Don’t forget father raping!
One of the modern classics, Merle Haggard’s Mama Tried, containing some of the greatest lines in American music:
And I turned twenty-one in prison doing life without parole.
No-one could steer me right but Mama tried, Mama tried.
Mama tried to raise me better, but her pleading, I denied.
That leaves only me to blame 'cos Mama tried.
Once you get past the Maypole songs, and the Methodist adaptations of them to a Protestant context, American and British music are all about the crimes, from the 15th century to now. However, imagine my folky disappointment to learn that The Highwayman’s author, Alfred Noyes, died four years AFTER I was born. Which means that he was still alive when Mad Magazine did its parody, though some years before I read it and, upon hearing this song, connected “The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,” with Harvey Kurtzman(?)'s illustration.
Mother stabbing!
Lynching: Strange Fruit, Miss Otis Regrets
Prostitution
Roxanne - The Police
Tomorrow We’ll See - Sting
Neil Young’s “Down by the River” is a classic.
A bit under the radar, a somewhat similar tale reversed, and a definite favorite: “Rene,” by Knife in the Water. You can use this Google link to hear the song via Lula player, lyrics are the first or second result.
Rape:
Tori Amos “Me and a Gun”
Sublime “Date Rape”
Murder:
The Unfinished Sympathy “I Killed Her But That’s Not The Point”
Le Tigre “Bang! Bang!”
Chuck Prophet “West Memphis Moon”
the Violent Femmes “Country Death Song”
Kate Bush “There Goes a Tenner” (Bank robbery)
As a bonus, here’s the same song covered and updated to a modern criminal argot.
Murder:
El Paso
Indiana Wants Me
Spousal abuse and murder
The Thunder Rolls by Garth Brooks
What about Don’t Fear The Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult, and The End, by the Doors, both of which are about suicide?
Murder
Water’s Edge by Seven Mary Three
Violence Against gays:
Sponge “Death of a Drag Queen”
School Shootings:
Flyleaf “Cassie”
POD “Youth Of The Nation”
My Chemical Romance “Teenagers”
I have that CD and I never knew that that’s what the song is about. Thank you for posting that.
About to commit murder
Angry Johnny by Poe
Here are a few…
Robbery:
Kate Bush - “There Goes A Tenner”
Breaking and Entering, Robbery:
Peter Gabriel - “Intruder”
Murder:
Peter Gabriel - “No Self Control”
Peter Gabriel - “Family Snapshot”
HTR - “To Live In Your World”
HTR - “Murder”
Kate Bush - “The Wedding List” (lyrics)
Kate Bush - “Mother Stands For Comfort” (lyrics) (it’s actually about a murderer’s mother covering up for her child)
Kate Bush - “Coffee Homeground” (lyrics)
Exene Cervenka - “Cocktail Trees”
Murder/Suicide
HTR - “Take Me With You”
Domestic/Family Violence:
Kate Bush - “Not This Time” (lyrics)
Mila Drumke - Constance
Katell Keineg - “Franklin”
HTR - “Closer”
Incest/Child Abuse:
Toni Childs - “Daddy’s Song”
October Project - “Bury My Lovely”
HTR - “The Chariot”
HTR - “Life On Mars” (not a Bowie cover)
Kate Bush - “The Infant Kiss” (based on the movie The Innocents which was based on Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw)
Kate Bush - “The Kick Inside” (lyrics) (could also go under suicide)
Smuggling:
Kate Bush - “Night Of The Swallow” (lyrics)
Genocide:
Kate Bush - “The Dreaming” (lyrics)
HTR - “Looking Over Cliffs”
Prostitution:
Kate Bush - “In The Warm Room” (lyrics)
Kidnapping:
HTR - “Case of Glass”
Rape (probably):
Kate Bush - “The Handsome Cabin Boy” (lyrics)
Ok, reaching…
Tresspassing:
Kate Bush - “Rocket’s Tail” (lyrics)
Suicide:
HTR - “I Have A Heart”
HTR - “Lay Me Down”
HTR - “Suicide Song”
HTR - “The First To Cry”
Bullying (maybe not a crime as such, but it should be):
HTR - “If I Ever See The Girl Again”
Outlaws:
Kate Bush - “James and the Cold Gun” (lyrics)
Child abuse
Luka by Suzanne Vega
Possible murder, or suicide, or both, by a crazy ex
Shame by Stabbing Westward
Hmmm…while I knew that there were songs about crime, I never knew there were so many of them.
Pretty Polly is another song about murder, btw.
Seriously disturbing song about child rape
The childcatcher by Patrick Wolf Patrick Wolf - The Childcatcher Lyrics