# Murder songs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 23, 2006, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-songs/381548 "2006-11-23T15:01:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-songs/381548/81 "2006-11-24T17:34:24Z")
[“The Highwayman”](http://litterature.historique.net/highwayman.html), based on a poem by Alfred Noyes and sung by Loreena McKennitt, among others. I guess Bess’ death would technically be a suicide, but not in the way you usually think of suicide. It’s included in a collection of traditional English ballads I have from , but was apparently written in 1906 and set to music sometime after that. Let’s hear it for for insta-history. [“The Twa Sisters”](http://www.contemplator.com/child/variant10.html) or “The Cruel Sister” or “The Bonnie Mill Dams of Binnorie” or “The Miller’s Melody” from the seventeenth century with many variations through the years. Two sisters visit the seashore, and the elder pushes the younger in. The younger promises the elder all sorts of things if she’ll save her, but she doesn’t. In some variations, it’s over a man, but sometimes the elder sister is just a bitch, I guess. The younger sister’s body usually gets caught in a mill dam, and the miller makes a fiddle from her various body parts, which, when played, sings farewell to her mother and father and accuses her sister of murder. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-songs/381548/82 "2006-11-24T18:00:24Z")
[“Sweet and Tender Hooligan”](http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/SWEET-AND-TENDER-HOOLIGAN-lyrics-The-Smiths/440B5779DFAFE87E482568AB002995B2) - **The Smiths** \*Poor woman Strangled in her very own bed as she read But that’s OK Because she was old and she would have died anyway Don’t blame The sweet and tender hooligan, hooligan Because he’ll never, never, never, never, never, never do it again (not until the next time) \* And in a similar vein: [“Only a Lad”](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/o/oingo+boingo/only+a+lad_20102731.html) - **Oingo Boingo** \*And when he stole the car Nobody dreamed that he would Try to take it so far He didnt mean to hit the poor man Who had to go and die It made the judge cry Only a lad He really couldnt help it\* ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-songs/381548/83 "2006-11-24T18:26:22Z")
_Smack - - water Jack, he bought a shotgun…_ ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-songs/381548/84 "2006-11-24T19:03:10Z")
R. Dean Taylor– **Indiana Wants Me** Terry Jacks– **Seasons in the Sun** ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-songs/381548/85 "2006-11-24T19:24:03Z")
_Sunny came home with a list of names. She didn’t believe in transcendence. “It’s time for a few small repairs”, she said. Sunny came home with a vengeance._ ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-songs/381548/86 "2006-11-24T20:06:30Z")
[QUOTE=ElvisL1ves] _Sunny came home with a list of names. She didn’t believe in transcendence. “It’s time for a few small repairs”, she said. Sunny came home with a vengeance._ [/QUOTE] Sunny burns down her house, but I don’t think anyone was physically harmed. In contast, in the Dixie Chicks’ “Goodbye Earl” we are told that “Earl had to die”. Also, in the (very fictional) “The Night Chicago Died” by Paper Lace, it is reported that “'Bout a hundred cops are dead”. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-songs/381548/87 "2006-11-24T21:12:57Z")
And then the punches flew, and chairs were smashed in two. There was blood and a single gunshot, but just who shot who? At the Copa, Copacabana, the hotest spot north of Havanna At the Copa, Copacabana, she lost her love. And in Dylan’s masterpiece “Lily, Rosemary & The Jack of Hearts,” Lily is the only one who isn’t killed–even Big Jim gets it. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-songs/381548/88 "2006-11-24T21:48:32Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] Terry Jacks– **Seasons in the Sun** [/QUOTE] The singer is dying from unknown causes, but I don’t think murder is involved. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-songs/381548/89 "2006-11-24T22:02:30Z")
Continuing the Ohio theme: > [@](#): > > Tin soldiers and Nixon coming > We’re finally on our own > This summer I hear the drumming > Four dead in O-hi-o > Four dead in O-hi-o … And then there’s Louis Jordan and Ella Fitzgerald with the Caribbean-flavored “Stone Cold Dead in de Market” > [@](#): > > Last night he went out drinking, > When he came home he gave me a beating; > So I cotch up de rolling pin, > And went to work on his head 'til I boshed it in. > > He’s stone cold dead in de market, > Stone cold dead in de market; > He’s stone cold dead in de market, > I kill nobody but me husband. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-songs/381548/90 "2006-11-24T22:06:40Z")
Steely Dan: **Don’t Take Me Alive** (“Well, I shot my old man back in Oregon”) The Clash: **Somebody Got Murdered** (“Goodbye, for keeps, forever”) Genesis: **Robbery, Assault and Battery** (“With that he fired, the other saying as he died, ‘You’ve done me wrong!’”) Bee Gees: **I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You** (“Well, I did it to him, now it’s my turn to die”) Fairport Convention: **Matty Groves** (I didn’t want to mention any more traditional murder ballads, as there are just too many of them, but I couldn’t resist this one: “A grave, a grave, Lord Darnell cried, to put these lovers in/But bury my lady at the top, for she was of noble kin.”) ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-songs/381548/91 "2006-11-24T22:13:30Z")
