History Main / MurderballAd

A song about a murder. The murder ballad has its origins in folk music traditions dating back centuries, but since the 20th century has bled into blues, country, rock & roll, and rap as well. A MurderBallad can be told from the perspective of the killer, the victim, or (most often) a third party observer. This particular style is a rich target for genre satire as well, as the examples below show.

* "Around the Bend" by [[Pearl Jam]] was designed to work both as a lullaby, and as a discussion between a serial killer and his most recent victim.

* "I Can't Decide" by the Scissor Sisters, best known of ''DoctorWho'' fame.

* "Woman in the Wall" by the Beautiful South is about a drunk who kills his wife/girlfriend and hides her body inside the wall, ''Tell-Tale Heart''-style.
** Or, more precisely, ''The Black Cat''-style.

**** Twa Sisters is ''old''. It's first recorded appearance is on a broadside from 1656 under the name "The Miller and the King's Daughter." Everyone's done a cover of it, including Clannad, Jerry Garcia, Okkervil River, Andrew Bird, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyi1uPyOvgY Regina Spektor with Levon Vincent]], Yggdrassil, and, of course, Bob Dylan. And there's a version of it in just about every European language.

* "The Irish Ballad" by TomLehrer is about an Irish girl who kills her entire (extended) family in various gory ways. She doesn't deny her crimes to the police, though, because she knows that lying is a sin. "The Irish Ballad" is, by [[WordOfGod Tom Lehrer's own statement]], a satire of the Murder Ballad.

* "Little Sadie", also known as "Cocaine Blues." - traditional folk song that has the same plot as "Knoxville Girl."

* "[[FallOut Butcher Pete]]" by Roy Brown.
** DoubleEntendre or no, on the literal level it's still a murder ballad, making for UnfortunateImplications all around.
*** The only time, at least in the first half which is more well known, that Butcher Pete is specifically said to 'chop' a person, is clearly meant as a joke... But because many people were recently exposed to Butcher Pete because of Fallout 3, a fiction where acts of murder and/or cannibalism outnumber acts of sexuality by at least 100:1, it's easy to misinterpret in that context. Chop, chop, chop that meat.

* Comes up in a few {{Deftones}} songs, but most creepily in "Digital Bath"; about a man who drowns his lover in the bath.
** Electrocutes in the bath actually. Making "Digital Bath" all the more amazing, is that up until the exact line, the lyrics made it seem like an {{Intercourse With You}} song. The sound '''itself''' is more seducing than anything.

* TheShield did an episode where Vic Mackey and his supervisor, Captain Acaveda, end up investigating a Mexican musician who's murder ballads were based on real life unsolved murders. In the end, it turned out that the singer was simply trying to claim credit for murders committed by Mexican drug cartel members, with his songs based off of gossip he heard in the clubs he performed in.

[[AC:Pop]]
* "I Can't Decide" by the Scissor Sisters, best known of ''DoctorWho'' fame.
* "Delilah" - Tom Jones

* "The Ballad of Booth," "The Ballad of Guiteau" and "The Ballad of Czolgosz" from the Sondheim musical ''Assassins''.

* "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" from the Sondheim musical ''SweeneyTodd'' details the disservices the eponymous demon barber performed for his unfortunate customers. "My Friends", "Epiphany", and "A Little Priest" from the same musical also qualify.

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<<|MusicTropes|>>

* "The Irish Ballad" by TomLehrer is a [[LampshadeHanging Lampshade]] and/or parody, about an Irish girl who kills her entire (extended) family in various gory ways. She doesn't deny her crimes to the police, though, because she knows that lying is a sin.
** Or it was a ProtestSong - against the common practice of politicians and their ilk to confess everything that they can't deny, and then expect to get away without punishment.
** Mr. Lehrer was actually quite outspoken in his dislike of protest songs (see "The Folk Song Army"); "The Irish Ballad" is, by [[WordOfGod his own admission]], a satire of folk songs.

