What is your alibi
February 8, 2011 5:05 PM   Subscribe

I'm looking for songs about people being put to death for crimes that someone else committed.

I ran across two songs in my music library that fit this theme ("Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts" by Bob Dylan and "Long Black Veil" sung by The Band) and I'd love to make a playlist with this theme.

I'd prefer it if the person who is put to death knows who really committed the original crime, but that might be hard to find. So something like "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" (Vicki Lawrence) is acceptable, since the listener does know who really did it, but the person who is hung may or may not know who actually committed the murder.

The examples I have are all about jilted lovers, but that doesn't have to be the theme of the song. My examples all also involve being put to death by hanging, but any type of execution will do.

Any genre is great.
posted by k8lin to Media & Arts (26 answers total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
My favorite: "The Road Goes on Forever," by Robert Earl Keen, Jr. (Spoiler lyrics here.)
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:13 PM on February 8, 2011


Long Black Veil is kind of the ultimate.
posted by heigh-hothederryo at 5:14 PM on February 8, 2011 [4 favorites]


Lots of songs about Joe Hill.
posted by scody at 5:16 PM on February 8, 2011 [1 favorite]


Steve Earle's "Billy and Bonnie". (The album version is much better than this example, sorry about that.) Lyrics here.

"The sheriff told Billy, "Boy, you're bound to die
‘Cause this young lady's gonna testify
That you done took her off against her will
And she told us about the robbery and the boy you killed""
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:20 PM on February 8, 2011


I meant to explain, before the beast sitting next to me pushed "post", that there are a tremendous number of Long Black Veil versions.

Also, Gallows Pole (and a plethora of versions). The Four Marys is another traditional. The narrator is guilty of, and executed for, infanticide, but she accuses her "sovereign liege" from the scaffold for causing the baby's death and hers.
posted by heigh-hothederryo at 5:20 PM on February 8, 2011


Isn't Hurricane by Bob Dylan also on this theme? Tho I don't remember if he was put to death or convicted for life.
posted by annathea at 5:23 PM on February 8, 2011


Nick Cave's "The Mercy Seat" leaves it ambiguous as to whether or not the narrator (in the electric chair) is guilty. At least, that's my read on the lyrics. ("And anyway I never lied ... and anyway I told the truth ... and anyway I never lied ... but I'm afraid I told a lie")
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 5:26 PM on February 8, 2011


Isn't Hurricane by Bob Dylan also on this theme? Tho I don't remember if he was put to death or convicted for life.

Hurricane Carter was sentenced to life (though prosecutors tried for death) and later released.
posted by scody at 5:27 PM on February 8, 2011


"Tom Dooley" by the Kingston Trio (and others)
posted by argonauta at 5:29 PM on February 8, 2011


"Wheat Kings" by The Tragically Hip is about a wrongly convicted Canadian. Might be close enough for you, despite him not being executed.
posted by backwards guitar at 5:42 PM on February 8, 2011


Common-- Testify
posted by :-) at 5:47 PM on February 8, 2011


Joe Bean - Johnny Cash.
posted by unliteral at 6:02 PM on February 8, 2011




10,000 Maniacs - I'm Not the Man

and +1 for Long Black Veil.
posted by Orinda at 6:26 PM on February 8, 2011


Er sorry, I saw heigh-hothederryo's comment but somehow missed the fact that you already had Long Black Veil in the question.
posted by Orinda at 6:28 PM on February 8, 2011


"Tom Dooley" may or may not qualify, depending on whether you buy the story that the murder was done by the other woman in the love triangle in question. It was probably Tom Dooley, as this extremely long article asserts.
posted by staggernation at 6:33 PM on February 8, 2011


Cowboy Junkies, Black-Eyed Man.

Black-eyed man he took the blame for the poisoning of the well. They found his shoes by the pulley. They found his fingerprints all over the pail. With a noose around his neck, cicadas trilling everywhere, he says to the people gathered round him, "it ain't the water that's not right around here".
posted by crush-onastick at 7:03 PM on February 8, 2011


"Let Him Dangle" by Elvis Costello and various other songs about the Derek Bentley case.
posted by Jabberwocky at 7:04 PM on February 8, 2011


The second version of "Poor Ellen Smith" might be close to what you're looking for (though other lyrics for this tune paint the prisoner as guilty).

"Ellen sleeps calm in the lonely church yard
While I look trough the bars --- God knows it is hard!
I know they will hang me --- at least, if they can,
But I know I will die as an innocent man."
posted by MonkeyToes at 7:06 PM on February 8, 2011


Came in here to recommend "I'm Not The Man", but I see someone already has.
posted by cmgonzalez at 8:15 PM on February 8, 2011


Buenos tardes amigo by Ween
posted by spork at 8:33 PM on February 8, 2011 [1 favorite]


While it's actually about being imprisoned (not necessarily put to death) "Over the Hills and Far Away" might be close enough. I prefer Nightwish's cover.
posted by Lifeson at 10:32 PM on February 8, 2011


This is a totally different genre, but "Who Am I?" from the musical Les Miserables deals with this issue - the character remains free and another a man has been mistakenly arrested in his place, but he struggles with the guilt. He ultimately gives himself up to the law before the other man is sentenced.

Who am I?
Can I condemn this man to slavery
Pretend I do not feel his agony
This innocent who bears my face
Who goes to judgement in my place
Who am I?

posted by sarahsynonymous at 10:34 PM on February 8, 2011


Lucinda by Tom Waits might fit. It's not as clearcut as 'the guy did it, but I'm gonna die' though.
posted by geek anachronism at 2:58 AM on February 9, 2011


"Number for My Name" (or "Raining Here This Morning," I've heard it called both):

But there's no way to prove that I'm not guilty
And so I'll have to suffer all the shame
Go and tell her for me, little raindrop,
That they've given me a number for my name.

posted by fiercecupcake at 6:26 AM on February 9, 2011


Clint Black's "Cadillac Jack Favor" (sentenced to death, anyway)

Steve Earle's "Taneytown", "Justice in Ontario"

Given that two of us so far have cited Steve Earle, there's probably more we're not thinking of. He's a morbid hunk of country, that one.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 2:12 PM on February 9, 2011


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