# Let's kill people, music-like! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 10, 2005, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-kill-people-music-like/303169 "2005-05-10T03:04:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-kill-people-music-like/303169/41 "2005-05-10T16:00:24Z")
“Desperado” by Alice Cooper (He has lots of death songs, it would seem). "You’re as stiff as my smoking barrel You’re as dead as a desert night You’re a notch And I’m a legend" ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-kill-people-music-like/303169/42 "2005-05-10T16:43:54Z")
> [@Murcielago](#): > > “Used to Love Her” – Guns N’ Roses > > ``` > *I had to put her...six feet under > And I can still hear her complain* > > ``` Actually, Axl Rose is talking about a pet dog he had euthanized. He thought it would be fun to write a song that made it sound like he was talking about a wife or girlfriend. ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-kill-people-music-like/303169/43 "2005-05-10T17:37:24Z")
_L.A. County_ by Lyle Lovett “And they kissed each other And they turned around And they saw me standing in the aisle Well I did not say much I just stood there watching As that .45 told them goodbye” ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-kill-people-music-like/303169/44 "2005-05-10T17:39:36Z")
Dirty Deeds, Done Dirt Cheap! [The lyrics](http://www.amandashome.com/acdc.html) ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-kill-people-music-like/303169/45 "2005-05-10T17:42:59Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by **Big Bad Voodoo Lou** :_ > There is a whole folk music tradition of “murder ballads” Yeah, those are the ones I was thinking of. **Tom Dooley:** Met on the mountain There I took her life Met her on the mountain Stabbed her with my knife **Boot Hill:** Look up on the wall baby Hand me down my shootin’ iron Look up on the wall baby Hand me down my shootin’ iron Call your mother long distance Tell her to expect your body home A couple of others… **The End** by the Doors: Father, I’m going to kill you **Aisha** , by Death in Vegas: Aisha, we’ve only just met And I think there’s something you ought to know I’m a murderer **Friends** , by The Police (maybe not murder, but cannibalism): Your death of course, will sadden me Until I grok your essence I know your life was not in vain When digestion is commencing Consider this a celebration And the deepest pact of friends And I hope that you will dine on me When I come to an end ---
**Author:** ![RancidYakButterTeaParty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/53a042/32.png) [@RancidYakButterTeaParty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RancidYakButterTeaParty)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-kill-people-music-like/303169/46 "2005-05-10T17:56:05Z")
Can’t think of the correct title right now, but I think it is “Good Day” by the Flaming Lips where they mention killing their boss when they get to work. I can’t google the lyrics from work because of a filter. Help anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-kill-people-music-like/303169/47 "2005-05-10T18:21:27Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > Whatever it is, it’s not actual death metal, which (IME) very rarely addresses such subjects. The name comes from an old Possessed song, “Death Metal”, which, while it certainly employs violent imagery, doesn’t match what you seem to have in mind. In fact, I’m having a hard time thinking of examples. I was making a play on the term “death metal.” Unsuccessfully, I might add. And **Murcielago** mentioned “Plush,” by STP. But I recall an interview I heard on the radio with Scott Weiland, who said that it was just about a blind date that wasn’t that great. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-kill-people-music-like/303169/48 "2005-05-10T18:23:35Z")
While the **Talking Heads** _Take Me to The River_ ( an old cover ) is definitely about baptism, their _Warning Sign_ always struck me as a serial killer rumination ( not to mention the much more obvious _Psycho Killer_ ). - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![OatmealB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc79bd/32.png) [@OatmealB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OatmealB)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-kill-people-music-like/303169/49 "2005-05-10T18:31:02Z")
“Deep Deep Down” by the Mr. T Experience. The singer reflects on apparently losing his temper and killing his girlfriend. “You are always were an angel in my eyes And now more than ever the term applies”. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-kill-people-music-like/303169/50 "2005-05-10T18:31:56Z")
Joe Jackson did a whole album about _Mike’s Murder_. OK, it doesn’t really count, because it’s a movie soundtrack … 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-kill-people-music-like/303169/51 "2005-05-10T18:58:57Z")
