Wednesday Morning OT – Murder Ballads, Haunted Songs, Ditties of Doom, Everyday Horrors and Mayhem, etc.

Good morning. I won't rest until there are as many Halloween standards as there are Christmas ones.

The Gashlycrumb Tinies, 1963,  Edward Gorey

JOSH RITTER – FOLK BLOODBATH

medley of murders in US folk songs including Stagger Lee

THE BLASTING COMPANY – THE HIGHWAYMAN

he's the highwayman, he works with his hands

THE HANDSOME FAMILY – BOTTOMLESS HOLE

a crevasse on a man's property, madness ensues

SPLIT ENZ - CHARLEY

narrator tries to rouse his partner, apologize for drinking too much last night, Charley may be dead

THE MOUNTAIN GOATS – LOVE LOVE LOVE 

Kurt Cobain did it for love, so did Raskolnikov. I don't know much about Cobain, but if you mention Dostoyevsky, you've got my attention

TORI AMOS – I DON'T LIKE MONDAYS (BOOMTOWN RATS)

don't like the original much but its meaning is startling. I don't like Mondays either but still

ROBBIE FULKS – SHE TOOK A LOT OF PILLS (AND DIED)

 a jaunty little number, probably about poor Dorothy Dandridge, lovely and talented and screwed over by people she trusted

THE DECEMBERISTS – THE RAKE'S SONG

kill all your children in as many ghastly ways as you can come up with

THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS – MY SHEPHERD

A.C. Newman stated that one of his inspirations for the song is the case of Burt Pugach and Linda Riss. 

"You're my lord, you're my shepherd, careful kid, no on gets hurt. You made me this way"

RALPH STEADMAN – LITTLE BOY BILLEE

yes, that Ralph Steadman, singing a chantey about cannibalizing the youngest crew member. happy ending at least? side note: In the 1838 Poe novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, the surviving crew of the Grampus draw straws and a Richard Parker drew the short one and was eaten. In 1884, the Mignonette sank and the crew, desperate for food, sacrificed one of their crew; a sick young man named... Richard Parker. Dun dun dun.

Thank you in advance for not mentioning any tunes from The Nightmare Before Christmas. I don't care if you like it, but I find it intolerable. I like the animation (Henry Selick, right? His Wendell & Wild is better) but I'm not a fan of Burton or Elfman. Here's a far better choice for Halloween/Xmas movies: Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life.

Never forget the 12th Doctor has an Oscar. He directed a short  in 1993 (same year as The Nightmare Before Christmas) with Richard E Grant as a neurotic, frazzled Franz K. 

Drop a favorite creepy, bloody tune (seriously there are thousands; I haven't even mentioned Waits or VU or Leadbelly or Nick Cave, who's even got an album called Murder Ballads) below or chat about whatever's on your mind but need to get off your chest for some reason.