Can you remember an indie song with the refrain “it is murder”?

August 14, 2023 4:19 AM

On the new Blur album there’s a song called Barbaric. It always triggers a memory of another song, a mid tempo indie tune sung by a female singer which had as its refrain, or part of its chorus, the phrase “it is murder” or “it’s a murder”. Can you figure out what song this is?
posted by Kattullus to Media & Arts (29 answers total)

The Smiths — Meat Is Murder, from the album of the same name

YouTube link — https://youtu.be/eviyEJRZX30
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 4:28 AM on August 14, 2023

Response by poster: It’s not Meat Is Murder. I’m pretty sure the voice I hear in my head is female. Thankfully, the voice I hear in my head is rarely Morrissey.
posted by Kattullus at 4:33 AM on August 14, 2023 [17 favorites]

also probably not it but joel plaskett's mystery and crime has him singing "murder murder murder murder" in the chorus in a higher voice.
posted by noloveforned at 4:53 AM on August 14, 2023

I always mishear 'it's a burden' for 'it's a murder' on Cindy Tells Me. Androgynous voice, I think.
posted by einekleine at 4:59 AM on August 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

This PJ Harvey song?
posted by sepviva at 5:04 AM on August 14, 2023 [2 favorites]

Maybe too uptempo/not as indie, but it brought Sophie Ellis Bextor's Murder on the Dance Floor to mind.
posted by icaicaer at 5:18 AM on August 14, 2023

Response by poster: These are all good songs, but none are right. If it helps, the first syllable in "murder" is held, so it's something like "it is muuuuurder".
posted by Kattullus at 5:21 AM on August 14, 2023

Extremely long shot, but could it be The Cutter by Echo and the Bunnymen? Always thought he was singing something about murder but apparently it's "couldn't cut the mustard"?
posted by seldomfun at 5:37 AM on August 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

No chance it was a female singer covering “The Future” by Leonard Cohen?
posted by staggernation at 5:48 AM on August 14, 2023 [8 favorites]

Long shot: Murder by the Selecter (sung by Pauline Black)
posted by vacapinta at 6:09 AM on August 14, 2023

Rilo Kiley The Execution of All Things (around 3m in)?
posted by crocomancer at 7:10 AM on August 14, 2023

It's certainly not indie, but the one song that immediately jumps to mind with "murder" being sung in a high voice by a female singer would be Gimme Shelter.
posted by vitout at 7:25 AM on August 14, 2023

I'm guessing it's not, but could it be Welcome to Jamrock by Damian Marley?
posted by SeedStitch at 7:37 AM on August 14, 2023

I think this is probably the wrongest answer yet but here's Familiar by Agnes Obel (the repeated line is "it's a danger", not "it's a murder").
posted by wintersweet at 7:51 AM on August 14, 2023

Point of clarification: which part of the Blur song in particular is triggering this connection for you? Is it the chorus? The chorus to me is so eerily like something else I know very well...
posted by urbanlenny at 7:52 AM on August 14, 2023

Perhaps It's Murder by Skeleton Staff
posted by dragon garlanding at 8:04 AM on August 14, 2023

maybe "Murder" by The Crystal Method ?
posted by alchemist at 9:06 AM on August 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

Guessing it's not 'Welcome to Jamrock,' probably not Ini Kamoze's 'World a Reggae (Out in the Street)', almost certainly not Rude Bwoy Monty's 'Out in da Streets.'
posted by box at 9:16 AM on August 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

Suicide is Murder by Aimee Mann sounds like the answer to me.
posted by rollick at 9:32 AM on August 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

Not a female vocalist, but could it be "Kinder Murder" from Elvis Costello in 1994? (I can hear hints of it in that Blur song, maybe?)
posted by AgentRocket at 10:10 AM on August 14, 2023

Response by poster: Thank you all, these are great tracks, and I appreciate the vote of confidence in my taste in music, but none of them are the right one.

urbanlenny: Point of clarification: which part of the Blur song in particular is triggering this connection for you? Is it the chorus? The chorus to me is so eerily like something else I know very well…

The whole song, in a way. When Albarn sings “it is barbaric” my brain wants the female voice to come in and sing about murder, but also in other parts, like “all of us carry trauma”.

After listening about a bajillion times to Barbaric and free-associating similarish songs I got to Somebody Got Murdered by The Clash.

If my brain made up a song, it’s possible that it altered the lyrics to and replaced Mick Jones with a female voice, or there’s a cover out there by a female singer, and my brain spliced together “it is barbaric” and “somebody got murdered”.

That said I’m not quite ready to give up the search. The excellent suggestion by staggernation that this was a cover of Leonard Cohen’s The Future by a female singer hasn’t resulted in anything either. So please keep these suggestions coming.
posted by Kattullus at 12:05 PM on August 14, 2023

Almost certainly not it, but the song reminds me of Death Cab for Cutie. Maybe something like The New Year could stick in the brain like murder.
posted by willnot at 3:40 PM on August 14, 2023

Could it be Murder, Tonight, In the Trailer Park, by the Cowboy Junkies?
posted by terooot at 4:34 PM on August 14, 2023

Response by poster: Good songs both, but not the one in my head. For a bit I thought the voice in my head was Tracyanne Campbell, singer of Camera Obscura, but I’ve pretty much ruled her out, though it’s a similar kind of voice.
posted by Kattullus at 11:35 PM on August 14, 2023

If my brain made up a song, it’s possible that it altered the lyrics to and replaced Mick Jones with a female voice, or there’s a cover out there by a female singer

Could it be the "Some some some I murder" bridge part from Paper Planes, which samples the Clash?
posted by rollick at 9:38 AM on August 15, 2023

Good songs both, but not the one in my head. For a bit I thought the voice in my head was Tracyanne Campbell, singer of Camera Obscura, but I’ve pretty much ruled her out, though it’s a similar kind of voice.

This is very much in my wheelhouse and was exactly where I was thinking of - kind of the jangly mid-aughts indie pop, like Belle and Sebastian. It kind of reminds me ofI Could Be Dreaming, with the guitar tone and instrumentation, but that's not it. It also kind of reminds me of something by The National, but I can't place which song I'm grasping for, or maybe The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. I'll continue my search because it's on the tip of my tongue/music memory.

Thank you for bringing the Blur song to my attention too - I really like it and don't pay enough attention to Blur.
posted by urbanlenny at 10:16 AM on August 15, 2023

Response by poster: That does sound really close vocally, rollick, but not quite.

And yeah, urbanlenny, early Belle & Sebastian is the right sort of area. If you figure out what the song is, please let me know.

Paying attention to Blur is both good, as they’re a really good band, and risky because there’s always the chance of being pulled into the Damon Albarn Extended Universe, featuring African music jams, film scores, random solo albums, random solo albums masquerading as other bands, operas, and not to mention the Gorillaz. In some review of the latest albums he was described as having a former heroin addict’s fear of standing still. Whether that’s true or not, he definitely seems to be producing music at all times.

Graham Coxon also has a bajillion solo albums, but they’re generally in the same genre (though he also has a fictional band).
posted by Kattullus at 1:07 PM on August 15, 2023

Any chance it’s from the album Isobel Campbell (formerly of Belle and Sebastian) did with Mark Lanegan? Sorry I can’t think of the specific track now….
posted by Mrs. Rattery at 7:08 PM on August 15, 2023

There's a song by the Pipettes where the opening line goes:

"Half past one on the dance floor, and my thoughts have turned to murder (turned to murder)".

Can't find a studio recording for some reason but here's a live version.
posted by rollick at 10:36 AM on August 23, 2023