**stpauler** , you forgot John Wesley Harding’s **The Devil in Me** > [@](#): > > I shot John F. Kennedy > in Dallas in '63. > They blamed it on Oswald, carelessly; > but that was the devil in me. And then there’s **Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner** by Warren Zevon. > [@](#): > > His comrades fought beside him, > Van Owen and the rest; > but of all the Thompson gunners, > Roland was the best. > So the CIA decided > they wanted Roland dead. > That son of a bitch Van Owen > blew off Roland’s head. but the story does not end there > [@](#): > > Roland searched the continent > for the man who done him in. > He found him in Mombasa, > in a barroom drinking gin. > Roland aimed his Thompson gun. > He didn’t say a word. > But he blew Van Owen’s body > from there to Johannesburg. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-kill-people-music-like/303169/52 "2005-05-10T19:37:58Z")
Freedy Johnston’s “This Perfect World” was the first song that came to my mind: "You oughta lock that door Somebody might get in Didn’t I teach you that? … "But I still deserve to say goodbye no matter what I’ve done No matter what I’ve done “I see her in your face Hear her in your voice Last time I was here they’d found her in the lake” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-kill-people-music-like/303169/53 "2005-05-10T22:37:52Z")
[“I Palindrome I”](http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/SongUnid/87402BE7B4CCD8CD482568B100288619) – They Might Be Giants ---
**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:** [May 10, 2005, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-kill-people-music-like/303169/54 "2005-05-10T22:57:32Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > Actually, Axl Rose is talking about a pet dog he had euthanized. Oh, you mean like Barry Manilow’s “Mandy”? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![critter42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@critter42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/critter42)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-kill-people-music-like/303169/55 "2005-05-10T23:43:03Z")
It’s hard to tell what person the song is in (as sung, it could conceivably be either first or third person), but Ugly Kid Joe’s **Madman** about a serial killer/child molester loose in Disneyland (IIRC The House of Mouse was none too happy about that particular song). critter42 ---
**Author:** ![look\_ninjas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@look\_ninjas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/look_ninjas)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2005, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-kill-people-music-like/303169/56 "2005-05-10T23:55:12Z")
“Roland” by Interpol seems like it’s about a serial killer (“My best friend’s a butcher; he has sixteen knives”), and “Say Hello to the Angels” might be about killing someone or it might just be about sex (“Each night, I bury my love around you… Say hello to the angels”). It’s hard to tell; Paul Banks is sort of a weird lyricist. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2005, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-kill-people-music-like/303169/57 "2005-05-11T02:22:30Z")
**Excitable Boy** by **Warren Zevon** : - He took little Susie to the Junior Prom, Excitable boy, they all said, And he raped her and killed her then he took her home, Excitable boy, they all said, Well he’s just an excitable boy! After ten long years they let him out of the home, Excitable boy, they all said, And he dug up her grave, and built a cage with her bones, Excitable boy, they all said, Well he’s just an excitable boy! \* And of course **Eminem** has about a dozen songs where he talks about killing people. For example, the aptly named **Kill You** : - Put your hands down bitch, I ain’t gonna shoot you I’ma pull YOU to this bullet, and put it through you … I said you don’t, wanna f_ck with Shady (cause why?) Cause Shady, will f_ckin kill you (ah-haha) I said you don’t, wanna f_ck with Shady (why?) Cause Shady, will f_ckin kill you… \* Then there’s _Stan_, _Kim_, _97 Bonnie and Clyde_, and others. Going back to some more classic songs, there’s _The Man who Shot Liberty Valance_ and _The Streets of Laredo_ Oh, and another Zevon song: **Jeannie Needs a Shooter** : \*The night was cold and rainy Down by the borderline I was riding hard to meet her When a shot rang out behind As I lay there in the darkness With a pistol by my side Jeannie and her father Rode off into the night \* ---
**Author:** ![dotchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@dotchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dotchan)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2005, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-kill-people-music-like/303169/58 "2005-05-11T16:45:07Z")
I can’t believe nobody’s mentioned _Bohemian Rhapsody_ yet. > [@](#): > > Mama, I just killed a man, > Put a gun against his head, > Pulled the trigger, now he’s dead, There’s also _Chop Suey_, where the singer contemplates killing himself: > [@](#): > > I don’t think you > trust > in > my > self-righteous suicide ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2005, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-kill-people-music-like/303169/59 "2005-05-11T16:58:48Z")
_Just A Job I Do_, by Genesis. Song about a hit man, speaking to his next victim. BTW, when I saw the title of this thread, the first thing that occurred to me was heavy metal poisoning. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2005, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-kill-people-music-like/303169/60 "2005-05-11T17:52:15Z")
Neil Young: “Down by the river, I shot my baby…” And I have a really obscure single from 1973 by Australian Peter Foldy, titled “Bondi Junction”. It sounds like a run-of-the mill love ditty until the coda, where he turns the song around by singing “Yeah, that is where I shot her…(Bondi Junction)…hey, that is where I shot her…” Pretty strange! And it got on the radio in Canada. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-kill-people-music-like/303169.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-kill-people-music-like/303169.md?page=4)