Plenty of musicians stick to uplifting topics when it comes to writing a new song – what better way to ensure it'll get picked up by mainstream radio? Sometimes, though, things get a little dark. Some top tunes slip in references to shocking violence, and there are so many songs you didn't know are about murder.
True, most people don't really listen closely to lyrics. But once you know the actual meaning behind these songs that are about murder, you'll never hear them the same way again. Songs about killing are all over the charts. You've probably hummed along to these tunes with no inkling of their homicidal undertones. It just goes to show you never know which songs have surprisingly dark meanings.
1Diddy Doo Wop (I Hear The Voices) By Hall & Oates
When serial killer David Berkowitz claimed that the song “Rich Girl” by Hall & Oates motivated him to commit his crimes, the duo decided to write a song in response. The breezy 1980 jam “Diddy Doo Wop” doesn’t really seem like it's about the murderer, other than the fact that it includes lines about the song’s main character hearing voices from a dog. This was a direct reference to Berkowitz’s defense that his dog had made him carry out the attacks.
My right hand tried to stop my left hand
My left hand tried to stop my right hand
My head keep trying to stop both hands
But i can't stop, I can't stop, I can't stop
I hear the duke singing
The members of Barenaked Ladies have always maintained that the 1998 single “One Week” is about nothing more than a man trying to justify himself to his girlfriend following an argument, with some random rapping thrown into the mix. However, according to theorists like Redditor /u/Euchrid_Eucrow, the song's lyrics hint at a much darker fate for the woman. The line about funerals, for instance, suggests the man is about to send her to an early grave.
I’m the kind of guy who laughs at a funeral
Can’t understand what I mean?
Well, you soon will
3Possession By Sarah McLachlan
The 1993 song "Possession" was written by Sarah McLachlan after she received several threatening letters from a deranged stalker. The lyrics tell the story of an obsessed fan who goes to extreme lengths to be with his object of desire. While most of the lines are not that sinister by themselves, the chorus does contain lyrics that suggest that the man was intending to kill his victim by suffocating or strangling her.
To hold you down
Kiss you so hard I'll take your breath away
And after I wipe away the tears
Just close your eyes dear
This 2004 song is part of a trilogy of tunes by The Killers that details the death of a girl named Jenny. Inspired by Morrissey’s song “Sister I’m a Poet,” it starts with a boy being taken in for questioning by police for the death of the girl. While he denies that he had anything to do with her death, the lyrics leave it ambiguous as to whether he is guilty of the crime.
We had a fight on the promenade out in the rain
She said she loved me, but she had somewhere to go
She couldn't scream while I held her close
I swore I'd never let her go
5Delilah By Tom Jones
“Delilah,” released in 1969, is one of Tom Jones’s most famous songs. Most consider it something of a romantic ballad, but the lyrics reveal this song is really about a jealous man who viciously murders his former partner. After spying his ex-girlfriend with another man, he waits until the man leaves and then goes to her front door. The sight of her laughing at him when she opens it drives the protagonist insane, and he stabs the woman to death.
I crossed the street to her house and she opened the door
She stood there laughing
I felt the knife in my hand and she laughed no more
Ask most people what the 1978 song “Copacabana” is about, and they'll probably guess it celebrates a really fun nightclub. A close listen of the verses, though, reveals that a mobster approaches a showgirl named Lola he is attracted to. When her boyfriend, a bartender named Tony, sees this he confronts the man and a fight ensues. Ultimately, Tony ends up getting shot and Lola goes mad with grief.
But Rico went a bit too far
Tony sailed across the bar
And then the punches flew and chairs were smashed in two
There was blood and a single gunshot
But just who shot who?
7The Ballad Of TV Violence By Cheap Trick
If Cheap Trick had stuck with their original name for this 1977 song, “The Ballad of Richard Speck,” more people would have realized the true nature of the song. As it was, the renamed version seemed more like a song about a guy who liked playing with knives and guns. Richard Speck, on the other hand, was a notorious killer who tortured and murdered eight young nurses in the '60s.
I need a knife to give me a wife
I need a knife, gimme your life
Gimme your life
I need a gun to have me some fun I need a gun, gimme your love
Gimme your love
8Dire Wolf By Grateful Dead
“Dire Wolf,” a 1969 song by Grateful Dead, tells of a man being pursued and attacked by a giant wolf. But most people assume this is a metaphor for a more sinister assailant – the Zodiac Killer. It was written around the time when the hysteria around the unidentified serial killer reached its peak. Jerry Garcia spoke about how the Zodiac Killer was an inspiration for the song, and would sometimes introduce it on stage by referring to the murderer.
Don't murder me
I beg of you don't murder me
Please, don't murder me
Wake Up Call By Maroon 5
While the lyrics of the Black Keys' 2010 jam “Ten Cent Pistol” are definitely aggressive and suggest some sort of violence, it isn’t exactly clear what a ten cent pistol really is. The writer later explained to Rolling Stone that this was a slang term for a particularly nasty type of homemade napalm-like toxin that people use to scar and kill people. The song is essentially telling the tale of a woman getting gruesome revenge on her partner.
There is nothing worse in this world
Than payback from a jealous girl
The laws of man do not apply
When blood gets in a woman's eye
You know the 1988 hit “Smooth Criminal”: it's the song in which Michael Jackson repeatedly asks if Annie is okay. Unfortunately, she isn't – the lyrics reveal someone has broken into her apartment and is chasing her. After finally cornering the poor woman, he strikes her down with one swift blow.
He came into her apartment
He left the bloodstains on the carpet
She ran underneath the table
He could see she was unable
So she ran into the bedroom
She was struck down, it was her doom
Maroon 5 made its name off of catchy tunes. The 2007 song "Wake Up Call" is also catchy, even though it's pretty dark. The song tells the story of a man who discovered that his partner was cheating on him with another man. He later admits to having shot and killed the man in revenge for the affair – something that may well have been missed by those listening to the tune without focusing too much to what was actually being said.
Six foot tall
Came without a warning, so I had to shoot him dead
He won't come around here anymore
Come around here?
I don't think so
Despite the facts that the lyrics specifically talk about a troubled youth, few people realize true story behind the 2011 hit “Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster The People. The protagonist of the story sends out warnings to his classmates to make sure they run when he comes to school with his gun. The song was written as a way at looking at teenage mental illness, according to writer Mark Foster.
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks
You'd better run, better run, outrun my gun
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks
You'd better run, better run, faster than my bullet
13I Don’t Like Mondays By The Boomtown Rats
This catchy 1979 song by Irish band The Boomtown Rats sounds like a jovial bop about, well, people not liking Mondays. However, the inspiration for the song is much more sinister than that. That same year, Brenda Ann Spencer had opened fire at a children’s school playground, killing two adults and injuring a large number of children. When someone asked her why, she replied, "I don’t like Mondays. This livens up the day."
I don't like Mondays
I wanna shoot the whole day down
