All-time best morbid songs?

[Oeditpus Rex]

Talking with a friend about Steve Goodman's medley of "dead girl" songs ("Tell Laura I Love Her" et al) and I got to thinking about songs about death, like "D.O.A." by Bloodrock and "People Who Died" by the Jim Carroll Band.

Gotta throw Jan and Dean's "Dead Man's Curve" in there.

Whadya got?

:popcorn:

[grace0418]

1. There Is a Light That Never Goes Out by the Smiths

...And if a double-decker bus crashes into us
to die by your side is such a heavenly way to die...

[Ptah]

2. Leader of the pack

Is she really going out with him?
Yeah, I dont know, there she is
Lets ask her
Betty? is that johnnys ring youre wearing?
Aha!
Wow, it must be great riding with him
Yeah, is he picking you up after school today?
A-a!
By the way, whered you meet him?

I meet him at the candy store
He turned around and smiled at me
Do you get the picture?
Yes, we see
Thats when I fell for the leader of the pack

. . . . .


One day my dad said, find someone new
I had to tell my johnny were through
He stood there and asked me why
But all I could do was cry
Im sorry I hurt you, the leader of the pack

Well, he sort of smiled and kissed me goodby
And the tears began to fall
And as he drove away on that rainy night
I begged him to go slow
But whether he heard me Ill never know
Look out, look out, oh look out!

I felt so helpess, what could I do
Remembering all the things wed been through
At school theyd all stop and stare
I cant have a chance but I dont care
Ill never forget him the leader of the pack...

The leader of the pack, now hes gone...

[Common Sense Party]

3. Girlfriend in a Coma, The Smiths

There were times when I could have murdered her
But I would hate anything to happen to her
Do you really think she'll pull through?

[Common Sense Party]

4. Delia's Gone, Johnny Cash

Delia, oh, Delia Delia all my life
If I hadn't have shot poor
Delia I'd have had her for my wife
Delia's gone, one more round Delia's gone

I went up to Memphis
And I met Delia there Found her in her parlor
And I tied to her chair
Delia's gone, one more round Delia's gone

She was low down and trifling
And she was cold and mean
Kind of evil make me want to Grab my sub machine
Delia's gone, one more round Delia's gone

First time I shot her I shot her in the side
Hard to watch her suffer
But with the second shot she died
Delia's gone, one more round Delia's gone

But jailer, oh, jailer Jailer,
I can't sleep 'Cause all around my bedside
I hear the patter of Delia's feet
Delia's gone, one more round Delia's gone

So if you woman's devilish
You can let her run
Or you can bring her down and do her
Like Delia got done
Delia's gone, one more round Delia's gone

[SKKY]

6. Kinda hard to imagine a more morbid song that that one!

[Rhythm]

5. Joy Division, "The Eternal"

Procession moves on, the shouting is over,
Praise to the glory of loved ones now gone.
Talking aloud as they sit round their tables,
Scattering flowers washed down by the rain.

[Kutjara]

7. Hazard - Richard Marx

Hazard
(Richard Marx)

My mother came to Hazard when I was just seven
Even then the folks in town said with prejudiced eyes
That boy's not right ...
Three years ago when I came to know Mary
First time that someone looked beyond the rumours and the lies
And saw the man inside ...

We used to walk down by the river
She loved to watch the sun go down
We used to walk along the river
And dream our way out of this town ...

No one understood what I felt for Mary
No one cared until the night she went out walking alone
And never came home ...
Man with a badge came knocking next morning
Here was I surrounded by a thousand fingers suddenly
Pointed right at me ...

I swear I left her by the river
I swear I left her safe and sound
I need to make it to the river
And leave this old Nebraska town

I think about my life gone by
And how it's done me wrong
There's no escape for me this time
All of my rescues are gone, long gone

I swear I left her by the river
I swear I left her safe and sound
I need to make it to the river
And leave this old Nebraska town ...

[crim son]

8. That's a great song.

I haven't thought about it in years.

[Kutjara]

9. Isn't it though?

Very haunting and also evocative of the claustrophobic nature of small-town life.

Not a great one to play on a first date, however. Take it from me.

