When Your Cup Runneth Over: Murder Ballads for the Ages

I often point to the prevalence of the murder ballad in twentieth century music as an indicator of a more honest time.  Life was hard, especially for certain disenfranchised groups of people, the poor farmer, the unwanted immigrant, the dismissed woman, or the lynched African American.  There wasn't the complacency that comes with being fat, content and entertained.  Not only do I think melancholic and dark songs helped the salt-of-the-earth folks cope with the hardships of everyday rural life to the depression of a big city tenement, but it also helped set the stage for uprising and much-needed revolution.  When we are more honest about our personal situations, and the situations of society at large, it can effectively lead to a real change.  Which is one reason why I think gloomy, lugubrious songs have been driven underground.  There is a certain cushiness that comes with the creature comforts of the twenty-first century that keeps rebellion at bay.  Each successive generation takes a what it took their forefathers to get them there, a little more for granted.  We live in a digital age where vast libraries of knowledge are literally at our fingertips, yet studies are showing we Americans are collectively getting dumber as we rely on technology more.  Instead of learning about any given subject on the infinite internet, we often find ourselves mindlessly playing Candy Crush, looking up an endless stream of cat videos on YouTube, or jerking off to mediocre porn.  We live in era where so-called "negative" emotions are frowned upon, and stigmatized.  "There are pills for that, you know." Or, "Why don't you just get drunk like everybody else?"  It's a little difficult to crush 200,00 years of human evolution with an half century of barbiturates, mind-numbing "entertainment," and the subtle tsk-tsk condemnation of the faux-positivity set.  Negative emotions have always existed in congruence with bleak circumstances.  To deny them is ludicrous and futile.

Murder ballads are also gruesome cautionary tales set to song, but sometimes the message is unclear.  Sometimes they seem to be trying to preach the prevention of making costly mistakes such as murdering a loved one, yet others seem to preach the prevention of the sins of the flesh that may drive a jilted lover to the lengths of murder.  In either event, I'd like to present a varied selection of murder ballads to taunt the mind, and stir the soul.

Let's start with something a little more recognizable, but with such a fun tempo, you kind of forget it's even a murder ballad.  It's got that 50's dance-ability that you just can't help but twist your hips and snap those finger, but it's still about a guy getting shot over a dice game.

Lloyd Price's version of "Stagger Lee"

"Stagger Lee" I think moves us nicely into "Frankie and Johnny" which is also known as "Frankie and Albert" done by everyone from Mississippi John Hurt to Elvis.  But this is my favorite version by the venerable Sam Cooke.  If you aren't doing the Watusi to this tune, there must be something wrong.  This is a song about a woman getting her irreversible revenge on her two-timing scoundrel of a man.

Sam Cooke- "Frankie and Johnny"

Let's delve a littler deeper into the genre with a novelty song by the incomparable Tom Lehrer.  This is certainly a macabre song with a dark sense of humor...

Tom Lehrer- "I Hold Your Hand in Mine"

The next tune I would like to present in two different versions; first the Leadbelly version, then the Nirvana Unplugged version, most will be familiar with, of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night."

Leadbelly- "Where Did You Sleep Last Night"

Nirvana- "Where Did You Sleep Last Night"

And then, there is the quiet genius that is Warren Zevon, obsessive compulsive disorder and all.  It's okay though, he's just an excitable boy.  Perpetual flippancy must be a symptom of OCD...

Warren Zevon- Excitable Boy

Now, I would like to look at the country side of the murder ballad with Hank 3's version of "Cocaine Blues," that's been covered by just about everyone from Dylan to Cash.

Hank 3- "Cocaine Blues"

Next, the would-be murder song sung by the usually genteel and sometimes cheesy Kenny Rogers.  Another recognizable, but heartbreaking tune about a disabled Vietnam vet who begs his wife not to step out on him, until he is gone.

Kenny Rogers- "Ruby Don't Take Your Love to Town"

Here are a couple of tunes by Robert Earl Keen.  One more along the lines of the traditional murder ballad mixed with a sort of countrified Bob Dylan "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts" style sound, entitled "Jesse with the Long Hair Hanging Down." Another, by Robert Earl Keen with a more modern twist on the murder ballad like a honky-tonk "Take the Money and Run", called "The Road Goes on Forever," about winners and losers amid the perils of wild love and a robbery run awry.

Robert Earl Keen- "Jesse with the Long Hair Hanging Down."

Robert Earl Keen- "The Road Goes on Forever"

Then there is this Lyle Lovett tune that for the longest time I didn't even realize was a murder ballad, let alone straight out of a Tarantino film.

Lyle Lovett- "L.A. County"

Next is Doc Watson doing the seminal version of the classic folk song "Tom Dooley."

Which I think is a good lead-in to the Louvin Brother's version of "Knoxville Girl." This one is probably the most frightening sounding of them all. Something about those haunting harmonies, I don't know.

Louvin Brothers- "Knoxville Girl"

Then there is Bruce.  As much as he could incite Yuppies to dance in the dark; he could sure pen one hell of a heady tune.  This is a murder spree ballad worthy of Mickey and Mallory.

Bruce Springsteen- "Nebraska"

And now for something completely different.  Quite a change in tempo anyway, but no less murderous from everyone's favorite 60s sex symbol.

Tom Jones- "Delilah"

And now for my favorite murder ballad of all time.  Even though, my love of this song since youth had nothing to do with it being a murder ballad, as I didn't really understand the full point then.  And this is the definitive version, sung by Bobby Darin, who just makes being a murderous psychopath seem so slick and fucking cool.

Bobby Darin- "Mack the Knife"