Quicklists DCLXVI: Murder Ballads

[Smitty]

Knoxville Girl-(traditional) Louvin Bros
Nebraska - Bruce Springsteen
Assassin/Belvedere (kinda...)/Murdering Oscar - P. hood
I Can Tell Your Love is Waning/Billy Pritchard - Slobberbone
Ballad of Hollis Brown - Dylan
Caleb Meyer - Gillian Welch
Red Headed Stranger - Willie Nelson
Cedartown, Ga - Waylon Jennings
Long Black Veil - Lefty Frizzell
The First Mrs. Jones/Cold, Hard Facts of Life - Porter Wagoner
Pardon Me, I've Got Someone to Kill - Johnny Paycheck
Down the River - Chris Knight
Down by the River - Neil Young
Millers Cave - Bobby Bare
Stagger Lee/Tom Dooley/Frankie & Johnny - traditional

[njMark]

Crow Jane, Kindness of Strangers- Nick Cave on the "Murder Ballads" album which also includes Stagger Lee.

[Clams]

FolsoM Prison Blues
Hey Joe
Me and My Uncle
Johnny 99
Great Car Dealer War
Sinkhole

[Iowan]

Bull Black Nova - Wilco
Nine Bullets
The War - Lucero (suicide, murder, whats the difference right?)
I Shot the Sheriff - Bob Marley
Wanna Rock and Roll - Ray Wylie Hubbard/Cross Canadian Ragweed
Frankie's Gun - Felice Bros

['Scratch]

Cottonseed

Darlin Corey

[FlounderinDC]

Framed - Chris Knight

[dime in the gutter]

staggolee/pacific gas & electric (among the many great stagger lee tunes)
stack shot billy/black keys (yet another derivation)
midnight rambler/stones
mack the knife/bobby derrin
night prowler/acdc

[dime in the gutter]

Down by the River - Neil Young

i thought this was about getting a hummer.

could be wrong.

[Joshua]

Billy Austin - Steve Earle

[Clams]

Framed - Chris Knight

Down the River by Chris Knight

[dime in the gutter]

lilli schull/uncle tupelo

[Clams]

Long Black Veil
Gimme Shelter

[dime in the gutter]

been set free/son volt
last words of midnight clyde/blue mountain (i think)

[Swamp]

Sting's "I Hung My Head" by Johnny Cash

[dime in the gutter]

cocaine blues/cash

[Kudzu Guillotine]

Slobberbone "Shoot You Dead"
Angry Johnny & the Killbillies (their entire catalog)

[Smitty]

Slobberbone "Shoot You Dead"
Angry Johnny & the Killbillies (their entire catalog)

First heard of Angry Johnny at the end of that 11:13 movie, when "All American Girl" played over the credits. After that I looked em up and dug what I heard for the most part - I think DBT toured with them alot in the early days.

[Iowan]

Slobberbone "Dunk You in the River"

[dee dee]

Barres De La Prison - Buddy Miller and the Majestic Silver Strings featuring Marc Ribot. I'm sure someone else wrote it, but it was the first I've heard of it. Similar to Uncle Tupelo's Lili Schull.

[Smitty]

Slobberbone "Dunk You in the River"

?

[Kudzu Guillotine]

Slobberbone "Shoot You Dead"
Angry Johnny & the Killbillies (their entire catalog)

First heard of Angry Johnny at the end of that 11:13 movie, when "All American Girl" played over the credits. After that I looked em up and dug what I heard for the most part - I think DBT toured with them alot in the early days.

Cooley was sporting a Hankenstein shirt in some of the webisodes for The Big To-Do. I like Angry Johnny and the Killbillies and even have a couple of their records but a little of it goes a long ways. Can't say I listen to 'em a lot these days.

[LBRod]

My Good Gal - OCMS

[Iowan]

Slobberbone "Dunk You in the River"

?

Always kind of took it as drowning someone.

"So it seems I pissed you off
And can throw a fit, fuss, holler and spit ...
Cuss and bitch and scoff

And true, if I were in your shoes,
I'd do the same, my friend,
Then I'd dunk you in the river once again.