* "Furnace Room Lullaby" by NekoCase.

* "The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia" by Vicki Lawrence is a sordid tale of infidelity and murder in a small Georgia town which ultimately leads to an innocent man being hanged. The murderer turns out to be [[spoiler:the narrator]]. Famously covered by Reba [=McEntire=].

* In the ''[[CsI CSI]]'' episode "Snakes", Nick investigates the murder of a reporter who had been investigating a band known for writing and performing Murder Ballads. The circumstances of the murder closely mimics one of the band's ballads.

[[AC:{{Video Games}}]]
* "[[FallOut Butcher Pete]]"
** DoubleEntendre or no, on the literal level it's still a murder ballad, making for UnfortunateImplications all around.
*** The only time, at least in the first half which is more well known, that Butcher Pete is specifically said to 'chop' a person, is clearly meant as a joke... But because many people were recently exposed to Butcher Pete because of Fallout 3, a fiction where acts of murder and/or cannibalism outnumber acts of sexuality by at least 100:1, it's easy to misinterpret in that context. Chop, chop, chop that meat.

A song about a murder. The murder ballad has its origins in folk traditions dating back centuries, but since the 20th century has bled into blues, country, rock & roll, and rap as well. A MurderBallad can be told from the perspective of the killer, the victim, or (most often) a third party observer. This particular style is a rich target for genre satire as well, as the examples below show.

A Folk Song about a murder. A MurderBallad can be told from the perspective of the killer, the victim, or (most often) a third party observer. This particular style is a rich target for genre satire as well, as the examples below show.

* "Psycho Killer by Music/TalkingHeads is, despite the name, not an example; it's ''about'' a serial killer, but the character in question doesn't kill anyone during the song.

* "Beheaded" - The Offspring

* "Kim" by Eminem. Made even more disturbing by the fact that it's about his wife... who he was actually ''married'' to at the time of the song's writing. No, really.

* "Hey Joe" - Written by either Dino Valente or Billy Roberts, [[CoveredUp made famous to the rock generation by]] Jimi Hendrix

* "Nebraska" and "Johnny 99" by Bruce Springsteen

Some examples with their definitive recording.
* "Charles Giteau" - Kelly Harrel
* "Stack O'Lee" (also known as "Stagger Lee") - Mississippi John Hurt
* "Crow Jane" - Skip James
* "Delia's Gone" - JohnnyCash
** Johnny Cash has ''a lot'' of these, including "Don't Take Your Guns to Town," "Cocaine Blues," "Folsom Prison Blues," etc. This troper once saw a Johnny Cash greatest hits album sorted into three themed-discs: God, Love, and Murder.
* "Tom Dooley" - The Kingston Trio
* "You Can't Chop Your Mother Up In Massachusetts" - Chad Mitchell Trio
* "Hey Joe" - Written by either Dino Valente or Billy Roberts, [[CoveredUp made famous to the rock generation by]] Jimi Hendrix
* The [[NickCave Nick Cave]] album "Murder Ballads" consisted of nothing but, well, murder ballads. The most famous song would be "Where The Wild Roses Grow", a duet with KylieMinogue.

