# What songs are "sinister" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 3, 2005, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-are-sinister/324658 "2005-10-03T23:01:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**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:** [October 4, 2005, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-are-sinister/324658/61 "2005-10-04T18:31:26Z")
> [@Jurph](#): > > **The Mariner’s Revenge Song** by the Decemberists gives me shivers, and reminds me of the Cask of Amontillado and other classic revenge tales. … > > … > > You’re trapped in the dark belly of a whale with one other person, and he happens to be a mad mariner who has been hunting you down since he was three years old? Sinister. Which reminds me, how about “In the Air Tonight” by Phil Collins (especially with the urban legend associated with the song)? ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-are-sinister/324658/62 "2005-10-04T19:10:50Z")
“Rambling Man” by Hank Williams (Sr.) – it starts out as an apology for being a wanderer, and ends as basically a suicide note: _And when I’m gone, and at my grave you stand Just say God’s called home, your ramblin’ man_ Mississippi bluesman Skip James (1902-1969) recorded _lots_ of creepy stuff. In “Cypress Grove Blues” he longingly wishes death on his faithless woman: _When your knee bone’s aching and your body’s cold You’re just getting ready, ready for the cypress grove_ ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-are-sinister/324658/63 "2005-10-04T20:30:31Z")
Thought of another … **Monster Magnet** ’s _See You In Hell._ A guy and a girl have a fling. She gives birth in a motel room. She kills the baby and has him bury it in a Jersey landfill. If that weren’t bad enough, the baby comes back to life as undead and hunts them down. The song is played with a 60’s Munsters style keyboard. ---
**Author:** ![Treviathan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/838e76/32.png) [@Treviathan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treviathan)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-are-sinister/324658/64 "2005-10-04T20:45:18Z")
Almost everything by Greg Dulli, formerly of the **Afghan Whigs** and now a member of the **Twilight Singers**. His songs are intensely sexual and he always sounds like he’s one step away from doing something perversely violent. The last half of “1965” sounds like it was meant to be the perfect soundtrack for anonymous, dirty, back-alley sex. ---
**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:** [October 4, 2005, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-are-sinister/324658/65 "2005-10-04T23:39:59Z")
Although people now often associate him with soundtracks to Disney movies, many of Randy Newman’s songs from the first part of his career were deceptively sinister. Case in point: “Sail Away.” The Copland-like melody of the song hides the fact that it’s about a slave-trader trying to trick an African child into bondage by telling him about a wonderful land America is. ---
**Author:** ![sleeepy2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@sleeepy2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeepy2)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-are-sinister/324658/66 "2005-10-05T00:09:57Z")
_Mack The Knife_ has always had nasty lyrics (he’s a serial killer) but it wasn’t until Jimmie Dale Gilmore’s version that the music matched the words in “sinisterness”. For some bizarre reason it had always been sung as an up-tempo, fun song 😕 . ---
**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:** [October 5, 2005, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-are-sinister/324658/67 "2005-10-05T00:20:08Z")
“Grimly Fiendish” by \*\*The Damned \*\* has a theatrical, music-hall, playfully sinister quality, as opposed to the psychologically disturbed, serious sort of sinister. “Dead Man’s Party” by **Oingo Boingo** is more cartoonish still, although the lyrics at face value are ghoulish. “Two-Dollar Wine” by \*\*The Glands \*\* has that sinister vibrato-thing going on in the guitar strumming. Off the album Double Thriller, with B-horror-movie-like artwork. \*\*Robyn Hitchcock \*\* (ex-Soft Boys, solo artist, and again with the Soft Boys) has an ongoing obsession with the morbid and perverse, not all of it sinister-sounding (“My Wife and My Dead Wife”). To me, though, he sounds his eeriest when he seems to be channelling John Lennon (“Ted, Woody and Junior”). Much of **Talking Heads** ’ Fear of Music. A lot of **Barry Adamson** ’s stuff. Ditto for **Siouxsie Sioux and the Banshees** , mining that art/Goth-lite vein… And David Tibet, whose alienated soundscapes/chanting mixes go beyond Goth and into the satanic, or maybe alien. But my all-time Most Sinister Album would have to be the soundtrack to [The Wicker Man](http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/easy/reviews/paulgiovanni_wicker.shtml), with its blend of traditional and original songs and instrumentals. It helps to have seen the movie, of course, but I think one would find much of the music sinister-sounding anyway (those Lydian arpeggios!). ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-are-sinister/324658/68 "2005-10-05T02:38:16Z")