[QUOTE=whitetho] The singer is dying from unknown causes, but I don’t think murder is involved. [/QUOTE] I always heard it that the singer is being executed because he commited murder. ---
**Author:** ![zeldarae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/f14d63/32.png) [@zeldarae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zeldarae)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2006, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-songs/381548/92 "2006-11-25T02:37:18Z")
The Cure - _ **Killing An Arab** _[Killing An Arab Lyrics by The Cure - Lyrics On Demand](http://www.lyricsondemand.com/c/curelyrics/killinganarablyrics.html) ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2006, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-songs/381548/93 "2006-11-25T23:10:54Z")
“They’ll never take me alive” by “Spear of Destiny”,about a killer being hunted by the law. ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2006, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-songs/381548/94 "2006-11-26T00:56:56Z")
Believe it or not, Johnny Cash actually \*cleaned up \* his version of “Cocaine Blues”, Billy Hughes’ 1947 version is far more gruesome, featuring two murders - his old lady and a rounder who comes calling for her (he “opened up the door and blew out his brains”). The Sherriff who comes to arrest him (in El Paso) sympathises ("they may have had it coming, but this looks bad for you) and Hughes is utterley unrepentant ("under those conditions, I’d do it again). What I always found odd about the song is that the guy gets 99 years in jail (in both versions) and not the DP. mm ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2006, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-songs/381548/95 "2006-11-26T01:01:21Z")
Nick Cave’s “Fifteen Feet of Pure White Snow”. Guess what’s underneath the 15 feet of snow? Suffice to say, it’s unlikely they got there by natural causes. There’s also his “Curse of Millhaven” which is gruesome, has a spectacular body count and is laugh out loud funny. mm ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2006, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-songs/381548/96 "2006-11-26T07:35:03Z")
Oysterband’s [The Oxford Girl](http://bob.bob.bofh.org/~giolla/oysterband/OG.html) takes the traditional Oxford Girl/Wexford Girl song and approaches it from another angle. Lyric writer John Jones said he wanted to make a change from the songs that told the story from the point of view of the killer. ---
**Author:** ![St.Urho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e7dd6/32.png) [@St.Urho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Urho)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2006, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-songs/381548/97 "2006-11-26T09:57:31Z")
More Springsteen songs: **Nebraska** > [@](#): > > I saw her standin’ on her front lawn just twirlin’ her baton > Me and her went for a ride sir and ten innocent people died > > From the town of Lincoln, Nebraska with a sawed off .410 on my lap > Through to the badlands of Wyoming I killed everything in my path **Johnny 99** > [@](#): > > Well they closed down the auto plant in Mahwah late that month > Ralph went out lookin’ for a job but he couldn’t find none > He came home too drunk from mixin’ Tanqueray and wine > He got a gun shot a night clerk now they call 'm Johnny 99 **Jungleland** > [@](#): > > The Rat’s own dream guns him down as shots echo down them hallways in the night > No one watches when the ambulance pulls away > Or as the girl shuts out the bedroom light Not strictly about murder, but it mentions one: **My Hometown** > [@](#): > > Two cars at a light on a Saturday night, in the back seat there was a gun > Words were passed in a shotgun blast > Troubled times had come, to my hometown ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2006, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-songs/381548/98 "2006-11-26T10:34:17Z")
More cynical people would suspect that **I Am Henry the Eighth I Am** is about murder. He aims it at the Sailor Shoots him down dead on the floor Oh, you shouldn’t do that Don’t you know you’ll stain the carpet Don’t you know you’ll stain the carpet And by the way man, have you got a dollar Just like Sister Ray says. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2006, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-songs/381548/99 "2006-11-26T14:02:49Z")
Hopefully, the pinnacle of 80s schlock would qualify: Richard Marx’s[Hazard](http://www.lyrics007.com/Richard%20Marx%20Lyrics/Hazard%20Lyrics.html). _No one cared until the night she went out walking alone… I swear I left her by the river, I swear I left her safe and sound…_ Uh huh. Or perhaps he had amnesia and was unjustly accused when his lady friend ran off with some carnie. Ya think? ---
**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:** [November 26, 2006, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-songs/381548/100 "2006-11-26T19:26:33Z")
Just heard on the radio: **Mack The Knife** “On the sidewalk, Sunday mornin’, Lies a body, oozin’ life.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-songs/381548.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-songs/381548.md?page=6)