* "I Can't Decide" of DoctorWho fame.
* "The Irish Ballad" by TomLehrer is a [[LampshadeHanging Lampshade]] and/or parody, about an Irish girl who kills her entire (extended) family in various gory ways. She doesn't deny her crimes to the police, though, because she knows that lying is a sin.
** I always thought that one was a ProtestSong - against the common practice of politicians and their ilk to confess everything that they can't deny, and then expect to get away without punishment.
** Nope. Mr. Lehrer was quite outspoken in his dislike of protest songs (see "The Folk Song Army"); "The Irish Ballad" is, by [[WordOfGod his own admission]], a satire of folk songs.
* "Weela Wallia" - unattributed
* "Goodbye Earl" - The Dixie Chicks
* "Used To Love Her" - GunsNRoses
* "The Ballad of Booth," "The Ballad of Guiteau" and "The Ballad of Czolgosz" from the Sondheim musical ''Assassins''.
* "You All I Need" by [[{{Ptitlewsbhxd7l}} Mötley Crüe]]
* "The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia" by Vicki Lawrence is a sordid tale of infidelity and murder in a small Georgia town which ultimately leads to an innocent man being hanged. The murderer turns out to be [[spoiler:the narrator]]. Famously covered by Reba [=McEntire=].
* Joe Bethancourt's version of "Silver Dagger", ostensibly more violent than the 19th century American traditional
* "The St. Steven's Day Murders" - The Chieftans with Elvis Costello
* "I Shot the Sheriff" - Bob Marley, later [[CoveredUp covered by]] Eric Clapton
* "Delilah" - Tom Jones
* "Between the River and Me"- Tim [=McGraw=]
* "Mack the Knife" - {{Louis Armstrong}}, Bobby Darin, et al. A pop standard, but written for the excellent ''Threepenny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper)'', to introduce its VillainProtagonist.
** The original German lyrics to "Die Moritat vom Mackie Messer" are rather nastier, darker and more violent than in most English-language versions. Nick Cave's version of the song translates far more faithfully, what with him being Nick Cave and all.
** Kurt Weill seems to have had some affinity for {{Murder Ballad}}s, because there were two in later shows he composed: the Ballad of Caesar's Death from ''Der Silbersee'', and "Dr. Crippen" from ''One Touch of Venus''.
* "Down the River" and "Long Black Highway" by Chris Knight.
* "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town," originally recorded by Johnny Darell based on a real murder-suicide he had heard about. Made famous by Kenny Rogers, and covered by everyone from Waylon Jennings to Leonard Nimoy.
* "Jenny Was a Friend of Mine" by (appropriately enough) the Killers, who have also released a cover of the above-mentioned "Ruby." Along with * [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnQM_tEsMDo "Midnight Show"]] and ''Leave the Bourbon on the Shelf'', it forms a trilogy of songs about the murder of a girl named Jennifer.
** It may be worth noting the proper order of the Murder Trilogy is "Leave the Bourbon on the Shelf", "Midnight Show", then "Jenny Was a Friend of Mine". The first is motive, the second is the murder itself, and the third is the police interrogation afterwards.
* "Down By The River" - By NeilYoung
* "Beheaded" - The Offspring
* "Hurricane" by BobDylan is more of a framed-for-a-murder ballad, based on the true story of Rubin Carter.
** His earlier "The Lonsesome Death of Hattie Carrol" and "The Ballad of Hollis Brown," from his album ''The Times, They Are A'Changin'" are both RippedFromTheHeadlines examples, the first chronicling the senseless murder of a poor black maid by a white aristocrat, the second recounting the story of a man who kills his wife, children, and himself because he can't afford to feed them anymore.
* "Banks of the Ohio". The narrator's lamenting the death of his girlfriend [[spoiler:who the narrator drowned in the Ohio because she refused him]].
** Johnny Cash noticeably softened this song by having the narrator repent. The traditional version, especially as sung by Alvin Carter, version is horrifically coldblooded.
* The first section of {{Queen}}'s "Bohemian Rhapsody". "Mama, just killed a man/put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger, now he's dead..."
* The ''TwilightZone'' episode "Come Wander With Me" is based on a ''fictional'' MurderBallad.
* "Frankie and Johnny" ? Traditional; recorded numerous times.
* "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" ? Seriously, watch [[http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/239712 this cartoon]] and you'll never think of TheBeatles the same way again.
** Or look up the AMVs in which this song is set to clips from ''HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi''.
** And it's catchy as all hell, too... The body count's rising and you just can't help but sing along.
* "Excitable Boy," by Warren Zevon, takes a very matter-of-fact ?no big deal? tone when discussing a severely disturbed young man.
** There's also "A Bullet For Ramona," which tells about how the narrator killed the title character for cheating on him.