So you talked to all my friends
And you fed them lines, lies and alibis
Tried to do me in

They're all braced for a knock-down bout,
but I don't care who wins
I'll just dunk you in the river once again.

It's a long road outa here
And paved, it seems, with misplaced dreams
Heartache, doubt and fear

But I've finally found a drink
to wash away all the world's sins
And I'll dunk you in the river once again.

'Cause if we can't fight, then be all right,
we're done for in the end ...
I'll just dunk you in the river, once again, oh my friend ...
I'll just dunk you in the river once again ..."

I stand by that interpretation.

[Smitty]

Slobberbone "Dunk You in the River"

?

Always kind of took it as drowning someone.

"So it seems I pissed you off
And can throw a fit, fuss, holler and spit ...
Cuss and bitch and scoff

And true, if I were in your shoes,
I'd do the same, my friend,
Then I'd dunk you in the river once again.

So you talked to all my friends
And you fed them lines, lies and alibis
Tried to do me in

They're all braced for a knock-down bout,
but I don't care who wins
I'll just dunk you in the river once again.

It's a long road outa here
And paved, it seems, with misplaced dreams
Heartache, doubt and fear

But I've finally found a drink
to wash away all the world's sins
And I'll dunk you in the river once again.

'Cause if we can't fight, then be all right,
we're done for in the end ...
I'll just dunk you in the river, once again, oh my friend ...
I'll just dunk you in the river once again ..."

I stand by that interpretation.

Wow, that's a lot darker than it's ever occurred to me - I always took it as being really light hearted jab at a friend/significant other -
you left out the last line (which kinda kills the drowning thing for me)

"Yeah when I get home and we're alone, I promise you my friend
that I'll dunk you in the river once again"

[Iowan]

Slobberbone "Dunk You in the River"

Always kind of took it as drowning someone.

"So it seems I pissed you off
And can throw a fit, fuss, holler and spit ...
Cuss and bitch and scoff

And true, if I were in your shoes,
I'd do the same, my friend,
Then I'd dunk you in the river once again.

So you talked to all my friends
And you fed them lines, lies and alibis
Tried to do me in

They're all braced for a knock-down bout,
but I don't care who wins
I'll just dunk you in the river once again.

It's a long road outa here
And paved, it seems, with misplaced dreams
Heartache, doubt and fear

But I've finally found a drink
to wash away all the world's sins
And I'll dunk you in the river once again.

'Cause if we can't fight, then be all right,
we're done for in the end ...
I'll just dunk you in the river, once again, oh my friend ...
I'll just dunk you in the river once again ..."

I stand by that interpretation.

Wow, that's a lot darker than it's ever occurred to me - I always took it as being really light hearted jab at a friend/significant other -
you left out the last line (which kinda kills the drowning thing for me)

"Yeah when I get home and we're alone, I promise you my friend
that I'll dunk you in the river once again"

I just googled the lyrics and didn't notice the final omission, but even the last line doesn't change how I feel (it was in my head as I was thinking of the song). Hell, I'd argue it almost drives the murder point home farther, a la "Girl From Knoxville" where the protagonist is killing someone they like. I also wouldn't put it past a character in a Brent Best song to kill off someone they're close to. Hell, almost all the murderers in his killin' songs (I Can Tell Your Love is Waning/Billy Pritchard) are close to their victims.

[cortez the killer]

Down by the River - Neil Young

i thought this was about getting a hummer.

could be wrong.

Close. Hand job.

[cortez the killer]

How Will You Meet Your End/A.A. Bondy
Delia's Gone/Johnny Cash
Revolution Blues/Neil Young
Helter Skelter/The Beatles (Not written or intended as one, but co-opted by a psycho as one)
Ten Cent Pistol/The Black Keys

[alicedmillionaire]

Arlene - Handsome Family

[Slipkid42]

The Ripper - Judas Priest
Watching The Detectives - Elvis Costello & The Attractions
Smoking Gun - Robert Cray

[Clams]

Used to Love Her by GnR