Subject: Killer verses From: Colin Randall Date: 04 Sep 07 - 06:37 AM The new Rachel Unthank album The Bairns has what she calls a whole story packed into four lines: "My lad's a canny lad, he works doon the pit He never comes to see us unless he wants a bit I asked him would he marry us, you should have seen him wince I think I've lost me canny lad, I've never seen him since" I remember Tom Paxton long ago feature one single-verse item mocking Spiro Agnew's stupidity, and another poking fun at the advertising industry: "When your loved one has to go/Dial 6-7-3-9-0" (I probably have the funeral parlour number wrong but you get the idea) Do any other killer verses spring to mind? |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: kendall Date: 04 Sep 07 - 06:49 AM "If you cheat again he'll have to move the flowers" grabs me. |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 04 Sep 07 - 07:06 AM Rooty toot, toot, Six shot she did shot, Right through them swingin' doors. He was her man, But he done her wrong
Sincerley, Gargoyle |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 04 Sep 07 - 07:34 AM BONNIE AND CLYDE by George Fame They used to laugh about dyin'
but deep inside them they knew
Acting upon reliable information
a Fed'ral deputation laid a deadly ambush.
Sincerely, |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: Dave Hanson Date: 04 Sep 07 - 07:56 AM I'll sing of Spiro Agnew, And all the things he's done. Tom Paxton |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: frogprince Date: 04 Sep 07 - 04:28 PM Over fifty years ago, I heard Carl Sandburgh sing what he called "The shortest blues song": Papa loved Mama; Mama loved men; Mama's in the graveyard; Papa's in the pen. It kinda ticked me off to hear it incorporated as part of a "full length" country song a few years ago. |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: Snuffy Date: 04 Sep 07 - 05:57 PM Chambers Caskets - dial Columbia triple-O |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: GUEST,Terry McDonald Date: 04 Sep 07 - 06:01 PM 'The revolution has begun So I'll go home and get me gun And shoot the Duke of Wellington' |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 04 Sep 07 - 06:26 PM Marty Robbins (1959) One night a wild young cowboy came in So in anger Sincerely, |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: Tootler Date: 04 Sep 07 - 07:30 PM From the Well below the valley: "For seven long years I'll be ringing the bell But the Lord above may save my soul from portin' in Hell At the well below the valley-o..." |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: Songster Bob Date: 04 Sep 07 - 08:03 PM Well, "Killer" verses can "kill" a song, that's for sure. In fact, too many songs have all that's needed in one verse, and the rest is just baggage. It's better to have every verse be of the same importance as the rest of the verses, so, really, "killer" verses can kill a song. For example, "How can I miss you when you won't go away?" tells the whole song, but Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks sang the whole thing anyway. Then again, some verses do contain the heart of the song, the real crux, the "nut," and the song is much the less if that verse were to be changed. In that vein, here's a verse of a song I've never bothered to learn the rest of, because it's so perfect: God made man in His own image, and all things were going right. But it seems that man was doomed to sin and toil. Eve, she tasted of the apple, begged till Adam took a bite, And that put the human family to the wall. Since man was first beguiled, woman's kept on going wild, Causing him to get all kinds of punishments We may plainly understand, woman was made after man, And she's been after man ever since! (From Blind Alfred Reid, my favorite curmudgeon) Bob Clayton |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: Joe_F Date: 04 Sep 07 - 08:56 PM A captain bold from Halifax, who dwelt in country quarters, Seduced a maid who hanged herself one Monday in her garters. His wicked conscience smited him; he lost his stomach daily. He took to drinking ratafee, and thought upon Miss Bailey. -- certainly sets the scene with great efficiency. |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: GUEST,Mickey Date: 04 Sep 07 - 09:29 PM Following my footsteps trying to see where they might end. I'm tryin' to break these blues, but I can't even get them to bend. From Midnight in Memphis by nJ J Cale |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: GUEST,282RA Date: 04 Sep 07 - 09:37 PM Nooo, I just had to look at another one and now I must spread this cancerous rot far and wide. I'm going down alone. Jan Terri again here demonstrating that white people having no rhythm or moves is not a stereotype. YOU'VE NEVER HEARD VERSES LIKE THIS! Her leading man, just as sleezy as the one before, gets close-ups that make me think of serial killer documentaries for some reason. Towards the end during another totally unwarranted close up, he utters what appears to be "I see programs" followed by "penis!" With halloween around the corner, I figure why not ramp up the creepiness as well as the taudry, campy, cheesy horror right now? Enjoy |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: Effsee Date: 04 Sep 07 - 09:41 PM After a great build up.... "Monys a yin for him maks mane, but nane sall ken whaur he has gaen, ower his white banes for evermair, the wind sall blaw forever mair" The Twa