clues at the scene

clues at the scene

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Music for Murder

Hot dog and fries from Gene and Judes Hot Dogs in River Grove, IL.

Photo from Erik TheRedder on Wikicommons. Thanks Erik.

Tonight: murder. When I think murder, I think of food like that on the left: it'll kill ya.

I love a good murder. It's why I like crime fiction. I get to dress up the dull parts.

Tonight, I'm going to share a little playlist of music that works well for any killer crime gathering. I write to some of these once in a while.

Mostly I write to Bill Evans but a good jazzman will kill you too. Comes with the sense of style.

Nevertheless, I'm hosting some real life killers at a party and this will be the playlist in the background.

Don't leave your glass sitting about. I'm just saying. Some of these guys work in a place where the sprinkler heads are pressurized to dispense formaldehyde.

Some music for murder and crime, mayhem style: songs about murder, murderers, and liars. We're fiction writers. We're not to be trusted.

Lil' Red Riding Hood, Sam Sham and the Pharoahs
Your Heart is as Black as Night,  Melody Gardot.
If I Tell You That I Love You, Melody Gardot
Never as Good as the First Time, Sade
Goodnight Moon, Shivaree
Little Black Mess, Shivaree
Would I Lie to You, Eurythmics
Thin Line Between Love and Hate, Annie Lennox
Back on the Chain Gang, The Pretenders
Black Friday Rule, Flogging Molly
The Seven Deadly Sins, Flogging Molly
The Boys from County Hell, The Pogues
Hard Time Killing Floor Blues, Chris Thomas King, or Mr. Buddy Guy
Dirt in the Ground, Tom Waits
Psycho Killer, Bruce Lash
So We Meet Again My Heartache, Melody Gardot
Sinnerman, Nina Simone
Jailhouse Rock, Elvis Presley  (Hey, it's the king. Show some respect)
Stack Shot Billy, The Black Keys
Watching the Detectives, Elvis Costello
Murder in the Red Barn, Tom Waits
Watching the Detectives, Duran Duran
Lawyers, Guns, and Money, Warren Zevon
There Goes a Tenner, Kate Bush
The Fat Lady of Limbourg, Shivaree
Mr. Bad Example, Warren Zevon
Bang Bang, Frank Sinatra
Boom Boom (Gonna Shoot You Right Down), the immortal John Lee Hooker
Machine Gun Blues, Social Distortion
Know Your Rights, The Clash ( a public service announcement, with guitar)
St. James, The Devil Makes Three
Little Lies, Fleetwood Mac
Smoking Gun, Robert Cray
Old Number Seven, The Devil Makes Three
State Trooper, Bruce Springsteen
The Guns of Brixton, The Clash
The Friends of Mr. Cairo, Gio Aria
Atlantic City, Bruce Springsteen
Murder By Numbers, The Police
Run To You, Ryan Adams
Dirty Laundry, Bitter::Sweet
Smooth Operator, Sade
Ball and Chain, Social Distortion
I Shot the Sheriff, Bob Marley
Friend of the Devil, Counting Crows
I Gotta Go, Robert Earl Keen
Dirty Deeds, AC/DC
Watching the Detectives, The New Standards
 Kryptonite, 3 Doors Down
The Killing Moon, Nouvelle Vague
One More Kiss Dear, Vangelis
Ghost Train, Ricki Lee Jones
Bela Lugosi is Dead, Bauhaus
Breaking the Law, Judas Priest
The Vampires, Paul Simon
A Whiter Shade of Pale, Anne Lennox
One Thing Leads to Another, The Fixx
Whip It, Devo (theme song to Beirut foxtrot. Think "enhanced interrogation")
Back in the USSR, The Dead Kennedys (some of the killers I know kill nations)
Everybody Wants to Rule The World, Tears for Fears (some of the killers I know kill nations)
Crime of the Century, Supertramp
Panic, The Puppini Sisters
I Will Go Quietly, Shivaree


2 comments:

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

Nice playlist! And I know these songs, despite my perpetual un-coolness. Well, *most* of the songs.

jack welling said...

I am always disappointed I cannot find a good song about muttering to oneself about a character's problem while wandering the isles of the grocery store looking for the cider vinegar.

I'd think REM would have written one of those.