Do you know who this song is about?
His father was a drinker
And his mother cried in bed
Folding John Wayne’s t-shirts
When the swingset hit his head
The neighbors they adored him
For his humor and his conversation
Look underneath the house there
Find the few living things, rotting fast, in their sleep
Oh, the dead
Twenty-seven people
Even more, they were boys
With their cars, summer jobs
Oh my God
Are you one of them?
He dressed up like a clown for them
With his face paint white and red
And on his best behavior
In a dark room on the bed
He kissed them all
He’d kill ten thousand people
With a sleight of his hand
Running far, running fast to the dead
He took off all their clothes for them
He put a cloth on their lips
Quiet hands, quiet kiss on the mouth
And in my best behavior
I am really just like him
Look beneath the floor boards
For the secrets I have hid
It’s about the serial killer John Wayne Gacy, Jr. I tend to embrace the grisly, so I love this song. Another good song about a killer is “Diane” by Husker Du. It’s creepy because it’s told from the point of view of the killer. But Sufjan takes it a step further—he asks what we have in common with a killer. It’s disturbing.
And brilliant.
January 27th, 2010 at 11:00 am
You’re forgetting “Ted Just Admit It” by Jane’s Addiction, about Ted Bundy. Not as good of a song as the other two, but since we’re following a theme…
January 27th, 2010 at 12:33 pm
I have a whole mix cd of songs about murder, I call it my REDRUM mix. It includes:
“Caleb Meyer” - Gillian Welch
“Psychokiller” - Talking Heads
“Your Funeral…My Trial” - Nick Cave
“Murderer” - Low
“I Kill Children” - Dead Kennedys
“Killing An Arab” - The Cure
Forget what else.
January 27th, 2010 at 10:00 pm
“Murder by Numbers” by the Police.