* Voltaire's "Ex-Lover's Lover" is about a man who plots the death of his girlfriend's current lover, with various means of disposing the body suggested. It's different from most Murder Ballad examples in that the singer chickens out at the end.
* "Knoxville Girl" - An Appalachian murder ballad, the singer murders "the girl I loved so well" for no apparent reason. This troper was introduced to the Lemonheads version.
** Said version is particularly unsettling because, if you're not paying attention to the lyrics, it sounds like [[LyricalDissonance just another typical jangly upbeat Lemonheads song]].
* "Matty Groves" ([[ChildBallad Child #81]]) - Fairport Convention. As far as this troper is concerned, THE murder ballad.
* "Kim" by Eminem. Made even more disturbing by the fact that it's about his wife... who he was actually ''married'' to at the time of the song's writing. No, really.
** "Stan", about an obsessed fan who kills his girlfriend and himself because Slim Shady won't answer his letters, also counts.
** Em's first Murder Ballade was "'97 Bonnie & Clyde", of which "Kim" is a prequel. (The "Bonnie" in question is Em's then-toddler daughter. Over the course of the song he explains to her why he did what he did and ''had her help him toss the bodies of Mommy, her boyfriend, and their lovechild [that part was bleeped out in "Kim"] into Lake Michigan.''
** Also by Eminem was the underground song "Quitter" which was a response to rapper Whitey Ford for insulting Eminem's 12-year-old daughter. "If you talk about my little girl in a song again, I'm gonna kill you." Not sure if it counts exactly. Also, underground, is "Go To Sleep" about another beef he had.
** Though in real life he isn't all that violent and makes fun of blaming the media for violence in songs like "Murder, Murder" or "Bad Guys Always Die."
** Strangely Eminem even did a song about the horrors of rap battles and violence called "Like Toy Soldiers," in which he calls for peace among his enemies to prevent more killing.
* "Psycho" by Leon Payne, later made famous by Elvis Costello, is a particularly chilling example. The narrator describes to his mother the various murders he has committed, seemingly without being aware of the nature of his deeds, until the song ends with the revelation that [[spoiler:he has killed the mother too]].
* SheDaisy's "A Night To Remember" about a woman who discovers her husband is cheating on their anniversary and drives them both off a cliff.
* TomWaits' "Murder in the Red Barn" and its SpiritualSuccessor, "Don't Go Into That Barn."
** And his spooky killer's eye account "Widow's Grove."
*** And "Two Sisters." Technically, it's a version of the ChildBallad "The Twa Sisters" (Child 10), but other than the plot it's quite different from the standard.
**** Twa Sisters is ''old''. It's first recorded appearance is on a broadside from 1656 under the name "The Miller and the King's Daughter." Everyone's done a cover of it, including Clannad, Jerry Garcia, Okkervil River, Andrew Bird, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyi1uPyOvgY Regina Spektor with Levon Vincent]], Yggdrassil, and, of course, Bob Dylan. And there's a version of it in just about every European language.
* Harry Chapin's "Sniper" is about Charles Whitman and his infamous rampage atop the Texas university tower.
* "Turn That Heartbeat Over Again" and "With a Gun", both by Steely Dan. "Don't Take Me Alive" also probably qualifies.
* Semi-example: [[FiftyCent 50 Cent]]'s "A Baltimore Love Song"'is sung from the perspective of heroin to the person it's killing with addiction.
* "Little Sadie", also known as "Cocaine Blues." - traditional folk song that has the same plot as "Knoxville Girl."
* The [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin rather straightforward]] "I've Committed Murder" by Macy Gray, in which she kills her boyfriend's corrupt boss, then they fly away to Jamaica with the boss's money and get hitched.
* "Cell Block Tango" from ''{{Chicago}}'', where female inmates sing about (and dance with) the men they've killed.
* "The Mariner's Revenge Song", by TheDecemberists. An epic revenge song about a young man who goes to sea to track down the man who seduced his mother and abandoned her to her death. The band's recent "The Rake's Song" also falls into this trope. That song has the narrator recounting in glee in how he killed his three surviving children after the death of his wife and newborn daughter during childbirth.
** There's also their twelve-minute {{Doorstopper}} "The Island: Come & See/The Landlord's Daughter/You'll Not Feel The Drowning", which recounts the rape and drowning murder of a young woman.
** How'd everyone forget "Culling of the Fold"?

