The songs in this playlist are stories about men murdering women, in many cases somewhere by a river. Some are quite disturbing as they're sung from the perspective of the killer. Others are sung with pity for the murderer, which is a little better, but still not really acceptable.
1. Down In The Willow Garden - David Grisman
2. Delia's Gone - Johnny Cash
3. Tom Dooley - Doc Watson
4. Red Headed Stranger - Willie Nelson
5. Down By The River - Neil Young
6. Delilah - Tom Jones
7. Used To Love Her - Guns N' Roses
8. Excitable Boy - Warren Zevon
9. Omie Wise - Bert Jansch
10. Little Sadie - Bob Dylan
11. In Search Of Little Sadie - Bob Dylan
12. Hey Joe - Jimi Hendrix
13. Pretty Polly - The Stanley Brothers
14. Polly Vaughn - The Dillards
15. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap - AC/DC
16. Margaret On The Guillotine - Morrissey
17. Over You - Aaron Neville
18. Mattie Groves - The Beers Family
19. Shooting You Down - Faster Pussycat
20. Mind Of A Lunatic - Geto Boys
21. Lonely River Rhine - FSK
22. Knoxville Girl - The Outlaws
23. They're Hanging Me Tonight - Marty Robbins
24. Cocaine Blues - Johnny Cash
25. Summer Cannibals - Patti Smith
26. Goodnight Irene - Ry Cooder
27. I'm Gonna Murder My Baby (Pat Hare) - Junior Parker/James Cotton...
28. A Good Idea - Sugar
29. Didnt' Mean To Kill Her - Pauls Apartment"
30. Diane - Husker Du
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Julie
Theses songs stem from an ancient wandering minstrel story telling tradition.Jealousy and conflict in a relationship are as old as time itself.The murder brings it to it's ultimate conclusion.And then follows quite often the murderer's regret or punishment for his deed.It should be noted that for the most part these stories are fictional.
My only objection to this piece is the phrase "still not really acceptable." Must a story or any piece of Art be acceptable to be praiseworthy? This seems to be taking political correctness way too far in my opinion.
2 - Mike Kole
Add My Dad Is Dead's "Lay Down The Law" for an obscure treat. In the interest of equal time, also check out MDID's "Nothing Special" which is about killing your man.
Hey- didn't Al Barger just do a list like this?
3 - Douglas Mays
Yeah, with slavery being at a larger level than ever before in history (women as sex slaves), woman is nigger to the world.
African Americans (x-cept for black women), quit complaining. Slavery exists right now, big time. And black is not it. We have a big problem to deal with.
I guess these songs point out some sort of reality of sickness.
anyway..
4 - Robert Burke
Julie, I would never say these songs did not qualify as art, far from it, but it is my belief that showing murder in a sympathetic light is a bad idea and as you explained in your post, not a very new or original one. It has nothing to do with political correctness.
5 - Jon Sobel
My wife has a song about a woman killing a man, with a river in it. I'll bet you couldn't come up with a whole playlist of those, but it's called "Ring of Love."
6 - Vern Halen
Track down the Anthology of American Folk Music on Folkways/Smithsonian records, get yourself a copy of Invisible Republic (reprinted I think as The Old, Weird America by Greil Marcus) and all your questions about music & history will be answered.
Seriously - it's a fascinating discussion that not only addresses that wandering minstral tradition mentioned earlier; for some, it even adresses the American national character, whatever that means.
7 - Rick
One more to add:
"Momma's in the Graveyard, Daddy's in the Pen"
8 - Rick
UPDATE: The correct title is "Poppa Loved Men" Lyrics by Willie Nelson,Song by Garth Brooks
9 - HW Saxton
On the punk side of things there's the
Ramones song:You're Gonna Kill That Girl
10 - L. Cue
Did Douglas Mays just tell me to "quit complaining"?
What am I complaining about again?
11 - Lono
You missed a large handful of Eminem songs. Here are two: Stan, & Bitch I'm Gonna Kill You (no really, that is a song)
I spose the rap genre probably has whole nother list like this.