> [@sleeepy2](#): > > _Mack The Knife_ has always had nasty lyrics (he’s a serial killer) but it wasn’t until Jimmie Dale Gilmore’s version that the music matched the words in “sinisterness”. For some bizarre reason it had always been sung as an up-tempo, fun song 😕 . Speaking of Jimmy Dale Gilmore, how about [_Where You Going_](http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/jimmie-dale-gilmore/where-you-going-12524.html)? The song is part obsession, part psychedelia, part psychosis, and all to a beat that might leave Johnny Cash feeling a little unsettled. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-are-sinister/324658/69 "2005-10-05T02:47:24Z")
> [@sleeepy2](#): > > For some bizarre reason it had always been sung as an up-tempo, fun song 😕 . That’s just the way Brecht and Weill worked, I think. ---
**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:** [October 11, 2005, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-are-sinister/324658/70 "2005-10-11T14:28:13Z")
But my all-time Most Sinister Album would have to be the soundtrack to [The Wicker Man](http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/easy/reviews/paulgiovanni_wicker.shtml), with its blend of traditional and original songs and instrumentals. It helps to have seen the movie, of course, but I think one would find much of the music sinister-sounding anyway (those Lydian arpeggios!). [/QUOTE] There’s lots of sinister in folk and folk-rock: Mr Fox - Mendle, Mr Fox, Rip Van Winkle - hell, virtually their entire output! Fairport Convention - Admiral Gower, Crazy Man Michael, Bring 'em Down, Sloth… Waterson/Carthy - The Holland Handkerchief Oysterband - We Could Leave Right Now, Road to Santiago. Can’t believe I’ve unlurked just for that! Just call me folk geek. (Hiya y’all, by the way!) ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_the\_Turtle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_the_turtle/32/2926_2.png) [@Fear\_the\_Turtle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_the_Turtle)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2005, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-are-sinister/324658/71 "2005-10-11T20:39:50Z")
Another (mostly) lurker checking in. Usually someone mentions my songs before I can chime in. Can’t believe no-one has mentioned \*\*Ghost Town \*\* by The Specials and a lesser known **All Roads Lead to Rome** by the Stranglers ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-are-sinister/324658/72 "2005-10-12T01:45:40Z")
> [@stpauler](#): > > Snakefarm put out a great CD of trad folk songs done in a trip-hop way called “Songs from my Funeral”. (Or “Songs for my Funeral”…the CD says one, the case says the other). They cover songs like “St James Infirmery”, “Banks of the Ohio”, and “Frankie and Johnny”. A really solid album I love that someone else knows who **Snakefarm** is! I’ve been an **Anna Domino** fan since about 1988. She has such an amazing, husky voice. **Siouxsie & the Banshees** do sinister very very well. I especially like their cover of “Trust In Me.” **Kate Bush’s** “Get Out Of My House” and “Leave It Open” are creepy, as are “Pull Out The Pin” and “Waking the Witch.” Toyah’s “The Creepy Room” fits the bill. Since I can share these with [her full permission](http://wretchawry.com/happy/samples), I’m going to. Forget her name, it’s her real name, and it has no bearing on her music, much of which is very dark. Happy Rhodes does creepy wonderfull well. Picking from early songs (at the time, she was an apprentice engineer at a recording studio, and recorded her own songs to learn the equipment, never realizing at the time they’d one day be gathered together and released on albums. Everything you hear is her), here are several: [**Beat It Out**](http://wretchawry.com/happy/samples/HappyRhodes_RhodesII12_BeatItOut.mp3) (a slo-mo nightmare, this was an exercise in seeing how low she could get her voice to go) [**I’m Going Back**](http://wretchawry.com/happy/samples/HappyRhodes_Ecto01_ImGoingBack.mp3) (“Where are my monsters, and cats? Where are my attic antiques, and bats?”) [**Take Me With You**](http://wretchawry.com/happy/samples/HappyRhodes_RhodesII14_TakeMeWithYou(bonustrack).mp3) (a creepy waltz about murder-suicide) [**Possessed**](http://wretchawry.com/happy/samples/HappyRhodes_RhodesI05_Possessed.mp3) (about insanity) [**Asylum Master**](http://wretchawry.com/happy/samples/HappyRhodes_RhodesII11_AsylumMaster.mp3) (see above) [**Project 499**](http://wretchawry.com/happy/samples/HappyRhodes_Ecto05_Project499.mp3) (see above) From her middle period, when she decided to make “real” albums… [**To Live In Your World**](http://wretchawry.com/happy/samples/HappyRhodes_Warpaint04_ToLiveInYourWorld.mp3) (creepy song from the point of view of a murderer) [**Lay Me Down**](http://wretchawry.com/happy/samples/HappyRhodes_Warpaint07_LayMeDown.mp3) (imagine blood-red roses strewn on black velvet) [**Cohabitants**](http://wretchawry.com/happy/samples/HappyRhodes_Equipoise08_Cohabitants.mp3) (that little creature who’s trying