[crim son]

10. And yet you never know whether he killed her or not.

After all, he needs to find a way out of town...

I have to dig it up. It's around here somewhere.

[Kutjara]

12. Exactly, which only adds to its...

...first date creepines. ;)

[fizzgig]

13. i'd completely forgotten about that song

i got that tape for christmas the year it came out and i listened to so much. i had a serious crush on richard marx when i was younger

[Kutjara]

11. Where the Wild Roses Grow - Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue

It has such a fabulously creepalicious video too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdB-0SOd6sQ



CHORUS:
They call me The Wild Rose
But my name was Elisa Day
Why they call me it I do not know
For my name was Elisa Day

From the first day I saw her I knew she was the one
As she stared in my eyes and smiled
For her lips were the colour of the roses
They grew down the river, all bloody and wild

When he knocked on my door and entered the room
My trembling subsided in his sure embrace
He would be my first man, and with a careful hand
He wiped the tears that ran down my face

CHORUS

On the second day I brought her a flower
She was more beautiful than any woman I'd seen
I said, 'Do you know where the wild roses grow
So sweet and scarlet and free?'

On the second day he came with a single rose
Said: 'Will you give me your loss and your sorrow?'
I nodded my head, as I layed on the bed
He said, 'If I show you the roses will you follow?'

CHORUS

On the third day he took me to the river
He showed me the roses and we kissed
And the last thing I heard was a muttered word
As he stood smiling above me with a rock in his fist

On the last day I took her where the wild roses grow
And she lay on the bank, the wind light as a thief
As I kissed her goodbye, I said, 'All beauty must die'
And lent down and planted a rose between her teeth

[RubyDuby in GA]

28. I was thinking The Curse of Milhaven - that song cracks me up

Well really anything from the Murder Ballads album.

Good stuff.

[Left Is Write]

32. I think I need to get that album. It comes highly recommended

from a lot of people I know.

[RubyDuby in GA]

33. It is amazing. Definitely one to have.

It's so good that it can be justified making a special trip just to get it.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

14. Long Black Veil and The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

I absolutely REFUSE to listen to Edmund Fitzgerald. I will turn off the radio instantly when it comes on because it's so depressing.

That's also why I refuse to listen to country music. It's too damn depressing and whiny.

[Rhythm]

60. the oldies station at the grocery store played Edmund Fitz every night...

on the 'request hour', no less.

yes, i know that the station was a syndicated feed, with 12-hr loops and no real DJs.
still, my morbid sense of humor imagined someone at home, just waiting for the 'request hour', so they could call in for the "Edmund Fitzgerald" one more time...

[idgiehkt]

15. One Headlight by the Wallflowers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRuqJ6RuJhM

I wanted to add Tomorrow Wendy by Concrete Blonde but it won't load so I didn't bother.

[MonkeyFunk]

16. Last Kiss

We were out on a date in my daddy's car
We hadn't driven very far
There in the road, straight ahead
A car was stalled, the engine was dead
I couldn't stop, so I swerved to the right
I'll never forget the sound that night
The cryin' tires, the bustin' glass
The painful scream that I ... heard last


Oh, where oh where can my baby be
The Lord took her away from me
She's gone to heaven so I've got to be good
So I can see my baby when I leave ... this world


When I woke up the rain was pourin' down
There were people standing all around
Something warm was runnin' in my eyes
But I found my baby somehow that night
I raised her head, and then she smiled and said
Hold me darling for a little while
I held her close, I kissed her our last kiss
I found the love that I knew I would miss
Now she's gone, even though I hold her tight
I lost my love, my life ... that night

********************************************


Or, the band "Blotto" had a song called "My Baby's the Star of a Driver's Ed Movie"

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

17. John Barleycorn

John Barleycorn Must Die / Traffic

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

18. Deportee / Guthrie

Morbidity on top of degradation - a perfect storm.

