# 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:** 2
**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, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/21 "2004-06-22T19:04:02Z")
> [@Thudlow Boink](#): > > A little short on the violence and fighting, but still bears mentioning: > “Mr. Bad Example” by Warren Zevon Oooh ooh ooh! Or, _Hit Somebody (The Hockey Song)_ ---
**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, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/22 "2004-06-22T19:25:51Z")
> [@askia](#): > > vunderbob & Enginerd – (I can’t decide who’s name is more creative, btw) – can you post who your songs are sung by, please? Stagger Lee (or Stack-o-lee, or Stagolee) has been done by a whole host of people too - **Neil Diamond** , **Wilson Pickett** , **Dave van Ronk** , **Bob Dylan** , **Nick Cave** , **Grateful Dead** , **Lloyd Price** , **Ike and Tina Turner** … The earliest version I’ve heard is by **Mississippi John Hurt**. They’re all variations on an old folk song. > [@Ol' Gaffer](#): > > 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.” I always thought this song was based on [_Little Sadie_](http://bobdylan.com/songs/searchsadie.html), but it turns out Dylan wrote Little Sadie in 1970. _Cocaine Blues_ seems to have been written by [T.J. Arnall](http://maninblack.net/lyrics/COCAINE%20BLUES.htm) in 1958. ---
**Author:** ![Ultraviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/c77e96/32.png) [@Ultraviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ultraviolet)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/23 "2004-06-22T19:29:09Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > Uh… included appropriate badass/ bad women, too. I don’t wanna get hoomiliated by some woman poster on a Dixie Chicks kick. For bad women, how about another Nick Cave song : Henry Lee (the wicked woman being sung by PJ Harvey). Some lyrics : She leaned herself against a fence Just for a kiss or two And with a little pen-knife held in her hand She plugged him through and through … Come take him by his lily-white hands Come take him by his feet And throw him in this deep deep well Which is more than one hundred feet … Lie there, lie there, little Henry Lee Till the flesh drops from your bones For the girl you have in that merry green land Can wait forever for you to come home She has the perfect voice for the lyrics, too. It mixes well with Nick Cave’s. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/24 "2004-06-22T19:57:57Z")
> [@Enginerd](#): > > You can’t talk about the bad man without mentioning **Stagger Lee**! First thing I thought of when I saw the title- [http://www.lyricsdomain.com/14/nick\_cave/stagger\_lee.html](http://www.lyricsdomain.com/14/nick_cave/stagger_lee.html) Eerie how often Nick Cave is coming up in this thread (not that he wrote those lyrics, tho’). ---
**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, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/25 "2004-06-22T20:17:20Z")
> [@Thudlow Boink](#): > > A little short on the violence and fighting, but still bears mentioning: > “Mr. Bad Example” by Warren Zevon I wonder if his _Werewolves of London_ would apply to this list. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/26 "2004-06-22T20:37:29Z")
The classic: Mack the Knife. A number of murders, and in the German/some English translations arson and rape, too. ---
**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, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/27 "2004-06-22T20:44:40Z")
> [@Jeff Olsen](#): > > I wonder if his _Werewolves of London_ would apply to this list. Dunno, but I’d say \* Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner\* definitely would. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/28 "2004-06-22T21:25:20Z")
How about: –[“Nebraska”](http://www.lyricsdomain.com/2/bruce_springsteen/nebraska.html) by Bruce Springsteen (which is based on the Charles Starkweather killings); –“Down by the River” by Neil Young; –“The Man’s Too Strong” by Dire Straits; and –“Hey, Joe” by Jimi Hendrix (and many others). ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/29 "2004-06-22T22:15:45Z")
_Killing Me Softly With His Song_ What, no good? ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/30 "2004-06-22T23:43:21Z")
Yeah, lots of good Johnny Cash picks. **Sam Hall** from his _“The Man Comes Around”_ album is another good one. ---
