Great songs about crime

[The Bus]

Alright, hopefully this will be a good thread. I wanted to get your opinions on songs which are about crime and also tell a story. Could be about gansters, or outlaws, or people down on their luck, any combination thereof.

So, for example Springsteen's "Johnny 99" from Nebraska or Biggie's "Niggas Bleed" from Life After Death.

Marty Robbin's "El Paso" is more story than crime. It's really a love story. Ween's "Buenas Tardes Amigo" from Chocolate & Cheese is a bit more crime-y.

[The Bus]

Also: "Children's Story" (the Slick Rick, Tricky, or Black Star versions all work).

[DJLinus]

"Mack the Knife" - Bobby Darin

"Scooby Snacks" - Fun Loving Criminals (maybe not *great*, but fun)
"Criminal" - Eminem (at least part of the song; hell, a lot of his songs are about illegal doings)

I need to get some Marty Robbins. Whenever I hear "El Paso" I think of Steve Martin's early 80s "Comedy Is Not Pretty" special, with all of the chimps. Hilarious. (That NEEDS to be on DVD.)

[cdollaz]

"The City Sleeps" - MC 900 Ft. Jesus

[Poink]

Suicide- Frankie Teardrop
More of a descent into insanity, but I guess what's depicted is illegal. Somewhat. :)

The Jam- Down in the Tube Station at Midnight
Victim's account of being mugged.

Husker Du- Diane
Perpetrator's account of the rape and murder of a young girl.

Big Black- Jordan, Minnesota
Child Molestation. Hell, probably half their songs were about a crime of some sort.

I'll probably think of more later when I get a chance to think about it.

[Alyoshka]

I'm not sure if I consider it a great song but I enjoy it: "Possum Kingdom" by the Toadies.

[pinata242]

Date Rape - Sublime instantly sprang to mind.

"Great"? Nah... But it's what came up first.

[Groucho]

"Alice's Restaurant"

[Case01]

i fought the law

[Abe.]

"Been Caught Stealing" by Jane's Addiction

[Hixx]

Kid Charlemagne- Steely Dan
Excitable Boy- Warren Zevon
To Catch a Thief- Lovage
Intruder- Peter Gabriel

[rw2516]

Desperado-Alice Cooper
Take The Money And Run-Steve Miller
I Shot The Sheriff-Clapton
Folsom Prison Blues-J.C.
Renegade-Styx
Then Came The Last Days Of May-Blue Oyster Cult
The Pusher-Steppenwolf
30 Days In The Hole-Humble Pie
Two Hangmen-Mason Profitt
The Ballad of Danny Bailey-Elton John
Jailbreak-Thin Lizzy
Band On The Run-Wings
Gimme Your Money Please-Bachman Turner Overdrive
Chain Gang-Sam Cooke

[Perkinsun Dzees]

Warren Zevon - Frank and Jesse James
Baader Meinhof - There's Gonna Be an Accident
Lorne Greene - Ringo

[William Fuld]

Sleep Come Free Me - James Taylor
I'm Bad Like Jesse James - John Lee Hooker
Stagger Lee - Lloyd Price

[Tarantino]

Biggie - Story To Tell.

= J

[Groucho]

I Shot The Sheriff-Clapton

-ohbfrank-

[k_lodge]

I Hung My Head - Sting (tho I prefer Johnny Cash cover version)

[Jason]

Jailbreak-Thin Lizzy

Jailbreak - AC/DC :)

[tommy28]

The Killing of Georgie, part 1 & 2 - Rod Stewart

[chino77]

watch me kill- gg allin

[Hixx]

Tweeter and the Monkeyman- Traveling Wilburys

[Mordred]

I'm not sure if I consider it a great song but I enjoy it: "Possum Kingdom" by the Toadies.It's an okay song. "Tyler" by the Toadies is a much better song about crime. If you listen to the lyrics the main character is stalking a girl before breaking into her house and abducting her to take her to Mexico.

Robert Earl Keen has some in the Marty Robbins vein as well. Definitely check out "Sonora's Death Row" and "The Road Goes On Forever".

[zombeaner]

Cocaine Blues - Johnny Cash

Really any number of Johnny Cash songs will work

Bank Robber - The Clash

[wishbone]

Queen - Stone Cold Crazy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Cold_Crazy)

[Sean O'Hara]

"Six O'Clock News" by Kathleen Edwards

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/W6yxLqV_WVM&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/W6yxLqV_WVM&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

"The Long Black Veil" by Johnny Cash or The Band
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/pALSKcWcVEk&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/pALSKcWcVEk&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

"Banks of the Hudson" by Black 47

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/yt_U-hEOMCk&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/yt_U-hEOMCk&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

[Snowmaker]

The first one that came to my mind was Cop Killer by Body Count.

[The Bus]

Forgot to add:

"John Wayne Gacy Jr." by Sufjan Stevens from Illinois.

[Hollowgen]

how about "What's He Building?" by Tom Waits??!?

[Tscott]

Bob Dylan:

Hurricane
Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
Idiot Wind
Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts

[Alyoshka]

how about "What's He Building?" by Tom Waits??!?

Perhaps it's perfectly innocent...if only we knew what he was building in there.

[Cosmic Bus]

Emiliana Torrini, "Gun" (http://www.zshare.net/audio/19733240ae42ffa2/) (also one of my favorite songs from this year)

how about "What's He Building?" by Tom Waits??!?

