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Everybody has an opinion about the death penalty and that opinion swings but two ways; you are either for it or you are against it. The list of songs that I feature here does the same thing, or at least I hope they do in their own way. I tried to make as diverse a list as possible and not have too many that swung the opinion one way or the other. With the exception of “I’m Not the Man” by 10, 000 Maniacs and The Mercy Seat by Nick Cave, I’ve heard all the songs at least once at one point or another in my life. I chose the number of songs to be 13 for obvious reasons. If you enjoy this post and have any more to add to it I will gladly seek them out and do just that.

Gallows Pole-Led Zeppelin (Traditional)

This is a centuries old song that appears to have been originally titled “The Maid Freed from the Gallows”. The song is about a condemned person who begs for the hangman to wait for his/her friends/family to arrive to bring the hangman a bribe to set them free.

Hangman, hangman, hold it a little while,
I Think I see my friends coming, Riding a many mile.
Friends, you get some silver?
Did you get a little gold?
What did you bring me, my dear friends? Keep me from the Gallows Pole.
What did you bring me to keep me from the Gallows Pole?

I couldn’t get no silver, I couldn’t get no gold,
You know that we’re too damn poor to keep you from the Gallows Pole.
Hangman, hangman, hold it a little while,
I think I see my brother coming, riding many a mile.
Brother, you get me some silver?
Did you get a little gold?
What did you bring me, my brother, to keep me from the Gallows Pole?

Brother, I brought you some silver, yeah.
I brought a little gold, I brought a little of everything
to keep you from the Gallows Pole.
Yes, I brought you to keep you from the Gallows Pole.

Hangman, hangman, turn your head awhile,
I think I see my sister coming, riding many mile, mile, mile.
Sister, I implore you, take him by the hand,
Take him to some shady bower, save me from the wrath of this man,
Please take him, save me from the wrath of this mad, man.

Hangman, hangman, upon your face a smile,
Tell me that I’m free to ride,
Ride for many mile, mile, mile.

Oh yes, you got a fine sister, She warmed my blood from cold,
She warmed my blood to boiling hot to keep you from the Gallows Pole,
Your brother brought me silver, Your sister warmed my soul,
But now I laugh and pull so hard, see you swinging from the Gallows Pole

But now I laugh and pull so hard, see you swinging from the Gallows Pole
Swingin’ on the gallows pole!

Ah-ha-ha
Swingin’
Swingin’ on the gallows pole!
See-saw marjory daw
See-saw knock at my door

25 Minutes to Go-Johnny Cash (Shel Silverstein)

This song was first covered by Cash on his Sings the Ballads of the True West and later on his masterful At Folsom Prison. The song is gallows humor at its all time best. It literally details the last minutes of a man’s life before his execution by hanging.

Well they’re building a gallows outside my cell I’ve got 25 minutes to go
And the whole town’s waitin’ just to hear me yell I’ve got 24 minutes to go
Well they gave me some beans for my last meal I’ve got 23 minutes to go
But nobody asked me how I feel I’ve got 22 minutes to go
Well I sent for the governor and the whole dern bunch with 21 minutes to go
And I sent for the mayor but he’s out to lunch I’ve got 20 more minutes to go
Then the sheriff said boy I gonna watch you die got 19 minutes to go
So I laughed in his face and I spit in his eye got 18 minutes to go
Now here comes the preacher for to save my soul with 13 minutes to go
And he’s talking bout’ burnin’ but I’m so cold I’ve 12 more minutes to go
Now they’re testin’ the trap and it chills my spine 11 more minutes to go
And the trap and the rope aw they work just fine got 10 more minutes to go
Well I’m waitin’ on the pardon that’ll set me free with 9 more minutes to go
But this is for real so forget about me got 8 more minutes to go
With my feet on the trap and my head in the noose got 5 more minutes to go
Won’t somebody come and cut me loose with 4 more minutes to go
I can see the mountains I can see the skies with 3 more minutes to go
And it’s to dern pretty for a man that don’t wanna die 2 more minutes to go
I can see the buzzards I can hear the crows 1 more minute to go
And now I’m swingin’ and here I go-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o!

