From The Archives: Murder Ballads & Song's About Killin'

Just another request. This was the first comp I ever made for the site, way back in April & May of 2007.
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Per request, here is a collection of murder ballads and other songs about killin'. I was surprised at how many I actually found in my collection, but I narrowed the scope down to more traditional sounding songs which meant I had to cut alot of good stuff like Steve Earle's "Billy Austin" & "The Devil's Right Hand", DBT's "Nine Bullets", "Decoration Day", & "Cottonseed", Old 97's "The Other Shoe", Johnny Cash's "Cocaine Blues" & "Sound of Laughter", Hendrix's "Hey Joe".....lots of good stuff, but I think what I came up with has a much more consistent flow.
I'm gonna give a brief description of each song Harry Smith style, so here goes:

1. Knoxville Girl by The Louvin Brothers
'Willy' (he seems to be the protagonist in alot of these songs) beats his 'Knoxville girl' to death with a stick then drags her by her hair and throws her into the Tennessee river.

2. Pretty Polly by Ralph Stanley & Patty Loveless
This is my favorite version of this song. 'Willy' lures 'Pretty Polly' into the woods and stabs her in the heart because she won't marry him, he then burys her in the grave he dug "the biggest part of last night".

3. Little Sadie by Doc Watson
You may know the more familiar "Cocaine Blues", this is the song it is derived from. Man kills 'Little Sadie' with a .44, he is then hunted down, arrested, and tried.

4. Little Glass of Wine by The Stanley Brothers
'Willy' wants to marry 'Molly', but she wants to wait a year. He then finds her dancing with another man and poisons her and himself.

5. Omie Wise by Doc Watson
True story of the murder of Naomi Wise by John Lewis in North Carolina circa 1808. John Lewis drowns Omie Wise whose body is found days later by 2 fisherman.

6. Pretty Daughter by The Bad Livers
A man who doesn't want his daughter to marry and leave him alone finds her in the woods with 'a boy from town' and kills him with a pick-axe.

7. Delia's Gone by Johnny Cash
An old traditional song that Johnny Cash brought to the mainstream. A man ties Delia to a chair in her parlor and shoots her for being low down and triflin'.

8. The Lawson Family Murder by Doc Watson
Probably the most twisted song in this collection. Charlie Lawson kills his wife and 6 children then shoots himself in the heart on a Christmas evening.

9. Caleb Meyer by Gillian Welch
My favorite song off this collection. Caleb Meyer attempts to rape Nellie Cane whose husband has went to town. He pins her down but she reaches the neck of the whiskey bottle he threw down and uses it to slit his throat and kill him.

10. Westfall by Okkervil River
This one is a contemporary murder ballad. Tells the story of a young man who goes over to his friend Colin Kincaid's house in Westfall where they meet up with 2 girls from Kenwood Christian and he ends up murdering one of them.

11. Country Death Song by Violent Femmes
A man kills his youngest daughter by throwing her in the well then hangs himself in the barn.

12. Polly Vaughn by The Dillards
A hunter accidentally shoots his true love mistaking her for a swan in the darkness.

13. Tom Dooley by Doc Watson
Probably the most famous murder ballad. Tom Dooley kills Laura Foster then burys her in a shallow grave on the hillside. Based on the real life murder of Laura Foster by Tom Dula.

14. John Hardy Was A Desperate Little Man by Anita Carter
This is an old Carter Family song. John Hardy kills a man on the West Virginia line, he is caught and hanged.

15. Henry Lee by Dick Justice
A woman kills Henry Lee with a pen knife and hides his body in a well because he loves another more than her.

16. Philadelphia Lawyer by Maddox Brothers & Rose
A cowboy kills the 'Philadelphia Lawyer' who lured his 'Hollywood Maid' away from him.

17. The Fate of Dewey Lee by The Carter Family
True story of the murder of Dewey Lee in Virginia circa 1931 who was killed by Joe Jenkins during a night of drinking for an unknown reason.

18. Otto Wood the Bandit by Doc Watson
Otto Wood gets in an argument with a pawnshop clerk and shoots him dead. He is then arrested, escapes, shot and arrested again, escapes and finally killed by two sheriffs in a southern town.

19. Stagger Lee by Taj Mahal
An old traditional blues song. Stagger Lee kills Billy during a game of craps.

20. Banks of the Ohio by Doc Watson, Earl Scruggs, Ricky Skaggs & Allison Krauss
An old traditional song, some people think this is a retelling of the same murder sung about in "Pretty Polly". A man proposes marriage to a young woman on the banks of the ohio river, when she refuses he drowns her.

21. Frankie and Johnny by Merle Haggard
An old Jimmie Rodgers tune, but I like this Haggard version off his Rodgers tribute album. Frankie shoots Johnny 3 times with a .44 when she finds him making love to Nelly Bly.

22. Turn It On, Turn It On, Turn It On by Tom T. Hall
Johnny goes on a shooting spree in 1944 killing all the people who called him a coward for not being able to enlist during WWII.

23. Cedartown Georgia by Waylon Jennings
A man kills his wife with a .22 when he catches her cheating on him.

24. Blue Rock Montana by Willie Nelson
A man kills his wife and the man she was cheating on him with in a tavern in Blue Rock Montana.

Murder Ballads & Songs About Killin'

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