What is a murder ballad?

Since it’s Halloween season, we turned to a darker, creepier theme for this Top 20. We asked you to name what you think is the best murder ballad. And wow, did you come through with some great choices! 

Related: Murder ballads on Music 101

The list includes songs that are creepy, dark, and haunted to the core – and in many cases, they’re songs you can’t get out of your head. See the full list below. 

 

1	Goodbye Earl	The (Dixie) Chicks	11	Excitable Boy	Warren Zevon
2	Country Death Song	Violent Femmes	12	Murder In The Red Barn	Tom Waits
3	Where The Wild Roses Grow	Nick Cave & Kylie Minogue	13	Black River Killer	Blitzen Trapper
4	Long Black Veil	Johnny Cash	14	The Rake’s Song	The Decemberists
5	Where Did You Sleep Last Night	Nirvana	15	Hey Joe	Jimi Hendrix
6	Possum Kingdom	Toadies	16	Westfall	Okkervil River
7	Me & My Uncle	Grateful Dead	17	Down By The River	Neil Young
8	Murder, Tonight, In The Trailer Park	Cowboy Junkies	18	Long Black Veil	Lefty Frizzell
9	Carolina Drama	The Raconteurs	19	Blood On The Floor	Fleetwood Mac
10	Kate McCannon	Colter Wall	20	Delia’s Gone	Johnny Cash

 

If you’re not familiar with the long history of murder ballads, below is some background.

Country music is full of murder ballads, in part because the music grew out of folk and old-time music and storytelling that date back centuries…and murder ballads have, for better or worse, been a part of folk music history.

The Louvin Brothers recorded one of the most famous murder ballads, their beautiful vocal harmonies a stark juxtaposition against the ballad’s creepy lyrics. 

One classic country song made such an impact, you voted for it twice from two different singers! The song was written by Danny Dill and Marjohn Wilken – here’s the version by Lefty Frizzell, who was the first to record it in 1959. 

 

Murder ballads, though, have crept plenty often into other genres as well. Rock music has some choice examples, like this song from the Decemberists: 

 

Bruce Springsteen got plenty dark on his Nebraska album, including on the title track, which is based on the story of Charles Starkweather and his 14-year-old girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate. Springsteen was allegedly inspired to write this song after seeing the Terrence Malick film Badlands.

 

And of course, there’s Nirvana‘s cover of an old folk song during their MTV Unplugged session. They called it “Where Did You Sleep Last Night,” but the song is also known by titles such as “In the Pines,” “My Girl,” and “Black Girl.”

 

You can turn also to hip-hop for more takes on the murder ballad. This classic song by the Geto Boys will haunt you for days…or maybe for the rest of your life. 

 

And women, of course, have gotten in on the action more than a few times, too. Wanda Jackson’s “The Box It Came In,” for instance, takes a wicked turn about halfway through. 

 

And Bessie Smith pleaded with the judge on the gruesome “Send Me to the ‘Lectric Chair.” 

 

But it’s Hurray for the Riff Raff‘s song “The Body Electric” that brings us back to earth by taking several steps back to see murder – most notably violence against women and people of color – for the horror that it is. As the band’s lead singer and songwriter Alynda Lee Segarra described it: “I hope this song breathes power and humanity back into all people who feel targeted by violence and oppression, whether they exist in our old stories and songs or are marching in protest as we speak.”

 

 

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