Songs for killers(?)

[Fist and Faith]

Odd topic, I know. But I was just listening to a fantastic Elton John song called Ticking. It's on his Caribou album. Piano is Elton's instrument, and it's the only one in this song. The different ways he plays it in each verse is pretty amazing. The song always brings to mind the incomparable Peter Gabriel's Family Snapshot, and The Bomtown Rats' I Don't Like Mondays. All are very moving, imho. I'm always surprised when someone tackles the topics in these songs, and amazed when they are done so well. I never would have thought I'd feel the tragedy of the killers themselves!

Ticking

"An extremely quiet child" they called you in your school reports
"He's always taken interest in the subjects that he's taught"
So what was it that brought the squad car screaming up your drive
To notify your parents of the manner in which you died

At St. Patricks every Sunday, Father Fletcher heard your sins
"Oh, he's unconcerned with competition he never cares to win"
But blood stained a young hand that never held a gun
And his parents never thought of him as their troubled son

"Now you'll never get to Heaven" Mama said
Remember Mama said
Ticking, ticking
"Grow up straight and true blue
Run along to bed"
Hear it, hear it, ticking, ticking


They had you holed up in a downtown bar screaming for a priest
Some gook said "His brain's just snapped" then someone called the police
You'd knifed a Negro waiter who had tried to calm you down
Oh you'd pulled a gun and told them all to lay still on the ground

Promising to hurt no one, providing they were still
A young man tried to make a break, with tear-filled eyes you killed
That gun butt felt so smooth and warm cradled in your palm
Oh your childhood cried out in your head "they mean to do you harm"

"Don't ever ride on the devil's knee" Mama said
Remember mama said
Ticking, ticking
"Pay your penance well, my child
Fear where angels tread"
Hear it, hear it, ticking, ticking

Within an hour the news had reached the media machine
A male caucasian with a gun had gone berserk in Queens
The area had been sealed off, the kids sent home from school
Fourteen people lying dead in a bar they called the Kicking Mule

Oh they pleaded to your sanity for the sake of those inside
"Throw out your gun, walk out slow just keep your hands held high"
But they pumped you full of rifle shells as you stepped out the door
Oh you danced in death like a marionette on the vengeance of the law

"You've lived too long in silence" Mama said
Remember Mama said
Ticking, ticking
"Crazy boy, you'll only wind up with strange notions in your head"
Hear it, hear it, ticking, ticking


-------------------------------------------------

Family Snapshot

The streets are lined with camera crews
Everywhere he goes is news
Today is different
Today is not the same
Today I make the action
Take snapshot into the light, snapshot into the light
I'm shooting into the light

Four miles down the cavalcade moves on
Driving into the sun
If I worked it out right
They won't see me or the gun

Two miles to go, they're clearing the road
The cheering has really begun
I've got my radio
I can hear what's going on

I've been waiting for this
I have been waiting for this
All you people in TV land
I will wake up your empty shells
Peak-time viewing blown in a flash
As I burn into your memory cells
'Cos I'm alive

They're coming 'round the corner with the bikers at the front
I'm wiping the sweat from my eyes
-It's a matter of time
-It's a matter of will
And the governor's car is not far behind
He's not the one I've got in mind
'Cos there he is-the man of the hour, standing in the limousine
"I don't really hate you
-I don't care what you do
We were made for each other
-Me and you
I want to be somebody
-You were like that too
If you don't get given you learn to take
And I will take you."

Holding my breath
Release the catch
And I let the bullet fly

All turned quiet-I have been here before
Lonely boy hiding behind the front door
Friends have all gone home
There's my toy gun on the floor
Come back Mum and Dad
You're growing apart
You know that I'm growing up sad
I need some attention
I shoot into the light

------------------------------------------------

I Don't Like Mondays

The silicon chip inside her head
Gets switched to overload.
And nobody's gonna go to school today,
She's going to make them stay at home.
And daddy doesn't understand it,
He always said she was as good as gold.
And he can see no reason
'Cause there are no reasons
What reason do you need to be shown?

Tell me why?
I don't like Mondays.
Tell me why?
I don't like Mondays.
Tell me why?
I don't like Mondays.
I want to shoot
The whole day down.

