with my double barrel shotgun and a whole box of shells we'll celebrate the fourth of july
July 16, 2012 4:52 PM Subscribe
Please suggest songs (mostly but not exclusively blues and americana) for a soundtrack to a story about two very bad people on a cross-country Bonnie & Clyde-style crime spree.
Ideally the lyrics would be at least a little bit relevant, but that's less important than the tone. The best example I have so far is Holly Golightly's Devil Do.
Best case would have a singer who's be more gleeful than guilty, but please do suggest anything that works in your head.
A few I've found so far that sort of work:
Nasty Letter — Otis Taylor (the sound is right, anyway)
Lose Your Soul — Dead Man's Bones
Wrong Side of the Road — Tom Waits
Sickle and Hood — Brown Bird
Thanks!
Best case would have a singer who's be more gleeful than guilty, but please do suggest anything that works in your head.
A few I've found so far that sort of work:
Nasty Letter — Otis Taylor (the sound is right, anyway)
Lose Your Soul — Dead Man's Bones
Wrong Side of the Road — Tom Waits
Sickle and Hood — Brown Bird
Thanks!
Steve Miller Band's "Take the Money and Run."
posted by Morrigan at 4:56 PM on July 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Morrigan at 4:56 PM on July 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
uh (Brigitte)
posted by crush-onastick at 5:09 PM on July 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by crush-onastick at 5:09 PM on July 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
You should check out Devil Makes Three, this is pretty much their oeuvre. Can't link on my phone but listen to The Plank, The Bullet, Johnson Family, Black Irish or Bangor Mash.
Pete Bernhardt's solo stuff is worth a look too. Orphan is pretty cheeky, in particular.
All on amazon or probably itunes.
posted by fshgrl at 5:11 PM on July 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
Pete Bernhardt's solo stuff is worth a look too. Orphan is pretty cheeky, in particular.
All on amazon or probably itunes.
posted by fshgrl at 5:11 PM on July 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
The Great Tear of Josie and Ed is one of my favorites by local guy Bow Thayer (with full band)
Ashes Back to Vegas by Pete Krebs and the Gossamer Wings
posted by jessamyn at 5:11 PM on July 16, 2012
Ashes Back to Vegas by Pete Krebs and the Gossamer Wings
posted by jessamyn at 5:11 PM on July 16, 2012
Better Get A Lawyer by The Cruel Sea. (My net connection is painfully slow at the moment so I can't watch the video, but I think that's the one I usually play.)
posted by malibustacey9999 at 5:11 PM on July 16, 2012
posted by malibustacey9999 at 5:11 PM on July 16, 2012
Jace Everett - Bad Things (yes, it's the True Blood theme song)
posted by inigo2 at 5:18 PM on July 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by inigo2 at 5:18 PM on July 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
Perhaps raid the People Take Warning compilation, particularly the third disc?
Also, don't forget that a lot of Alan Lomax's recordings are available as well.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 5:24 PM on July 16, 2012
Also, don't forget that a lot of Alan Lomax's recordings are available as well.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 5:24 PM on July 16, 2012
Previously:
Songs about being on the run?
Go on, take the money and run
Bonnie and Clyde
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:31 PM on July 16, 2012
Songs about being on the run?
