don’t you see it was him or me
And my back was up against the wall”

[Unregistered_Bull]

They’re Hanging Me Tonight by Marty Robbins
*
That night he came and took my Flo and headed in to town
I knew I had to find this man and try to gun him down
As I walked by a dim cafe and I looked through the door
I saw my Flo with her new love and I couldn’t stand no more,
I couldn’t stand no more.

I took my pistol from my hip and with a trembling hand
I took the life of pretty Flo and that good for nothin’ man
That good for nothin’ man!
I think about the thing I’ve done I know it wasn’t right
They’ll bury Flo tomorrow, but they’re hanging me tonight,
They’re hanging me tonight.*

[JXJohns]

Stagger Lee by Lloyd Price

*“Stagger Lee,” said Billy,
"Oh, please don’t take my life!
"I’ve got three hungry children,
“And a very sickly wife.”

Stagger Lee shot Billy
Oh, he shot that poor boy so hard
That a bullet went through Billy
And broke the bartender’s bar.*

[JXJohns]

Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash:

When I was just a baby my mama told me. Son,
always be a good boy, don´t ever play with guns.
But I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die
When I hear that whistle blowing, I hang my head and cry