The telex machine is kept so clean
As it types to a waiting world.
And mother feels so shocked,
Father's world is rocked,
And their thoughts turn to
Their own little girl.
Sweet 16 ain't so peachy keen,
No, it ain't so neat to admit defeat.
They can see no reasons
'Cause there are no reasons
What reason do you need to be shown?

Tell me why?
I don't like Mondays.
Tell me why?
I don't like Mondays.
Tell me why?
I don't like Mondays.
I want to shoot
The whole day down.

All the playing's stopped in the playground now
She wants to play with her toys a while.
And school's out early and soon we'll be learning
And the lesson today is how to die.
And then the bullhorn crackles,
And the captain tackles,
With the problems and the how's and why's.
And he can see no reasons
'Cause there are no reasons
What reason do you need to die?

Tell me why?
I don't like Mondays.
Tell me why?
I don't like Mondays.
Tell me why?
I don't like Mondays.
I want to shoot
The whole day down.

[Landwaster]

I've missed this boat ... what do they have to do with 'killers'?

[Fist and Faith]

None of these songs is anything like the articles in the paper you would see the day after the events. They are about the killers and/or their families.

Ticking (If this song was inspired by an actual event, I'm not aware of it.) is much more about the killer's childhood, and confusion/insanity while killing than it is about the killings or the victims.

Family Snapshot is, I assume, Oswald's view of Kennedy's assassination. But it's Oswald's view of the cars, his justification for killing, and a hint of his childhood.

I Don't Like Mondays was released in 1980, so the actual event couldn't have been much earlier. I remember reading about it, but don't remember when. Only a couple of years before the song though, I think. Anyway, a teenage girl opened fire on an elementary school playground. When asked why, she said, "I don't like Mondays." The song is more about her parents' stunned reactions, and her insanity is hinted at in the first two lines.

[Landwaster]

Huh. Fair enough. Didn't know that. Had only heard of "I don't like Mondays", but still, interesting.

[Worm of Despite]

Family Snapshot is, I assume, Oswald's view of Kennedy's assassination. But it's Oswald's view of the cars, his justification for killing, and a hint of his childhood.

Oswald didn't do it. He was a patsy.

[Fist and Faith]

Nevertheless, I think that's what the song's about. It came out before all that controversy became well-known.

[Forestal]

I intentionally avoid songs like that... i'm not whats known as "completly mentally stable"... if you know what i mean...

[Worm of Despite]

Another killer song is, well, "Psycho Killer" by Talking Heads!

[Landwaster]

They're a bit depressing, actually. I'd rather a bit of Nick Cave's "and the walls ran red around me, a warm arterial spray".

[Theo]

In a slightly less subtle mood, you can't go far wrong with Motörhead.

THE HAMMER
Back the killers go
Don't let your mother know
Don't go out tonight
Don't even try to fight

Yes, I can see
I gotta bend your knee
And I'm here to say
It's gonna be that way

Aargh, don't try to run, don't try to scream
Believe me, the Hammer's gonna smash your dream

I'm in your life
Just might be in your wife
Could be behind your back
I might be on your track

And it might be true
I might be onto you
I'll scare you half to death
I'll take away your breath

Aargh, don't try to see, don't you try to hide
Believe me, the Hammer's gonna make you die

There ain't no way
You'll see another day
I'm shooting out your light
Bring you eternal night

And your eternal tricks
Begin to make me sick
The only thing I know
Is that you gotta go

Aargh, don't you panic baby, don't look around
Believe me, the Hammer's gonna bring you down

[Ylva Kresh]

-Gaah! - -Ylva Kresh hiding under a blanket -

[amanibhavam]

well, the there is The End from The Doors...

[Dragonlily]

Riders On the Storm, also the Doors

There's a killer on the road
His brain is squirming like a toad
Take a long holiday
Let your children play
If you give this man a ride
Sweet memory will die
Killer on the road.

Gorgeous music. One of my favorite groups, because they can surround Morrison's lyrics with such music.

[amanibhavam]

I would also say all Britney Spears songs are also for killers - they put me into instant acme killing mood right away...