Heh, nice. I always get the oddest looks when this ends up on a mix.

[yojimbo44]

"Crime in the City" - Neil Young, from Freedom.

[Tscott]

They Might Be Giants:

No One Knows My Plan
Out of Jail
I'll Sink Manhattan

[PopcornTreeCt]

Third Eye Blind - Slow Motion

The unedited version.

[Scrumtrulescent]

"The Bagman's Gambit" ... by The Decemberists
"Caleb Meyer" ... by Gillian Welch
"Stars Of CCTV" ... by Hard-Fi
"Ordinary Weekend" ... by John Wesley Harding
"Polly" ... by Nirvana
"Country Death Song" ... by Violent Femmes

[wishbone]

Tom Jones - Delilah (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delilah_(1968_song))

[HotThang]

The Night the Lights Went Out In Georgia - Vickie Lawrence

[Giles]

The Autuers - 'Unsolved Child Murder'
Black Box Recorder - 'Child Psychology'
Dubstar - 'Not So Manic Now'

[mickey65]

Gallow's Pole - Led Zeppelin

[Giles]

jeesh peeps, can we decide on how to format the answer

band - song
or
song - band

talk about being inconsistent... yeah, I'm being anal, but I've got a boatload of caffine in my system this morning.

[ike0000]

April 26th, 1992
There was a riot on the streets, tell me where were you?
You were sittin' home watchin' your TV
While I was paticipatin' in some anarchy

[Big Boy Laroux]

Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard - "Pancho and Lefty"
Refreshments - "Banditos"

[wishbone]

jeesh peeps, can we decide on how to format the answer

band - song
or
song - band

talk about being inconsistent... yeah, I'm being anal, but I've got a boatload of caffine in my system this morning.I blame The Bus: he did not provide us with any f (http://forum.dvdtalk.com/music-talk/521623-your-favorite-albums-year-1980-1989-a.html)or (http://forum.dvdtalk.com/music-talk/522384-your-favorite-albums-year-2000-2009-a.html)ma (http://forum.dvdtalk.com/music-talk/522147-your-favorite-albums-year-1960-1969-a.html)tt (http://forum.dvdtalk.com/music-talk/521803-your-favorite-albums-year-1970-1979-a.html)in (http://forum.dvdtalk.com/music-talk/521625-your-favorite-albums-year-1990-1999-a.html)g for the lazy. ;)

[Liver&Onions]

"38 years old" - The tragically Hip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbIZ1IuqCzU)

[Darth Maher]

"18 and Life" - Skid Row
"Street Justice" - Twisted Sister (similar to the Freddy Krueger story)

"City of Crime" - Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks :D

[abrg923]

"Natural Born Killaz" - Dr. Dre / Ice Cube

[Drexl]

The Beatles - "Maxwell's Silver Hammer"
Aerosmith - "Janie's Got a Gun"

Eminem has a bunch of these - "'97 Bonnie and Clyde," "Guilty Conscience," "Bad Meets Evil," etc.

[bunkaroo]

Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime

[Giles]

The Beatles - "Maxwell's Silver Hammer"
Aerosmith - "Janie's Got a Gun"

Eminem has a bunch of these - "'97 Bonnie and Clyde," "Guilty Conscience," "Bad Meets Evil," etc.


reminds me of 'Another Teen Movie' - a guilty pleasure of mine.

[mndtrp]

The problem with this thread, is the qualifier "great." If that wasn't there, I would suggest almost every song by metal group Macabre. (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll) Their shtick is almost all of their songs are about serial killers.

http://www.myspace.com/macabre

[Mikael79]

"38 years old" - The tragically Hip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbIZ1IuqCzU)

Excellent choice!

My pick:

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap - AC/DC

[FrankTheTank]

Maxine - Ghostface Killah
The Hilton - Ghostface Killah
You Must Love Me - Jay-Z
Friend Or Foe & Friend Or Foe '98 - Jay-Z

[Decker]

So, for example Springsteen's "Johnny 99" from Nebraska

Same album, "Highway Patrolman" has always been one of my all-time favorites.

[kms_md]

i will second "lily, rosemary, and the jack of hearts" by bob dylan:

And Rosemary on the gallows, she didn't even blink,
The hangin' judge was sober, he hadn't had a drink.

[Michael Corvin]

How about Bad Company's, erm, Bad Company?

[chino77]

delete

[gmal2003]

"Jenny Was a Friend of Mine" - The Killers


GREAT SONG

[reubs82]

The Perfect Crime #1 and The Perfect Crime #2 - The Decemberists

[cranberries fan]

"In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins
"Tucson, Arizona" by Dan Fogelberg
those are two of best songs about hard-times and murder!

[PopcornTreeCt]

"Jenny Was a Friend of Mine" - The Killers


GREAT SONG

I love that song. I had to look up the lyrics, I had never realized what it was about.

[Decker]

"In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins
"Tucson, Arizona" by Dan Fogelberg
those are two of best songs about hard-times and murder!

Last time I checked witnessing a drowning, while disturbing, is not a crime.

[redhenry]

Delias's Gone by Johnny Cash
The Friends of Mr Cairo by Jon and Vangelis

[Josh-da-man]

"Breaking the Law" - Judas Priest