# A Complete and Carnage Filled Collection of Badass / Bad Men Songs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 22, 2004, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626 "2004-06-22T13:59:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/1 "2004-06-22T13:59:07Z")
Whether it’s about how badass they are individually; (e.g. Thorgood and The Destroyers **Bad To the Bone** ), as a group ( **Ballad Of The Green Berets** ) bad acts they’ve done (Marty Robins’ **El Paso** ) or their lifestyles (Geto Boys’ **Mind Playing Tricks On Me** ) – list 'em here. Regular ol’ bravado or machismo isn’t enough. Violence and fighting have to be expressed in the lyrics. As much as like the whoopin’ and hollerin’ in Muddy Waters’ **I’m A Man** , it’s clear by the lyrics he’s a lover, not a fighter. All music genres welcome! Uh… included appropriate badass/ bad women, too. I don’t wanna get hoomiliated by some woman poster on a Dixie Chicks kick. ---
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/2 "2004-06-22T14:14:20Z")
First song that came to mind when I read the OP was Nick Cave’s “O’Malley’s Bar,” from _Murder Ballads._ Cool cool cool and sick sick sick! ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/3 "2004-06-22T15:40:04Z")
You can’t talk about the bad man without mentioning **Stagger Lee**! ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/4 "2004-06-22T15:49:02Z")
The old Irish folk standard, _Whiskey in the Jar_ . Armed robbery, murder, jail breaking… ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/5 "2004-06-22T15:51:47Z")
vunderbob & Enginerd – (I can’t decide who’s name is more creative, btw) – can you post who your songs are sung by, please? ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/6 "2004-06-22T15:58:48Z")
Bad, Bad Leroy Brown (badder than King Kong…that’s pretty bad) Big Bad John (tough and heroic) Amos Moses (one cajun you don’t want to mess with) Don’t Mess Around with Jim (is that the name of that song?) ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/7 "2004-06-22T16:21:33Z")
Johnny Cash: A Boy Named Sue (hey, violence and comedy in the same song! _My name is Sue! How do you do? Now you gonna die!!_) R. Dean Taylor: Indiana Wants Me The Bobby Fuller Four: I Fought The Law ---
**Author:** ![Ol\_Gaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/8 "2004-06-22T16:28:59Z")
_Wanted Man_ by **Bob Dylan** “Went to sleep in Shreveport, woke up in Abilene… wonderin’ why the hell I’m wanted at some town halfway between.” _Cocaine Blues_ by **Johnny Cash** (anyone know who did the original?) “Early one morning while making the rounds, I took a shot of cocaine and I shot my woman down.” and the immortal “I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die.” (and if you don’t know that song then there are some serious gaps in your musical education!) ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/9 "2004-06-22T16:32:27Z")
Hoyt Axton’s _Jealous Man_: “You got the knife, I got the gun, Come along boy, let’s have a little fun…” ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/10 "2004-06-22T16:37:56Z")
“[Jesse James](http://www.wildwestweb.net/jessejames.html) was a lad that killed many a man . . .” ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/11 "2004-06-22T16:42:18Z")
**Jack Straw** from Wichita cut his buddy down And dug for him a shallow grave And laid his body down. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/12 "2004-06-22T16:51:34Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > vunderbob & Enginerd – (I can’t decide who’s name is more creative, btw) – can you post who your songs are sung by, please? Whiskey in the Jar is covered by many. I have versions in my collection by The Grateful Dead and The Irish Rovers. There was also a grunge band who did a version, but I forgot which one. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/13 "2004-06-22T17:07:16Z")
Tennessee Ernie Ford - 16 Tons “If you see me coming better step aside. A lot of men didn’t. A lot of men died.” Slick Rick - Bedtime Story "Grabbed a pregnant lady and pulled out the automatic. pointed at her head and said the gun was pull of lead and told the cops, “Back off or honey here is dead.” Battle Hymn of The Republic “He hath loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword…” ---
**Author:** ![Ol\_Gaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/14 "2004-06-22T17:23:04Z")
A couple more by artists already mentioned… _Big Iron_ by **Marty Robbins** (Mike Ness of Social Distortion does a pretty cool version of this song on his “Under the Influence” album) _Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry_ by **Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds** ---
**Author:** ![shelbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@shelbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shelbo)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/15 "2004-06-22T17:33:18Z")
**Max** beat me to the Leroy Brown reference. But he left out the lyrics! Leroy was a tough guy: _He got a 32 gun in his pocket for fun He got a razor in his shoe_ But he met his match: _when they pulled them off the floor Leroy looked like a jigsaw puzzle With a couple of pieces gone_ He learned his lesson by a’ messin with the wife of a jealous man! (a’ messin - great verb 🆒 ) ---
**Author:** ![jk1245](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/49beb7/32.png) [@jk1245](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jk1245)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/16 "2004-06-22T17:35:58Z")
_Delia’s Gone_ - Johnny Cash. “First time I shot her, shot her in the side Hard to watch her suffer, but with the second shot, she died” Just about any NWA song as well. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/17 "2004-06-22T18:06:44Z")
Songs where the other guy is the bad one: _Gimme Three Steps_ - Lynard Skynard _Come a Little Bit Closer_ - Jay & the Americans > [@Askia](#): > > Uh… included appropriate badass/ bad women, too. _Frankie and Johnny_ - Johnny Cash (and others): Frankie catches Johnny messing around with Nellie Bly and shoots him with her daddy’s .44. _Pistol Pakin’ Mama_ - Bing Crosby ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/18 "2004-06-22T18:10:15Z")
For Bad Men: The nameless narrator of _On the Shores of the Ohio_ (I have no idea who originally wrote it - everwhere I’ve looked says it’s “traditional”): > [@](#): > > I took her by her pretty white hand, > I led her down the banks of sand, > I plunged her in > Where she would drown, > An’ watched her as she floated down. > … > Returnin’ home between twelve and one, > Thinkin’, Lord, what a deed I’ve done; > I’d killed the girl > I love, you see, > Because she would not marry me. The song’s been covered by damn-near everybody, it seems. ---
**Author:** ![verbenabeast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c4cdca/32.png) [@verbenabeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/verbenabeast)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/19 "2004-06-22T18:20:16Z")
**Bo Diddly’s** _Who Do You Love_ (as well as George ThoroughlyGood’s cover thereof) springs to mind… with lines like: > [@](#): > > I walked forty-seven miles of barbed wire, I got a cobra snake for a necktie > A brand new house on the road side, and it’s a-made out of rattlesnake hide > Got a band new chimney put on top, and it’s a-made out of human skull > Come on take a little walk with me baby, and tell me who do you love? and > [@](#): > > Around the town I use a rattlesnake whip, take it easy baby don’t you give me no lip dude GOT ta be BAD! ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/20 "2004-06-22T18:52:23Z")
A little short on the violence and fighting, but still bears mentioning: “Mr. Bad Example” by Warren Zevon [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626.md?page=2)