[REP]

19. "Pepper" - Butthole Surfers

[hellbound-liberal]

20. Over Yonder by Steve Earle about waiting to be executed

Over Yonder

The warden said he'd mail my letter
The chaplain's waitin' by the door
Tonight we'll cross the yard together
Then they can't hurt me anymore

I am going over yonder
Where no ghost can follow me
There's another place beyond here
Where i'll be free i believe

Give my radio to johnson
Thibodeaux can have my fan
Send my bible home to mama
Call her every now and then

I suppose i got it comin'
I can't ever pay enough
All my rippin' and a runnin'
I hurt everyone i loved

The world'll turn around without me
The sun'll come up in the east
Shinin' down on all of them that hate me
I hope my goin' brings 'em peace

[Eugene]

21. Wildfire - Tracy Bird

also "Timothy" by the Buoys.

[blondeatlast]

22. Nightshift by Siouxsie and the Banshees. Who couldn't love an explicit

song about necrophilia?

[NashVegas]

23. Tom Lehrer - "The Irish Ballad"

About a maid I'll sing a song,
Sing rickety-tickety-tin,
About a maid I'll sing a song,
Who didn't have her fam'ly long.
Not only did she do them wrong,
She did ev'ryone of them in, them in,
She did ev'ryone of them in.

One morning in a fit of pique,
Sing rickety-tickety-tin,
One morning in a fit of pique,
She drowned her father in the creek.
The water tasted bad for a week,
And we had to make do with gin, with gin,
We had to make do with gin.

Her mother she could never stand,
Sing rickety-tickety-tin,
Her mother she could never stand,
And so a cyanide soup she planned.
The mother died with a spoon in her hand,
And her face in a hideous grin, a grin,
Her face in a hideous grin.

She set her sister's hair on fire,
a-Rickety-tickety-tin,
She set her sister's hair on fire,
And as the smoke and flame rose high'r,
Danced around the funeral pyre,
Playin' a violin, -olin,
Playin' a violin.

She weighted her brother down with stones,
a-Rickety-tickety-tin,
She weighted her brother down with stones,
And sent him off to Davy Jones.
All they ever found were some bones,
And occasional pieces of skin, of skin,
Occasional pieces of skin.

One day when she had nothing to do,
Sing rickety-tickety-tin,
One day when she had nothing to do,
She cut her baby brother in two,
And served him up as an Irish stew,
And invited the neighbors in, -bors in,
Invited the neighbors in.

And when at last the police came by,
Sing rickety-tickety-tin,
And when at last the police came by,
Her little pranks she did not deny.
To do so she would have had to lie,
And lying, she knew, was a sin, a sin,
Lying, she knew, was a sin.

My tragic tale I won't prolong,
Rickety-tickety-tin,
My tragic tale I won't prolong,
And if you do not enjoy my song,
You've yourselves to blame if it's too long,
You should never have let me begin, begin,
You should never have let me begin.

[Mendocino]

24. Tonights The Night and Down By The River

Neil Young

[Left Is Write]

25. The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia

[Left Is Write]

26. Endless Sleep

I've only ever heard the Don Williams version, but apparently there are several versions. Anyway, he rescues her in the end, but still, a song about a suicide attempt is kind of morbid.


The night was dark, rain falling down
Looked for my baby she's nowhere around
Traced her footsteps down to the shore
‘Fraid she's gone forever more
I looked at the sea and it seemed to say
I took your baby from you away
I heard a voice crying in the deep
Come join me baby in my endless sleep
Why did we quarrel, why did we fight
Why did I leave her alone tonight
That's why her footsteps ran into the sea
That's why my baby is gone from me
I looked at the sea and it seemed to say
I took your baby from you away
I heard a voice crying in the deep
Come join me baby in my endless sleep
Ran in the water, heart full of fear
There in the breakers I saw her near
Reached for my baby, held her to me
Stole her back from the endless sleep
I looked at the sea and it seemed to say
You took your baby from me away
My heart cried out, she's mine to keep
I saved my baby from that endless sleep

[NC_Nurse]

27. I Hold Your Hand in Mine.

I forget who wrote it. Rev. Billy Wirtz does a great version. Quite hilarious, if somewhat disturbing. :o

[Coventina]

29. I Bombed Korea - Cake

There are a lot of good suggestions on this thread, though.

[PVnRT]

30. "Every Breath You Take" by The Police

Listen to the words. It's about stalking.

The end "Silver Spring" by Fleetwood Mac qualifies as well. At least, it sounds that way to me.