* "Psycho Killer by Music/TalkingHeads is, despite the name, not an example; it's ''about'' a serial killer, but the character in question doesn't kill anyone during the song.
* "Whiskey in the Jar" is sung by a highwayman who robs and later kills an army captain.
* Sting's "I Hung my Head" qualifies, though technically it's a manslaughter ballad.
* Richard Thompson's ''Shane and Dixie'' is a seriously [[LyricalDissonance lyrically dissonant]] murder-suicide ballad about a pair of wannabe BonnieAndClyde bank robbers though technically, [[spoiler:it's an ''attempted'' murder-suicide ballad, since Dixie (the 'bonnie' of the pair) survives Shane's ('Clyde's') attempt to kill her]]
* "Miss Otis Regrets" by Cole Porter (one of the few Cole Porter songs not written for a show or movie). Kirsty [=MacColl=] and The Pogues did a nice version for the ''Red Hot + Blue'' album.
* "Ronnie" by {{Metallica}}. The song is about the titular CloudCuckooLander who snaps.
** "Harvester of Sorrow" might be one as well.
* "Good Mourning / Black Friday" by Megadeth: In the first part, the protagonist either snaps or is possessed. The latter part is about his resulting rampage.
* ''Murmaidur'' by [[{{Metalocalypse}} Dethklok]] is, as its title implies, about mermaids. And ''murder''.
* "Klavier", "Mein Teil," and "Stein um Stein" by Rammstein.
** Also, "Spring": The narrator is goading someone into killing himself by jumping, [[spoiler:but when that fails he kicks him down himself.]]
*** More detail, the guy was just up there to see the view when a crowd assembles to watch him to jump when [[spoiler:the narrator kicks him.]]

* "The Awakening" by Alice Cooper deals with a man waking up from a nightmare and realizing that he has killed his wife. The song is part of Cooper's concept album Welcome To My Nightmare.

* "Cold, Cold Earth" by Allison Moorer, about her parents' murder-suicide.
* The revue ''New Faces of 1952'' turned the legend of Lizzie Borden and what she did to her father and mother into a very cheerful hoedown number, with the refrain: "You can't chop your poppa up in Massachusetts."
* MichaelJackson, "Smooth Criminal".
* "Gunpowder And Lead" by Miranda Lambert. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_VkewPDAMU Just listen to it.]]
* Several of the songs by the band "Macabre" follow this trope, although still played with electric guitars. Nothing quite like "She'll be Coming Cround the Mountain" being used to sing about Jeffrey Dahmer.
* "Janie's Got A Gun" by {{Aerosmith}}, about a girl who shoots her father for molesting her.
* Comes up in a few {{Deftones}} songs, but most creepily in "Digital Bath"; about a man who drowns his lover in the bath.
** Electrocutes in the bath actually. * Shudder* Making "Digital Bath" all the more amazing, is that up until the exact line, the lyrics made it seem like an {{Intercourse With You}} song. The sound '''itself''' is more seducing than anything.
* [[http://www.bluegrasslyrics.com/all_song.cfm-recordID=c184.htm "Never Let The Devil Get The Upper Hand Of You"]] is a particularly chilling song about a CompleteMonster who hardly bothers to explain his motives.
* "Another Day" by Mountain Heart is a double MurderBallad. An abusive husband finally shoots his wife and then tries to leave town. While he's hiding the sheriff track him down and [[spoiler:lets the father kill him in what is implied to be a fairly brutal manner.]]
* "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" by Vicki Lawrence is a sordid tale of infidelity and murder in a small Georgia town that ultimately leads to an innocent man being hanged for it. The murderer turns out to be [[spoiler:the hanged man's sister, the narrator, who killed both Andy and his cheating wife]]. Famously covered by Reba [=McEntire=].

