Killing Time: A playlist of modern murder ballads

It's a rough world out there, but somebody's got to document it. Or a lot of somebodies, judging by the number of candidates on the shortlist for inclusion on this compendium of recent homicidal hits. All of these songs were released in the last decade, with the exception of the Nick Cave song, which came out in 1996 (because it would be criminally negligent to overlook his entire Murder Ballads album). Most of them are original compositions, some are time-tested traditionals, but they all share a distinct ability to unsettle and entertain in varying measures. Enjoy the squirming!



Okkervil River, "Westfall"
Singer Will Sheff has said that this ode to the facelessness of evil was inspired by the real-life "yogurt shop murders" that occurred in Austin, Texas, in 1991. Highlights of this live-show favorite include one of the most blistering mandolin solos this side of "Losing My Religion" and the inherently shout-along-able phrase "evil don't look like anything."

Gillian Welch, "Caleb Meyer"
Welch's unique, quavering voice and ethereal, bluegrass-style finger-picking lend an anxious gravitas to this rural tale of attempted rape and a murder in self-defense.

The Raconteurs, "Carolina Drama"
Still not 100% sure what this Appalachian-folk-inspired ditty is about—something involving a not-entirely-celibate priest and a milk bottle used as a murder weapon—but someone definitely dies, and when Jack White sings "drunk temper that was easy to lose," it sure sounds a lot like "Drunktember," the best month of them all.

Amy LaVere, "Killing Him"
Like a delicate and dreamy recap of an episode of Snapped, upright bassist/singer LaVere claims she heard the song's refrain—"killin' him didn't make the love go away"—on the news, emerging from a woman's mouth as she was hauled away for questioning in the murder of her husband.

Drive-By Truckers, "Sink Hole"
"Sink Hole," much like Okkervil River's "Westfall," is a staple of the band's raucous live show, with its hootin', hollerin' and landowner's pride. By the time they get to the denouement, our protagonist has already put the incident behind him: "Damned if I wouldn't go to church on Sunday/Look the preacher in the eye, woo!"

Dixie Chicks, "Goodbye Earl"
With the rollicking tale of domestic abuse and the ensuing revenge served with a side of black-eyed peas, the women of the Dixie Chicks got their first taste of nationwide controversy, something they'd come to know well over their career.

Eminem, "Stan"
A certified Hot 100 Billboard hit, Eminem hit a collective nerve with this Dido-sampling depiction of an obsessive fan and his hapless girlfriend, both of whom end up shuffling off this mortal coil by the end of the song. Even after eight years and roughly 1,000,000 AAA-radio spins of Dido's "Thank You," Eminem's mini-drama is still spine-chilling.

Be Your Own Pet, "Becky"
The spunky, punky tale of homicidal high-school drama was removed from the U.S. version of BYOP's latest album, Get Awkward, when the suits at Universal decided it was "too violent." The "Locomotion"-esque song was eventually released on an EP (along with two other songs the major label took offense at) and with lyrics like "me and her, we'll kick your ass/we'll wait with knives after class," it isn't any more disturbing than, say, Heathers.

Chad VanGaalen, "Molten Light"
In an creative inversion of the murder ballad formula, the killed becomes the killer in VanGaalen's vengeful ghost story. The phrase "I found you and I killed you" might be the unlikeliest candidate ever for mindless refrain humming, but we dare you to hear that odd chorus and try to forget it.

Neko Case, "Deep Red Bells"
As a former resident of both Seattle and Vancouver, a young Neko Case watched helplessly as the Green River Killer preyed on women on both sides of the U.S. border. She wrote "Deep Red Bells" as a moving tribute to the victims, many of them prostitutes and/or junkies, asking, "Does your soul cast about like an old paper bag/Past empty lots and early graves?"

Nick Cave featuring Kylie Minogue, "Where the Wild Roses Grow"
This duet from Cave's Murder Ballads album was many Americans' introduction to the Bad Seeds frontman, thanks to the über-creepy video's heavy rotation on MTV. Although it sounds authentically old-timey—all swooping violins and broken male promises that end with his ladyfriend dead in a river—the song sprung directly from the twisted, brilliant mind of Cage himself.

Robbie Fulks, "Coldwater, Tennessee"
Fulks, a bona fide country singer with a healthy helping of Nashville hatred (check out "Fuck This Town" for concrete proof), spins a yarn about a father who abandons his family in rural Tennessee for the bright lights of Nashville, where he hits the big time, then picks up some fancy clothes and a "brand-new family." His despondent teenage son decides to set things right with cold steel and lit black powder.

Jolie Holland, "Love Henry"
Holland's interpretation of the traditional story of Henry Lee is a bit swampy and breathless, as if she recorded the whole thing underwater, but that only adds to the mystique of the fella-killer who threatens her pet parrot/witness with a similar fate. There's some first-class whistling in here, too.

Okkervil River, "Omie Wise"
Another traditional, adapted into song decades ago from a true story of the 19th-century North Carolina murder of Naomi Wise, a young woman who discovers she's pregnant and is strangled and dumped into the river by the panicked father of her child.

Okkervil River, "Kathy Keller"
From Okkervil River's nearly-impossible-to-find debut album Stars Too Small to Use comes "Kathy Keller," in which Sheff howls (or brays, depending on your preferred animal imagery) his way through a ramshackle tale of recidivism gone wild. Hard to believe this is the same crooner doing his best Thin White Duke on the just-released The Stand Ins, but it's true, and it's wonderful.