[Left Is Write]

31. This really doesn't count as "all-time best" I suppose, but....

I have to mention Warrant's "Uncle Tom's Cabin."

[shugah]

34. Lady D'Arbanville

by cat stevens

[reyd reid reed]

35. Don't Fear the Reaper

To me, it doesn't get much more morbid than that. There are sad songs out there but morbid? To me, that one tops the list.

[peekaloo]

36. Timothy by the Buoys or was it the Boyds?

I'm hungry.

[SteppingRazor]

37. Every country-western murder ballad ever written...

everything from "Delia's Gone" by Johnny Cash (probably my favorite example of the subgenre) to "Down by the River" by Neil Young to "Country Death Song" by the Violent Femmes.

[jus_the_facts]

38. Used to Love Her ~ Guns'n'Roses

I used to love her, but i had to kill her
I used to love her, but i had to kill her
I had to put her
Six feet under
And i can still hear her complain


I used to love her, but i had to kill her
I used to love her, but i had to kill her
I knew i miss her
So i had to keep her
She's buried right in my back yard


I used to love her, but i had to kill her
I used to love her, but i had to kill her
She bitched so much
She drove me nuts
And now i'm happier this way


I used to love her, but i had to kill her
I used to love her, but i had to kill her
I had to put her
Six feet under
And i can still hear her complain

[Deja Q]

39. 'Words', 'Destination Unknown', 'Mental Hopscotch', et al...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4Rjqd9iwTI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_pBTYYQiBM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mrhQT_TrB4


The myspace site:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=124887608

[ghostsofgiants]

40. "This Could Be Love" by Alkaline Trio

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VERDB8OFap8

I've got a book of matches
I've got a can of kerosene
I've got some bad ideas involving you and me
I don't blame you for walking away
I touched myself had thoughts of flames
I shat the bed and laid there in it
Thinking of you wide awake for days
Wide awake for days

And I found you tongue-tied in my twisted little brain
You couldn't crack a smile
I didn't catch your name
I don't blame you for walking away
I'd do the same if I saw me
I swear it's not contagious
In four short steps we can erase this

Step one -- slit my throat
Step two -- play in my blood
Step three -- cover me in dirty sheets and run laughing out of the house
Step four -- stop off at Edgebrook Creek and rinse your crimson hands
You took me hostage and made your demands
I couldn't meet them so you cut off my fingers, one by one

I'm like a broken record
I've got a needle scratching me
It injects the poison of alcohol I.V.
I don't blame you for walking away
I'd do the same if I saw me
I swear it's not contagious
I swear to God it's not contagious

Step one -- slit my throat
Step two -- play in my blood
Step three -- cover me in dirty sheets and run laughing out of the house
Step four -- stop at Lake Michigan and rinse your crimson hands
You took me hostage and made your demands
I couldn't meet them so you cut off my fingers, one by one

This could be love - love for fire
This could be love - love for fire
This could be love - love for fire
This could be love for fire forevermore

Step one -- slit my throat
Step two -- play in my blood
Step three -- cover me in dirty sheets and run laughing out of the house
Step four -- stop at Berkeley Marina and rinse your crimson hands
You took me hostage and made your demands
I couldn't meet them so you cut off my fingers, one by one
One by one

[yellowdogmi]

41. Death by Misadventure. John Hiatt

Well, harry had a good job working for the secret service
He had a wife and kids at home who made him awful nervous
Hed never done a damn thing you could call experimental
And he had this aching feeling that his life was accidental

So one day he burned his pinstripe suit and his leather shoulder holster
He snapped a polaroid and made a giant wanted poster
He took it to a print shop and ordered up a thousand flyers
And walked next door to the laundromat and blew his brains out in the drier

And the tag on his toe read: death by misadventure
Aint that some way to go? death by misadventure

Well, harrys wife estella took this matter rather lightly
She could have cried and cried but then her looks might come unsightly
She thought about her wardrobe and how much it was outdated
And how this trumped up family thing was vastly overrated

Her kids both turned against her and they took to drugs and stealing
Some junkie killed em both for two dime bags they were dealing
And sitting home alone disgusted by it all
She blew the sole survivor off with ninety nembutals

And the tag on her toe read: death by misadventure
Aint that some way to go? death by misadventure

So be careful how you choose your path and who you pick to go with
Some folks they take to living fast while some prefer a slow death
Some folks get confused and never quite know how theyre going
When youre laid out on that slab were all the worse for knowing

That the tag on your toe reads: death by misadventure
What a silly way to go. death by misadventure

[lizziegrace]

42. Tom Petty - "Last Dance with Mary Ann"

The video was creepy.