The Long Black Veil-The Band (Danny Dill and Marijohn Wilkin)

The Long Black Veil has got to be one of the most hauntingly sad songs ever written. Originally recorded by Lefty Frizzell in 1959, it has become a country music standard and has been covered by everyone from Mike Nesmith to Bruce Springsteen. The first time I heard the song, and fell in love with those sad lyrics, was the John Anderson version from his album Wild and Blue. The version I feature here is by the legendary The Band. Rick Danko’s voice as he sings of a man who would rather die than for his best friend to know a terrible secret sends a chill through my bones.

Ten years ago on a cool dark night
There was someone killed ‘neath the town hall light
There were few at the scene and they all did agree
That the man who ran looked a lot like me

The judge said “Son, what is your alibi?
If you were somewhere else then you won’t have to die”
I spoke not a word although it meant my life
I had been in the arms of my best friend’s wife

She walks these hills in a long black veil
She visits my grave where the night winds wail
Nobody knows, no and nobody sees
Nobody knows but me

The scaffold was high and eternity neared
She stood in the crowd and shed not a tear
But sometimes at night when the cold wind moans
In a long black veil she cries over my bones

She walks these hills in a long black veil
She visits my grave where the night winds wail
Nobody knows, no and nobody sees
Nobody knows but me

Johnny 99-Bruce Springsteen (Bruce Springsteen)

I always wondered if Bruce Springsteen wasn’t inspired by the crimes of Gary Gilmore when he wrote this song. The main character, Ralph, murders a night clerk and is sentenced to die. Gilmore murdered a gas station attendant and a motel clerk and was sentenced to die. Both men request to be executed rather than rot away in prison. The song was covered by Johnny Cash and was the title of his 1983 album. The original version by Springsteen appeared on his stripped down masterpiece Nebraska. 

Well they closed down the auto plant in Mahwah late that month
Ralph went out lookin’ for a job but he couldn’t find none
He came home too drunk from mixin’Tanqueray and wine
He got a gun shot a night clerk now they call’m Johnny 99

Down in the part of town where when you hit a red light you don’t stop
Johnny’s wavin’ his gun around and threatenin’ to blow his top
When an off duty cop snuck up on him from behind
Out in front of the Club Tip Top they slapped the cuffs on Johnny 99

Well the city supplied a public defender but the judge was Mean John Brown
He came into the courtroom and stared young Johnny down
Well the evidence is clear gonna let the sentence son fit the crime
Prison for 98 and a year and we’ll call it even Johnny 99

A fistfight broke out in the courtroom they had to drag Johnny’s girl away
His mama stood up and shouted “Judge don’t take my boy this way”
Well son you got a statement you’d like to make
Before the bailiff comes to forever take you away

Now judge judge I had debts no honest man could pay
The bank was holdin’ my mortgage and they was takin’ my house away
Now I ain’t sayin’ that makes me an innocent man
But it was more ‘n all this that put that gun in my hand

Well your honor I do believe I’d be better off dead
and if you can take a man’s life for the thoughts that’s in his head
then won’t you sit back in that chair and think it over judge one more time
and let ‘em shave off my hair and put me on that execution line

The Mercy Seat-Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (Nick Cave and Mick Harvey)

It’s a bit embarrassing to admit that, up to a few weeks ago, I had never heard of this song. But as I was doing a search for songs about capital punishment this was one of the first songs mentioned. The Mercy Seat within the song is of two places; the electric chair where this man will be put to death, and the Throne of God where he will stand before Him. There are several Biblical references within the song. I don’t really know what more to say about it except that I wish I had heard it a long time ago.

It began when they come took me from my home
and put me in Dead Row,
of which I am nearly wholly innocent, you know.
And I’ll say it again
I..am..not..afraid..to..die.

I began to warm and chill
To objects and their fields,
A ragged cup, a twisted mop
The face of Jesus in my soup
Those sinister dinner meals
The meal trolley’s wicked wheels
A hooked bone rising from my food
All things either good or ungood.

And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I’m yearning
To be done with all this measuring of truth.
An eye for an eye
A tooth for a tooth
And anyway I told the truth
And I’m not afraid to die.

Interpret signs and catalogue
A blackened tooth, a scarlet fog.
The walls are bad. Black. Bottom kind.
They are sick breath at my hind
They are sick breath at my hind
They are sick breath at my hind
They are sick breath gathering at my hind

I hear stories from the chamber
How Christ was born into a manger
And like some ragged stranger
Died upon the cross
And might I say it seems so fitting in its way
He was a carpenter by trade
Or at least that’s what I’m told

Like my good hand I
tatooed E.V.I.L. across it’s brother’s fist
That filthy five! They did nothing to challenge or resist.