to drive you insane is back) From more recent work… [**Winter**](http://wretchawry.com/happy/samples/HappyRhodes_ManyWorldsAreBornTonight08_Proof.mp3) (simply haunting) [**If Wishes Were Horses How Beggars Would Ride**](http://wretchawry.com/happy/samples/HappyRhodes_ManyWorldsAreBornTonight05_IfWishesWereHorsesHowBeggarsWouldRide.mp3) (a great regret, and great sadness) She has several other pretty and/or jaunty songs about death and depression and monsters and vampires and sucide, and the music makes them, to me, even creepier. I’ve only scratched the surface. Believe it or not, she’s a very funny person and has a great sense of humor, she’s not all morose or anything. (If I could share mp3s of Siouxsie and Kate and Snakefarm and Nick Cave and Toyah too, I would.) ---
**Author:** ![MackoUr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@MackoUr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MackoUr)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-are-sinister/324658/73 "2005-10-12T05:55:22Z")
The soundtrack to _Twin Peaks_ is my number one creepy album. Sometime ago I heard a cd from a Finnish group called “His Infernal Majesty”; it had their version of _Don’t Fear the Reaper_ which still sticks with me. But the one I listen to every Halloween is the Pogue’s _Turkish Song of the Damned_. ---
**Author:** ![soulmurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@soulmurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulmurk)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-are-sinister/324658/74 "2005-10-12T06:42:02Z")
A while back **Glenn Danzig** did _Black Aria_, an orchestral, instrumental album, that qualifies as sinister. Each song is only a few minutes long, and the entire disc is only about 30 minutes, but it is very dark and moody. Good stuff. More than a few songs by **Marilyn Manson** are pretty sinister. The first time I had a friend listen to _Portrait of an American Family_, the intro, _Prelude (Family Trip)_, where Marilyn recites the famous tunnel “speech” from Willy Wonka, creeped him out so much he refused to listen to the rest of the album. Their version of _I Put a Spell On You_ is pretty creepy too, but more due to the lyrics than the music. Regarding the **Toadies** song _Possum Kingdom_, I don’t think there is any more argument for one interpretation over the other, and personally prefer the more fanciful one. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-are-sinister/324658/75 "2005-10-12T08:31:08Z")
“Suddenly Last Summer”–The Motels “Synchronicity II”–The Police ---
**Author:** ![Witch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/258eb7/32.png) [@Witch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Witch)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-are-sinister/324658/76 "2005-10-12T12:15:36Z")
> [@Labdad](#): > > Indeed - as well as “Stray Cat Blues.” Seduction of a 15 year old! :eek: But what a great jam! And let’s add “Gimme Shelter” to the list as well. The Stones were rather good at this sort of thing back in the day. ---
**Author:** ![Witch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/258eb7/32.png) [@Witch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Witch)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-are-sinister/324658/77 "2005-10-12T12:16:15Z")
> [@Labdad](#): > > Indeed - as well as “Stray Cat Blues.” Seduction of a 15 year old! :eek: But what a great jam! And let’s add “Gimme Shelter” to the list as well. The Stones were rather good at this sort of thing back in the day. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-are-sinister/324658/78 "2005-10-12T13:32:05Z")
> [@soulmurk](#): > > Their version of _I Put a Spell On You_ is pretty creepy too, but more due to the lyrics than the music. Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ iconic version of that song is pretty damn sinister itself. It’s downright SCARY. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-are-sinister/324658/79 "2005-10-12T14:01:14Z")
Also, anything by Paul McCartney, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Elliot Easton (Cars), Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath), Greg Lake, and many others. Because they play left-handed. Sinister, get it? D&R. ---
**Author:** ![Coil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Coil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coil)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-are-sinister/324658/80 "2005-10-12T18:25:17Z")
> [@Critical1](#): > > Coil, Tainted Love (cover) I took my username from that one (I had bought that single one day when I made my first MUD character who got to be Coil) > [@interface2x](#): > > **Depeche Mode** “To Have and To Hold” > **Depeche Mode** “Nothing’s Impossible” - one of the best songs from the new album, and by DAVE! To have and to hold? Really? In what way? Can’t comment on the new one until I buy the album on Monday. I’ll add another vote for Mr Cave and toss in Leather Strip’s version of Venus in Furs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-are-sinister/324658.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-are-sinister/324658.md?page=5)