[Left Is Write]

47. Mary Jane.

:)

[lizziegrace]

48. I knew I should have looked it up

Thanks!
:)

[Burma Jones]

43. Teen Angel.......

Teen angel, teen angel, teen angel, ooh, ooh

That fateful night the car was stalled
upon the railroad track
I pulled you out and we were safe
but you went running back

Teen angel, can you hear me
Teen angel, can you see me
Are you somewhere up above
And I am still your own true love

What was it you were looking for
that took your life that night
They said they found my high school ring
clutched in your fingers tight

Teen angel, can you hear me
Teen angel, can you see me
Are you somewhere up above
And I am still your own true love

Just sweet sixteen, and now you're gone
They've taken you away.
I'll never kiss your lips again
They buried you today

Teen angel, can you hear me
Teen angel, can you see me
Are you somewhere up above
And I am still your own true love
Teen angel, teen angel, answer me, please

[Mz Pip]

44. Patches

Guy falls for girl from 'wrong side of the tracks.' He wants to marry her but his parents don't approve, so she kills herself. Guy dispairs and sings that he will join her.

Creepy. The song was very popular back in the 60s. Bobby Vinton sang it.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[Glorfindel]

46. Remember "Moody River," popular at about the same time?

Pat Boone; another tragic teenage drowning song...and so was "Running Bear," for that matter - not to mention "Ode to Billy Joe."

[Glorfindel]

45. Green, Green Grass of Home

breaks my heart every time.

[Left Is Write]

49. Streets Of Laredo

[catnhatnh]

50. Gilbert O'Sullivan-"Alone Again, Naturally"....

...if by "best" you mean most morbid.

[acmavm]

51. That Smell (Can't You Smell That Smell - Lynard Skynard

Whiskey bottles, and brand new cars
Oak tree you're in my way
There's too much coke and too much smoke
Look what's going on inside you
Ooooh that smell
Can't you smell that smell
Ooooh that smell
The smell of death surrounds you

Angel of darkness is upon you
Stuck a needle in your arm
So take another toke, have a blow for your nose
One more drink fool, will drown you
Ooooh that smell
Can't you smell that smell
Ooooh that smell
The smell of death surrounds you

Now they call you Prince Charming
Can't speak a word when you're full of 'ludes
Say you'll be all right come tomorrow
But tomorrow might not be here for you
Ooooh that smell
Can't you smell that smell
Ooooh that smell
The smell of death surrounds you

Hey, you're a fool you
Stick them needles in your arm
I know I been there before

One little problem that confronts you
Got a monkey on your back
Just one more fix, Lord might do the trick
One hell of a price for you to get your kicks
Ooooh that smell
Can't you smell that smell
Ooooh that smell
The smell of death surrounds you
Ooooh that smell
Can't you smell that smell
Ooooh that smell
The smell of death surrounds you

[Roon]

52. Country Death Song...Violent Femmes

I had me a wife, I had me some daughters.
I tried so hard, I never knew still waters.
Nothing to eat and nothing to drink.
Nothing for a man to do but sit around and think.
Nothing for a man to do but sit around and think.

Well, Im a thinkin and thinkin, till theres nothin I aint thunk.
Breathing in the stink, till finally I stunk.
It was at that time, I swear I lost my mind.
I started making plans to kill my own kind.
I started making plans to kill my own kind.

Come little daughter, I said to the youngest one,
Put your coat on, well have some fun.
Well go out to mountains, the one to explore.
Her face then lit up, I was standing by the door.
Her face then lit up, I was standing by the door.

Come little daughter, I will carry the lanterns.
Well go out tonight, well go to the caverns.
Well go out tonight, well go to the caves.
Kiss your mother goodnight and remember that God saves.
Kiss your mother goodnight and remember that God saves.