[Dragonlily]

I would also say all Britney Spears songs are also for killers - they put me into instant acme killing mood right away...

LOL. I didn't know anyone even noticed her songs. She's a stripper in full dress.

[amanibhavam]

I would also say all Britney Spears songs are also for killers - they put me into instant acme killing mood right away...

LOL. I didn't know anyone even noticed her songs. She's a stripper in full dress.

Now _that's_ the problem... instead of stripping, she sings...

[Dromond]

Cop Killer... the Ice T piece of uh... art.

[Fist and Faith]

Now _that's_ the problem... instead of stripping, she sings...

Although I've enjoyed a few of her songs, I would enjoy such a career change MUCH more!!! She has my FULL support!!!!

[Hellfire]

uh hum ...well yes now back to the killing thing Which is a much brighter subject than Brittany Spears(in more ways than one)

Jeremy- Pearl Jam
Hey Man Nice Shot- Filter(about Kurt Kobain's suicide)

Another obscure one off of the XFiles Movie soundtrack by Better Than Ezra(aah whatever happened to those guys?) Great topic BTW.


One More Murder

One more murder in this town
It don't mean a thing
Just lock your doors and drive around

One more murder in this town
Don't worry the rain'll wash the chalkmarks
From the ground

Saturday night
Shot ring out
Add one to
The body count
Home alive
To see another day

Plead it to a lesser count
DA says without a doubt
3 to 5, you're on the street again

One more murder in this town
Don't mean a thing, you get accustomed
To the sound
One more murder in this town
Just block off the street and wrap the 'Crime Scene' Tape around

*Hosanna, hosanna!*
I can't feel a thing at all
*Hosanna, hosanna!*
I can't feel a thing
I can't feel a thing at all
I can't feel a thing at all

I said I can't feel a thing!
Saturday night
You call them out
Parking lot
I think I'll come about
Feel the terrors
Trigger you to Hell

Plead and beg
For sympathy "
Take the car -- I got a family!"
Here alive
And only sentiment

One more murder
One more murder
One more murder in this town
In this town
Yeah Yeah, yeah, yeahhhh

[Theo]

Of course, the real place to go for tons of great songs about killers is old folk songs and ballads. They're more often than not about people killing each other.

One of my recent favorites in this vein is the blackly humorous "Sam Hall". I think it's originally an old Irish or maybe English ballad from the early 18th century or so, but Johnny Cash also does a great Western-style version of it on his last album. I've mixed his lyrics with some other verses found in another version.

(It's a fast, upbeat, jolly kind of song, which makes it even sicker. )

Sam Hall

Well, my name it is Sam Hall, Sam Hall
My name it is Sam Hall, Sam Hall
My name it is Sam Hall,
and I hate you one and all
Bunch of m-therf-ckers all,
damn your eyes

I have killed a man, they said, so they said
I have killed a man, they said, so they said
I have killed a man, they said,
and I smashed in his head
and I left him there for dead,
damn his eyes

So they put me in the quad, in the quad
So they put me in the quad, in the quad
Yes they put me in the quad
with a chain and iron rod
And they left me there, by God
Damn their eyes

Now a-swingin' I must go, I must go
Now a-swingin' I must go, I must go
Now a-swingin' I must go,
while you critters down below
yell out, "Sam, I told you so!"
Well, damn your eyes!

I saw Molly in the crowd, in the crowd
I saw Molly in the crowd, in the crowd
I saw my Molly in the crowd,
and I hollered right out loud,
"Hey there, Molly, ain't you proud?
Damn your eyes!"

Well, the preacher he did come, he did come
Well, the preacher he did come, he did come
The preacher he did come
and he looked so goddamn glum
with his talk of Kingdom Come
Damn his eyes

Now, the sheriff he came too, he came too
The sheriff he came too, he came too
The sheriff he came too
and he said, "Sam, how are you?"
I said, "Well, sheriff, how are you?
Damn your eyes!"

Well, my name is Samuel, Samuel
My name is Samuel, Samuel
My name is Samuel
and I'll see you all in hell,
and I'll see you all in hell,
damn your eyes!