12 - Douglas Mays
L. Cue, sorry for any misunderstanding. I was just saying we got to abolish slavery (and oppression) of all sort that exists right now. We abolished slavery by race long ago (I'm just pointing out the folks that use slavery as the race problems of today).
but the point is that, heck, I always had problems of songs that portray violence against women. "Hey Joe, where you going with that gun in your hand?"
L Cue, I wasn't talkin' to you, you aren't complaining, true? You know what the deal is. But, I bet I sure russled the hairs on Mac Diva's head...
anyway....
13 - HW Saxton
The old folk song called:"On The Banks
Of The Ohio" is a great kill your woman
song. I've got a cool cowpunk version of
it by the L.A band "Blood On The Saddle"
I dunno who did it first but it's from
the late 1800's and is based on a much
older british folk song.
14 - L. Cue
yeah, there are tons of songs about this in hip-hop. There is somewhat of a movement going on inside hip-hop, like the beginings of a civil war, in regards to this very same thing.
Many hip-hop insiders are tired of defending songs that feature violence directed towards woman and men. We hate how people who only see hip hop from the outside looking in, trash our music without knowing the full story. At the same time, when they are right about the abusive song content, we are left out in the cold, looking like fools.
But my point is...hell I don't have a point..these songs are in every genre I suppose...I'll try to compile a list.
15 - angus mcyoung
re: dirty deeds done dirt cheap.
That always struck me as a unisex
assassination song. If you look at
the cover of the album the "victims"
(or are they "assassins"?) are of mixed
age and gender.
Perhaps "you shook me all night long"
is a better choice -- presuming that the
narrator killed her in the morning.
killed her with ROCK N ROLL!!
16 - Douglas Mays
L. Cue, ah shit, I see how I fucked up in my original post. I said African American, I should have included stupid white political correct morons who really fuel racism. I don't know your race anyway, as long as you are human. Sorry about that chief.
Anyway, as I was falling asleep, "Down By the River" started rolling thru my brain. I had to come online to see if it was listed. It was. Hey Joe, had to go downtown to shoot his old lady, caught her messin' round with another man...
brutal. To balance things out, I can't wait to hear what women artists have to sing about killing asshole guys. Greatest hits by Loraine Bobbit, Susan Smith, and many others. Kids being murdered by parents and other adults can be included. Could make a great comp. album.
It is a sick, sad world....
17 - Robert Burke
HW Saxton - thanks for the great addition! On The Banks
Of The Ohio"
Great one. Also, i left the Eminem out just because I didn;t think it would fit musically with the rest very well, I almost left out the Husker Du, Sugar and AC/DC as well.
These could really be boken out into Rock, Folk, Rap genres, etc.
18 - RJ
One more to add:
"Momma's in the Graveyard, Daddy's in the Pen"
A classic by Garth Brooks!
19 - RJ
How about Kenny Rogers, as a war-cripple, begging his woman not to "take her love to town"...
He threatens murder. Great song! ;-)
20 - Eric Olsen
great list and follow-up, you guys got all the ones that popped right into my head - I always thought the Beatles' "Run For Your Life" was really misogynistic and out of character
21 - Eric Olsen
oh, and once again Nick Cave's entire Murder Ballads album applies
22 - Robert Burke
"He threatens murder"
Maybe "threatening murder" can be a future playlist amd even more difficult "songs about killing your dog"
23 - Temple Stark
This is the seocnd time in as many months that someone has posted a "killing women" playlist.
Why? It's no news that these songs exist. There are many more songs about killing men.
Would you really want to hear a whole list of songs in a row about killing women? That does speak toward a healthy mind. Not diseased either, but not healthy.
However, I know you're just making playlists. it's not a big thing merely an observation and a wonder.
24 - RJ
The Dixie Chicks have a song about killing a man. Actually, it's a good tune!
25 - SFC SKI
What about "The Night the lights Went Out in Georgia"?. "Little sista don't miss when she aims her gun!", indeed!