Corbies...ANON |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: john f weldon Date: 04 Sep 07 - 09:50 PM The Ships out on the Ocean Sail Oer My true love's Breast His Body's in a slow and gentle motion I hope his soul's at rest... |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: john f weldon Date: 04 Sep 07 - 09:59 PM Though your head it may wrack with a bilious attack And your senses with toothache you're losing Don't be mopey and flat, they won't fine you for that If you're properly quaint and amusing Though your wife ran away with a soldier that day And took with her your trifle of money Bless your heart, they don't mind; they're exceedingly kind... They won't blame you, so long as you're funny. A Private Buffoon, WS Gilbert (and Sullivan) |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: john f weldon Date: 04 Sep 07 - 10:03 PM The bullet was quick, but I was quicker Steve hopped out and took it in the ticker Phoned up Miami, no time to grieve Ha ha ya missed me... ...hit my brother Steve! |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: john f weldon Date: 04 Sep 07 - 10:15 PM We coulda been isotopes, we coulda been cantaloups... We coulda been hatracks, or dice... We coulda been semaphores, we coulda been dinosaurs... We coulda been cough drops or lice... We coulda been roadmaps, a bucket of mousetraps... A couple of big shoes, on a bus... We coulda been dipsticks, or lavender lipsticks.... But happened to be us! Red Kimono (The Berrymans) |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: Little Hawk Date: 04 Sep 07 - 10:31 PM Killer verses? Heck, I just go straight to Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and Mary Chapin Carpenter for that. Enough Killer verses to paper over Washington Square. I won't trouble you by quoting any of them. |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: kendall Date: 05 Sep 07 - 07:27 AM ..but Willy McBride it all happened again, and again, and again and again, and again..... |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: brassy sharman Date: 05 Sep 07 - 07:50 AM 6 feed of mud, Cyril Tawney |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: Celtaddict Date: 05 Sep 07 - 01:50 PM The ways of man are passing strange: He buys his freedom and he counts his change, Then he lets the wind his days arrange, And he calls the tide his master. . . Gordon Bok, The Ways of Man |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: kendall Date: 05 Sep 07 - 03:59 PM I don't mind the wet and cold, I just don't like the growing old...FUNDY, Gordon Bok. (He was 21 when he wrote that) |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: TheSnail Date: 05 Sep 07 - 04:18 PM Not a verse but a chorus - But I tell these kids a hundred times, don't take the lakes for granted. They'll go from calm to a hundred knots, so fast they seem enchanted, But tonight some red eyed Whiarton girl, lies staring at the wall And her lover's gone into a white squall. Stan Rogers I'm a quivering jelly by the ned of the song. |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: Uncle Phil Date: 05 Sep 07 - 11:09 PM First time I shot her I shot her in the side, Hard to watch her suffer, But with the second shot she died, Delia's gone, one more round Delia's gone. |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 06 Sep 07 - 12:57 AM Mama don't whup Little Buford Mama don't pound on his head Mama Don't Whup Little Buford I think you should shoot him instead
Sincerely, |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: MystMoonstruck Date: 06 Sep 07 - 01:23 AM There are numerous variations, but here's one (though not my favorite): [i]They buried Willie in the old church yard, And Barbara there anigh him, And out of his grave grew a red, red rose, And out of hers, a briar. They grew and grew in the old churchyard, Till they couldn't grow no higher, They lapped and tied in a true love's knot. The rose ran around the briar.[/i] ~Barbara Allen (of course) |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: Charley Noble Date: 06 Sep 07 - 10:12 AM "Country Squall" by Willie P. Bennett: Baby, if I'd been a gambler, I'd have turned out a different way; But lately, everywhere I go, It's the same highway; And if I were born some time else This could be a different day; Like the rise and fall of a country squall, Getting' ready to fade away. Charley Noble |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: Susanne (skw) Date: 06 Sep 07 - 07:26 PM There are many different ways a man can be killed All you need is a simple when and where Just make sure he's born today somewhere on this earth And do nothing else, my friends, just leave him there, leave him there He will do the rest himself, just leave him there ('Five Ways To Kill A Man', poem by Edwin Brock, adapted to the tune of 'Ye Jacobites by name' by Iain MacKintosh) |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: Flatpick Date: 06 Sep 07 - 07:38 PM "And as through this world you travel you meet lots of funny men, Some will rob you with a six-gun, and some with a fountain pen" Pretty Boy Floyd by Woody Guthrie. I seem to meet the latter type quite often...how about you? |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: Joe_F Date: 06 Sep 07 - 08:09 PM Don't need no whiskey, don't need no rum, Just need you, baby, when the summer come. * First time she shot him, he staggered. Next time she shot him, he fell. Last time she shot her Johnny, There was a new