Go on, take the money and run
Bonnie and Clyde
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:31 PM on July 16, 2012
I'm Ready by Muddy Waters
I'm ready, ready as anybody can be
I'm ready, ready as anybody can be
Now I'm ready for you, I hope you're ready for me
I got an axe handle pistol on a graveyard frame
That shoot tombstone bullets, wearin' balls and chain
I'm drinkin' TNT, I'm smokin' dynamite
I hope some screwball start a fight
'Cause I'm ready, ready as anybody can be
I'm ready for you, I hope you're ready for me
All you pretty little chicks with your pretty little hair
I know you feels like I ain't nowhere
But stop what your doin' baby come overhere
I'll prove to you baby, that I ain't no square
Because I'm ready, ready as anybody can be
Now I'm ready for you, I hope you're ready for me
I been drinkin' gin like never before
I feel so good, I want you to know
One more drink, I wish you would
I takes a whole lotta lovin' to make me feel good
'Cause I'm ready, ready as anybody can be
Now I'm ready for you, I hope you're ready for me
posted by carsonb at 5:31 PM on July 16, 2012
I'm ready, ready as anybody can be
I'm ready, ready as anybody can be
Now I'm ready for you, I hope you're ready for me
I got an axe handle pistol on a graveyard frame
That shoot tombstone bullets, wearin' balls and chain
I'm drinkin' TNT, I'm smokin' dynamite
I hope some screwball start a fight
'Cause I'm ready, ready as anybody can be
I'm ready for you, I hope you're ready for me
All you pretty little chicks with your pretty little hair
I know you feels like I ain't nowhere
But stop what your doin' baby come overhere
I'll prove to you baby, that I ain't no square
Because I'm ready, ready as anybody can be
Now I'm ready for you, I hope you're ready for me
I been drinkin' gin like never before
I feel so good, I want you to know
One more drink, I wish you would
I takes a whole lotta lovin' to make me feel good
'Cause I'm ready, ready as anybody can be
Now I'm ready for you, I hope you're ready for me
posted by carsonb at 5:31 PM on July 16, 2012
Check out the compilation My Rough and Rowdy Ways (I think there are two volumes; I would link but I can't figure out how on this phone). They're filled with old blues, C&W, Americana songs about basically just being a gritty badass. I think they're on Amazon.
posted by Pope Xanax IV at 5:59 PM on July 16, 2012
posted by Pope Xanax IV at 5:59 PM on July 16, 2012
Lawyers, Guns and Money by Warren Zevon!
posted by lovableiago at 6:14 PM on July 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by lovableiago at 6:14 PM on July 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
I came in to say Nebraska but I see it's already been mentioned. That's probably the most appropriate track but the whole album has a tone that might work and it's a masterpiece, so worth listening to anyway.
Me and her went for a ride sir
And ten innocent people died
posted by deadwax at 7:20 PM on July 16, 2012
Me and her went for a ride sir
And ten innocent people died
posted by deadwax at 7:20 PM on July 16, 2012
Tom Waits has a few good ones for this -- Gun Street Girl is the most "bluesy". It's not quite clear WHAT the hell is going on in the song, it's more like a bunch of impressions of a lot of different shady stuff.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:43 PM on July 16, 2012
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:43 PM on July 16, 2012
The Road Goes on Forever and the Party Never Ends - Robert Earl Keen (covered by others)
Borrowed Wings - Jim White (Ignore the dumb video)
posted by elendil71 at 7:52 PM on July 16, 2012
Borrowed Wings - Jim White (Ignore the dumb video)
posted by elendil71 at 7:52 PM on July 16, 2012
Blue Jeans - Silvertide
(upbeat, lyrics fit, possibly way off on the tone)
The ghost of Tom Joad - Bruce Springsteen
Cortez the Killer - Neil Young
(maybe slightly closer to the tone, more downbeat, lyrics might be off but somehow these two make sense to me)
posted by itheearl at 8:42 PM on July 16, 2012
(upbeat, lyrics fit, possibly way off on the tone)
The ghost of Tom Joad - Bruce Springsteen
Cortez the Killer - Neil Young
(maybe slightly closer to the tone, more downbeat, lyrics might be off but somehow these two make sense to me)
posted by itheearl at 8:42 PM on July 16, 2012
Beating St. Louis, Shilpa Ray and her Happy Hookers
Pancho and Lefty, Townes Van Zandt
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 9:15 PM on July 16, 2012
Pancho and Lefty, Townes Van Zandt
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 9:15 PM on July 16, 2012
The Builders and the Butchers would probably work well for something like this. Short Way Home is probably the most lyrically relevant, but you might be able to find more/something better.