A led her to a hole, a deep black well.
I said make a wish, make sure and not tell and
Close youre eyes dear, and count to seven.
You know your papa loves you, good children go to heaven.
You know your papa loves you, good children go to heaven.

I gave her a push, I gave her a shove.
I pushed with all my might, I pushed with all my love.
I through my child into a bottomless pit.
She was screaming as she fell, but I never heard her hit.
She was screaming as she fell, but I never heard her hit.

Gather round boys to this tale that I tell.
You wanna know how to take a short trip to hell?
Its guarenteed to get your own place in hell.
Just take your lovely daughter and push her in the well.
Take your lovely daughter and throw her in the well.

Dont speak to me of lovers, with a broken heart.
You wanna know what can really tear you apart?
Im going out to the barn, will I never stop in pain?
Im going out to the barn, to hang myself in shame.

[mockmonkey]

59. heh

That's the song I've been thinking of. I just couldn't remember the title.

[Roon]

62. I'm a huge violent femmes fan

I know just about every song they have.

[AzDar]

53. 'Carroll County Accident' by Porter Wagoner....my Pops used to

play it over and over and over after he and my Mom divorced.
I remember: blood, and broken glass, and a matchbox with a wedding band inside, and a crumpled car.
Harsh stuff for a 5-year-old.
Jeebus, it's a wonder I'm not a serial killer...:rofl:

[sarge43]

54. Ode to Billie Joe n/t

[bullwinkle428]

55. Dire Straits - "Brothers In Arms"

...hauntingly beautiful song and video...

These mist covered mountains
Are a home now for me
But my home is the lowlands
And always will be
Some day youll return to
Your valleys and your farms
And youll no longer burn
To be brothers in arms

Through these fields of destruction
Baptisms of fire
Ive watched all your suffering
As the battles raged higher
And though they did hurt me so bad
In the fear and alarm
You did not desert me
My brothers in arms

Theres so many different worlds
So many differents suns
And we have just one world
But we live in different ones

Now the suns gone to hell
And the moons riding high
Let me bid you farewell
Every man has to die
But its written in the starlight
And every line on your palm
Were fools to make war
On our brothers in arms

[carly denise pt deux]

56. Close my eyes forever by Ozzy Osborne/Lita Ford

but I do like the song.
Carly

[katsy]

57. Jim Carrol, People Who Died

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9RUge55cKE

People Who Died
By Jim Carroll

Audio sample

Teddy sniffing glue he was 12 years old
Fell from the roof on East Two-nine
Cathy was 11 when she pulled the plug
On 26 reds and a bottle of wine
Bobby got leukemia, 14 years old
He looked like 65 when he died
He was a friend of mine

Refrain:
Those are people who died, died
Those are people who died, died
Those are people who died, died
Those are people who died, died
They were all my friends, and they died

G-berg and Georgie let their gimmicks go rotten
So they died of hepatitis in upper Manhattan
Sly in Vietnam took a bullet in the head
Bobby OD'd on Drano on the night that he was wed
They were two more friends of mine
Two more friends that died / I miss 'em--they died

Repeat Refrain

Mary took a dry dive from a hotel room
Bobby hung himself from a cell in the tombs
Judy jumped in front of a subway train
Eddie got slit in the jugular vein
And Eddie, I miss you more than all the others,
And I salute you brother/ This song is for you my brother

Repeat Refrain

Herbie pushed Tony from the Boys' Club roof
Tony thought that his rage was just some goof
But Herbie sure gave Tony some bitchen proof
"Hey," Herbie said, "Tony, can you fly?"
But Tony couldn't fly . . . Tony died

Repeat Refrain:

Brian got busted on a narco rap
He beat the rap by rattin' on some bikers
He said, hey, I know it's dangerous,
but it sure beats Riker's
But the next day he got offed
by the very same bikers

Repeat Refrain; repeat song to Eddie

Copyright Earl McGrath Music/Jim Carroll Music ASCAP (1980)

[AngryAmish]

58. Arlene - The Handsome Family

[Left Is Write]

61. Papa Loved Mama by Garth Brooks