man's face in hell. |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: Midchuck Date: 06 Sep 07 - 09:23 PM Now these gentlemen were ignorant, or didn't know just where they were. The deacon's face grew darker as he measured every word: "You horsehair-braiding sons of bitches Stole my claim to earthly riches! Someone go and dig a ditch; There may well be a hangin'" Tom Russell, The Sky Above, the Mud Below. Peter |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: michaelr Date: 06 Sep 07 - 10:29 PM Behind the garden shithouse That's where the sweetest flowers grow We're all flowers in God's garden That's why He spreads the shit around (David Byrne) |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: Charley Noble Date: 06 Sep 07 - 10:33 PM From "Wild Bill Jones": He reeled and he staggered, And he fell to the ground; He gave one dying moan; I threw my arms around my pretty girl's neck sayin', "Baby, won't you please come home!" Cheerily, Charley Noble |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: Uncle Phil Date: 06 Sep 07 - 11:24 PM "I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die" J.R. Cash, Folsom Prison Blues "Tonight we ride, you bastards dare, We'll kill the wild Apache for the bounty on his hair, Then we'll ride into Durango, climb up the whorehouse stairs, Tonight we ride, tonight we ride." Tom Russell, Tonight We Ride |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: GUEST,DonMeixner Date: 07 Sep 07 - 12:18 AM First time I heard these lines, Art Thieme sung em! Don Hang Me Oh Hang Me and I'll be dead and gone, Hang me oh hang me and I'll be dead and gone, I do not mind the dyin', But the layin' in the grave so long. |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 07 Sep 07 - 04:58 AM Bang bang, she shot me down. Bang bang, I hit the ground. Bang bang, that awful sound. Bang bang, my baby shot me down.
Sincerely, |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: GUEST,The black belt caterpillar wrestler Date: 07 Sep 07 - 07:45 AM The short version of the "Prickle Holly Bush" Come hangman slack your ..urgk! |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: GUEST,Young Buchan Date: 07 Sep 07 - 11:14 AM From the singing of John Stickle, I think: Twa, twa made the bed. Twa, twa lay down th'gither. When the bed began to creak The ane ha' been abo' the ither. |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: Big Mick Date: 07 Sep 07 - 11:45 AM I could do a whole thread of killer lines just from the verses of "The Dutchman". .......not the kind of man to keep his thumb jammed in the dam that holds the dreams in.. .......sometimes she sees her unborn children in his eyes.. ......I used to be a young man, and dear Margaret remembers that for me.. ......His cap and coat are patched with love that Margaret sewed there... ......Sometimes he thinks that he's alone and calls her name ......She makes the bed up humming some old love song, She learned it when the tune was very new. She hums a line or two, they hum together, in the night..... That just might be the most amazing love song ever written, certainly right at the front of the queue. All the best, Mick |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: Marje Date: 07 Sep 07 - 03:47 PM I'll offer two extracts of songs - one old, one modern. First, from Burns: "Had we never loved sae kindly, Had we never loved sae blindly, Never me - or never parted - We had ne'er been broken-hearted." And then there's Joni Mitchell's "Little Green" (about giving her baby up for adoption) - I could quote any of it, but the lines that say so much in so few words, for me, are: "You write him a letter and say 'Her eyes are blue', He sends back a poem, and she's lost to you" Marje |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: cptsnapper Date: 07 Sep 07 - 04:55 PM His argument proved by the Oberlin River that love to a woman is all. Oh, he was a master of English balladry but not the Australian crawl. " Oberlin River " The Limeliters |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: Bill D Date: 07 Sep 07 - 06:42 PM after he discovers his 'true love' is up in a room with another man.. "Since it is no better, I'm glad it is no worse, Brandy in my bottle, and money in my purse." I've Rambled This Country, Both Erlye and Late ------------------------------------------------------------------- "Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head And when I woke up in my hospital bed And saw what it had done, I wished I was dead Never knew there were worse things than dying" The Band Played Waltzing Matilda ----------------------------------------------------------- "Noah said, "Lord, it's lookin' mighty dry! The Lord said, "Noah, see my rainbow in the sky. Take all your creatures and people the Earth;..... But be sure you're not more trouble than you're worth."" |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: Snuffy Date: 08 Sep 07 - 11:40 AM Noah Found Grace in the Eyes of the Lord I'll go with those three, Bill |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: Susanne (skw) Date: 08 Sep 07 - 02:21 PM The Selkirk Grace: Some hae meat and cannae eat Some would eat that want it We hae meat and we can eat So let the Lord be thankit |
Subject: RE: Killer verses From: Lucius Date: 08 Sep 07 - 04:29 PM Big Mick is spot on about The Dutchman. Michael Smith has the knack. My favorite version is that of Steve Goodman's, who also gave us a the world's most concise blues song: |