posted by dogwalker at 9:27 PM on July 16, 2012
posted by dogwalker at 9:27 PM on July 16, 2012
One disc of the 'People Take Warning' box has lots more cool prewar stuff along these lines. And I don't know if hip-hop or narcocorridos are on the table, but there's some territory to be mined there. I'll toss in Bob Dylan's 'Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid' soundtrack too.
posted by box at 9:33 PM on July 16, 2012
posted by box at 9:33 PM on July 16, 2012
There's a Johnny Cash compilation called 'Murder' that also might be worth a look.
posted by box at 9:36 PM on July 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by box at 9:36 PM on July 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
I second "Nebraska" by Springsteen. Google Charlie Starkweather and Caril Fugate.
posted by Jurbano at 11:22 PM on July 16, 2012
posted by Jurbano at 11:22 PM on July 16, 2012
Basically everything by Lana Del Rey--that's kind of her shtick, the whole Bonnie & Clyde, Sid & Nancy thing. Kinda Outta Luck, Off to the Races, Driving in Cars with Boys, You Can Be the Boss, and Heavy Hitter, just to name a few.
posted by désoeuvrée at 4:05 AM on July 17, 2012
posted by désoeuvrée at 4:05 AM on July 17, 2012
Slim Cessna's Auto Club has a number of songs that may fill the bill. The Auto Club is labeled Americana, Country Gothic, etc. I find them to have a touch of good ol' Tent Revival.
"This is how we do things in the country" is about killing and burying an unfaithful girlfriend. "Last song about Satan" is about a man trying to resist the temptations offered by the Devil he meets at a bar.
Sample Lyrics from "Cranston" ...I heard a rumor come from Cranston
Son, please do tell
So lock you shutters and your doors
lock you window wells
The city sinner's back in Cranston
Says it all so right
He's come to settle up the score
He's gonna to say goodnight
posted by Gungho at 6:26 AM on July 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
"This is how we do things in the country" is about killing and burying an unfaithful girlfriend. "Last song about Satan" is about a man trying to resist the temptations offered by the Devil he meets at a bar.
Sample Lyrics from "Cranston" ...I heard a rumor come from Cranston
Son, please do tell
So lock you shutters and your doors
lock you window wells
The city sinner's back in Cranston
Says it all so right
He's come to settle up the score
He's gonna to say goodnight
posted by Gungho at 6:26 AM on July 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
The Gun Club's Fire of Love and Miami should do the trick for the nihilistic Americana you're going for.
posted by Luminiferous Ether at 7:26 AM on July 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Luminiferous Ether at 7:26 AM on July 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
"Pass You By," Gillian Welch
"Cocaine Blues," Johnny Cash
"John Hardy," lots of people but I recommend Uncle Tupelo
posted by entropicamericana at 9:13 AM on July 17, 2012
"Cocaine Blues," Johnny Cash
"John Hardy," lots of people but I recommend Uncle Tupelo
posted by entropicamericana at 9:13 AM on July 17, 2012
The Magnetic Fields, Two Characters in Search of a Country Song, where the narrator variously describes the duo as "You were Jessy James, I was William Tell," "You were Daniel Webster, I was the devil himself," "You were Calamity Jane, and I was Wild Bill," so, pretty bad, you know, in a very meta and gay way.
posted by *s at 10:22 AM on July 17, 2012
posted by *s at 10:22 AM on July 17, 2012
Ooh, if you're stilll checking this, Blame It On the Devil by Frank Morey might be a good one.
Also, Skinned by Blind Melon is a kind of darkly comedic song about the serial killer Ed Gein... probably not quite what you're looking for.
posted by désoeuvrée at 9:44 PM on July 19, 2012
Also, Skinned by Blind Melon is a kind of darkly comedic song about the serial killer Ed Gein... probably not quite what you're looking for.
posted by désoeuvrée at 9:44 PM on July 19, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Wossname at 4:55 PM on July 16, 2012