**Author:** ![Unregistered\_Bull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3da27b/32.png) [@Unregistered\_Bull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unregistered_Bull)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/31 "2004-06-23T00:12:48Z")
Lots of Marty Robbins numbers. Here are some of them: Feleena. Part of the El Paso trilogy where the girl shoots herself at the end. Tells the story of Feleena (the girl in El Paso). Great song! Five Brothers. Some of them teenagers track down a gambler that killed their father and kill him at a waterhole with bad water which kills the brothers. They’re hanging me tonight. Guy kills his ex and her new man and is to be hung for it. Billy Venero. Rides to save his girl at ranch from raiding Apaches and is shot on the way there. He arrives at the ranch dead in the saddle. The Apaches never hit the ranch. San Angelo. Outlaw ambushed by Rangers when he goes back to visit his girl. One the Rangers shoots his girl dead, and though wounded and dying, the outlaw empties his revolver into the Ranger. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/32 "2004-06-23T00:13:11Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Yeah, lots of good Johnny Cash picks. **Sam Hall** from his _“The Man Comes Around”_ album is another good one. That’s a traditional song, for the record. ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/33 "2004-06-23T00:20:21Z")
> [@Rube E. Tewesday](#): > > Dunno, but I’d say \* Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner\* definitely would. yep, or Excitable Boy: ‘he took little Susie to the Junior Prom… then he raped her and killed her then he took her home… After ten long years they let him out of the Home… And he dug up her grave and built a cage with her bones…’ Also, a vote for a badass girl: Josie, by Steely Dan ‘She’s the raw flame the live wire she prays like a Roman with her eyes on fire’ ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/34 "2004-06-23T02:19:01Z")
Or Boom Boom Mancini ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/35 "2004-06-23T02:32:39Z")
**NIN** “Big Man With a Gun” …good stuff! ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/36 "2004-06-23T03:09:33Z")
How about a little **ZZ Top**? You’ve got to be bad to wear _Cheap Sunglasses_. Besides, they tell us themselves: “I’m bad, I’m nationwide” ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/37 "2004-06-23T03:10:48Z")
Slight hijack: In England, are they called “Zed-Zed Top”? Probably a stupid question, but I’ve always wondered. ---
**Author:** ![Qwertyasdfg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ecc23a/32.png) [@Qwertyasdfg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwertyasdfg)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/38 "2004-06-23T03:20:13Z")
Maxwell, of “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” by the Beatles. Kills his teacher, girlfriend, and the judge who convicts him of murder, with a freakin’ silver hammer! That’s badass! ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Prize](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d2c977/32.png) [@Sir\_Prize](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Prize)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/39 "2004-06-23T03:48:18Z")
Lot’s of good choices already. I Bad Bad Leroy Brown and Max the Knife were the first ones that came to mind when I saw this thread. How about: **The Wanderer - Dion and the Belmonts** And I’m as happy as a clown With my two fists of iron but I’m going nowhere **Battle of New Orleans - Jimmy Driftwood** We fired our cannon til the barrel melted down. So we grabbed an alligator and we fought another round. We filled his head with cannon balls and powdered his behind and when we touched the powder off, the gator lost his mind. **The Boys Are Back In Town - Thin Lizzy** Friday night they’ll be dressed to kill Down at Dino’s bar and grill The drink will flow and blood will spill And if the boys want to fight, you’d better let them ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626/40 "2004-06-23T04:03:25Z")
My favorite of this type: Howlin’ Wolf’s “Back Door Man” They take me to the doctor, shot full o’ holes. Nurse cried, Please save the soul. Killed him for murder, first degree. Judge’s wife cried, Let the man go free. Cop’s wife cried, Don’t take him down. Rather me died, six feets in the ground. When you come home you can eat pork and beans. I eats mo’ chicken than any man seen. I am a back door man. I am a back door man. Well the men don’t know, but the little girls understand. For something a little more bland, the Kingston Trio’s “Tom Dooley” Met her on the mountain There I took her life Met her on the mountain Stabbed her with my knife [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-complete-and-carnage-filled-collection-of-badass-bad-men-songs/251626.md?page=3)