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXMobqWhpsk "A Little Piece of Heaven"]] by AvengedSevenfold is about marriage proposal GoneHorriblyWrong. He [[AxCrazy doesn't take rejection well]], but they eventually do [[HappilyMarried work things out]].
** Note that after you murder your girlfriend, eat her heart, fuck her corpse, get killed by her possessed corpse, then get married in Hell and possess your old bodies, going on a mass murder spree is about as happy as you can get.
* "Sanctuary", by IronMaiden.
* "The Watchmaker's Apprentice" by the Clockwork Quartet is a particularly clever example of this, as the protagonist uses a murder to frame and bring ruin to his former employer.
* The narrator of "Ezekiel 7 and the Permanent Efficacy of Grace" by TheMountainGoats tortures a man to death.
* "Vera Flew the Coop" by Marian Call
* "See-Through Dress" by Red Jezabel
* Don't forget "I Don't Like Mondays" by The Boomtown Rats. Well, more of a SchoolShooting Ballad, really.
* "[[FallOut Butcher Pete]]"
** DoubleEntendre or no, on the literal level it's still a murder ballad, making for UnfortunateImplications all around.
*** The only time, at least in the first half which is more well known, that Butcher Pete is specifically said to 'chop' a person, is clearly meant as a joke... But because many people were recently exposed to Butcher Pete because of Fallout 3, a fiction where acts of murder and/or cannibalism outnumber acts of sexuality by at least 100:1, it's easy to misinterpret in that context. Chop, chop, chop that meat.
* "Nebraska" and "Johnny 99" by Bruce Springsteen
* "The Walrus and the Carpenter" from AliceInWonderland, more or less.
* "The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun" by Julie Brown. A 1984 novelty song parodying 1950s teen tragedy songs that would probably never get airplay in these post-{{Columbine}} days.

* "San Francisco Fan", performed by CabCalloway and also by other jazz and blues singers. It's a story about a female performer named Fan who saves her gambling boyfriend's life after he is caught cheating at a game and is about to be shot, by TakingTheBullet for him, stopping 'a dozen slugs'. Everyone at the club she was performing at mourns her, and the song goes on to judge her boyfriend harshly, saying she gave her life for "A man who wasn't worth a shovel full of earth from the grave of San Francisco Fan."

* The GarthBrooks song "The Night Will Only Know" is about two people married to other people who have a one-night stand and end up witnessing a murder. The death of the woman involved is ruled a suicide and her killer gets off scot-free because the two lovers are unwilling to come forth with the evidence proving she was murdered, which would mean exposing their affair for all to see.

* EllaFitzgerald sang:
-->He's stone cold dead in the market\\
I killed nobody but me husband
* "Rocky Raccoon", by TheBeatles.

* TheBirthdayMassacre ''loves'' making these. Lover's End, Happy Birthday, Velvet... and then there's all the other songs that deal with violent things that aren't necessarily murder, of which there are too many to list. All set to [[LyricalDissonance catchy, upbeat synth/dance/rock/metal/something music]].

* "The Clockmaker's Apprentice" by the Clockwork Quartet is a particularly clever example of this, as the protagonist uses a murder to frame and bring ruin to his former employer.

* 'Xero Tolerance' by TypeONegative, along with most of the other songs from ''Slow, Deep and Hard''. Most of it was written at the tail end of one of Peter Steele's messier break-ups, SoYeah.

* No love for "[[FallOut Butcher Pete]]"?
**I was under the impression that was more heavy-handed double entendre than a murder ballad.
*** DoubleEntendre or no, on the literal level it's still a murder ballad, making for UnfortunateImplications all around.

* "You All I Need" by Mötley Crüe