Another I just remembered -
“Country Death Song” by the Violent Femmes
“Once Upon A Daydream” by The Police
“Aisha” by Death in Vegas
You’re right, PhiloVance. “Mack the Knife” for sure.
That’s all I got.
“Hazard” by Richard Marx
“Straight Time” by Bruce Springsteen
“Galveston Bay” Bruce Springsteen
“Cadillac Jack” by Clint Black
“The Thunder Rolls” (live version) Garth Brooks
“Papa Loved Mama” by Garth Brooks
“Murder in the Trailer Park” by Cowboy Junkies
“Renegade” by Styx
“The Killing of Georgie” Rod Stewart
This is from memory, so forgive me if the lyrics are not exact:
“Mama, just killed a man. Put my gun against his head, pulled my trigger, now he’s dead.”
There’s a bunch more Nick Cave songs:
- Sonny’s Burning (Birthday Party)
- Deep In The Woods (BP)
- 6" Gold Blade (BP)
- Hamlet (BP)
- Your Funeral, My Trial (after the murder … still a great song :p)
- Deanna
- City of Refuge (just after the murder)
Also, “Long Time Man” by Tim Rose (also by Nick Cave), even though it’s set after the murder, recounts the events in detail.
Some others…
Velvet Underground - Sister Ray. Also, “The Gift” has an accidental killing.
Iron Maiden:
- Killers
- Murders In The Rue Morgue
- Iron Maiden
- The Trooper
- Invaders
- Run To The Hills
- The Assassin
(etc).
Come to think of it, there’s thousands of Heavy Metal songs that fit the bill here ;).
“Killer Is Me” - Alice in Chains
“Once”, by (of all bands) Pearl Jam, is about a serial killer who murders prostitutes. The song is the centerpiece of a trilogy of songs about this murderer. The first, “Alive”, deals with his formative years, and the last, “Footstepse”, his ultimate execution.
I always figured that The Stooges’s “Ann” ended in blood, but I couldn’t prove it from the lyrics.
Speaking of Iggy Pop, he is the featured vocalist on the Death in Vegas song “Aisha”, which is definately about a murderer. He says so right at the beginning!
Better Than Ezra:
Summerhouse
Porcelain
One More Murder
Teenager (possibly…)
Bruce Springsteen:
Nebraska
GGFH:
Room 213
X:
Johnny Hit and Run Paulene
The Toadies – “Possum Kingdom.”
It’s sort of about murder – in a vampire kind of way.
Pretty much any song by Funkervogt, especially The Killing Fields.
Likewise with Velvet Acid Christ.
“You All Look Alike” - The Byrds. Sung from the dying man’s perspective.
“The Letters” - King Crimson. Alludes to a murder/suicide.
“Ohio” - CSN&Y
“Tired Eyes” - Neil Young
“Jeannie Needs A Shooter” - Warren Zevon
The Red Headed Stranger album - Willie Nelson
The good ol’ Primus tune, “My Name is Mud”
“We had our words,
a common spat,
so I kissed him upside the cranium
with that aluminum baseball bat.”
In Sublime’s Santeria, the narrator wants to kill the guy his girlfriend’s been fooling around with, if that counts.
“Jeremy”-Pearl Jam (Yeah, it’s about suicide, but it’s still a story and it happens in the end).
“Delia’s Gone”, Johnny Cash
These are great! Here are more:
The Damned – “Thrill Kill”
Mark Lanegan (or traditional?) – “Little Sadie”
Boomtown Rats – “I Don’t Like Mondays”
Elvis Costello – “Let Him Dangle”
Joy Division – “Atrocity Exhibition”
Bruce Springsteen – “Nebraska”
There are so many songs like that! Every Swans song I can think of, for example, is full of bloody, destructive imagery, but it doesn’t seem like anybody literally is killed in the stories. Dang.
(Sorry, Nocturne, I didn’t see your “Nebraska” listing.)
‘Waltzing Matilda’
‘Kill Americans’ TISM (It’s a joke and not an actual exhortation to kill Americans)
‘Killing in the Name of’ and ‘Bullet in the Head’ both by Rage Against the Machine
‘Sunday, Bloody Sunday’ U2
‘I was only Nineteen’ Goanna
How 'bout:
Red Right Hand by Nick Cave
Motley Crue:
You’re All I Need
Garth Brooks:
Mama’s in the Graveyard, Papa’s in the Pen
Ah, but in Red Right Hand, no one dies in the song.
“Well, why is his hand red, then?”
Wellll, maybe he killed someone in the past, but, hey, he could have also touched some wet paint. The song doesn’t say.
Oh! I got one!
Public Enemy - Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos
MC 900 Foot Jesus - Real Black Angel
Rocket from the Crypt - Killy Kill
Thin Lizzy, I believe.