In Heaven His throne is made of gold
The ark of his Testament is stowed
A throne from which I’m told
All history does unfold.
Down here it’s made of wood and wire
And my body is on fire
And God is never far away.

Into the mercy seat I climb
My head is shaved, my head is wired
And like a moth that tries
To enter the bright eye
I go shuffling out of life
Just to hide in death awhile
And anyway I never lied.

My kill-hand is called E.V.I.L.
Wears a wedding band that’s G.O.O.D.
`Tis a long-suffering shackle
Collaring all that rebel blood.

And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I’m yearning
To be done with all this measuring of truth.
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth
And anyway I told the truth
And I’m not afraid to die.

And the mercy seat is burning
And I think my head is glowing
And in a way I’m hoping
To be done with all this weighing up of truth.
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth
And I’ve got nothing left to lose
And I’m not afraid to die.

And the mercy seat is glowing
And I think my head is smoking
And in a way I’m hoping
To be done with all this looks of disbelief.
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth
And anyway there was no proof
Nor a motive why.

And the mercy seat is smoking
And I think my head is melting
And in a way I’m helping
To be done with all this twisted of the truth.
A lie for a lie
And a truth for a truth
And I’ve got nothing left to lose
And I’m not afraid to die.

And the mercy seat is melting
And I think my blood is boiling
And in a way I’m spoiling
All the fun with all this truth and consequence.
An eye for an eye
And a truth for a truth
And anyway I told the truth
And I’m not afraid to die.

And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I’m yearning
To be done with all this measuring of proof.
A life for a life
And a truth for a truth
And anyway there was no proof
But I’m not afraid to tell a lie.

And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I’m yearning
To be done with all this measuring of truth.
An eye for an eye
And a truth for a truth
And anyway I told the truth
But I’m afraid I told a lie.

I’m Not the Man-10,000 Maniacs (Natalie Merchant)

This song has some good lyrics. The only thing is that the music and the singing make me think of Bananarama on Quaaludes. The song is one of those “I was framed, somebody is going free while I swing from the rope” songs. Merchant throws in a reference to the KKK, giving it an edge of racism. If I heard this song on American Bandstand I would say “Well, Dick, it’s got some catchy words, but I’d rather take a nap than dance to it.” By the way, would a song about a man being hanged fall under the classification of ‘swing music’?

It crawls on his back, won’t ever let him be.
Stares at the walls until the cinder blocks can breathe.
His eyes have gone away, escaping over time.
He rules a crowded nation inside his mind.

He knows that night like his hand.
He knows every move he made.
Late shift, the bell that rang, a time card won’t fade.
10:05 his truck pulled home.
10:05 he climbed his stair, about the time he was accused of being there.

But I’m not the man.
He goes free as I wait on the row for the man to test the rope he’ll slip around my throat…
and silence me.

On the day he was tried no witnesses testified.
Nothing but evidence, not hard to falsify.
His own confession was a prosecutor’s prize,
made up of fear, of rage and of outright lies.

But I’m not the man.
He goes free as the candle vigil glows, as they burn my clothes.
As the crowd cries, “Hang him slow!” and I feel my blood go cold, he goes free.

Call out the KKK, they’re wild after me.
And with that frenzied look of half-demented zeal,
they’d love to serve me up my final meal.
Who’ll read my final rite and hear my last appeal?
Who struck this devil’s deal?

Let Him Dangle-Elvis Costello (Declan McManus)

Let me get this straight; Derek Bentley was a simple-minded (mentally retarded?) 18 year old boy who didn’t pull the trigger. Am I right so far? Christopher Craig was a 16 year old hoodlum who did pull the trigger because Bentley said “Let him have it, Chris!” Craig was too young to hang, so basically in a case of one hand washing the other Bentley took his place. I learned of this case from the film Let Him Have It, directed by Peter Medak. When I heard the song and read the lyrics on Elvis Costello’s Spike, I shouted out “Let him have it! I know what this is about!” Derek Bentley was hanged in 1953 for the crime, but was fully pardoned in 1998. Too little, too late.

Bentley said to Craig Let him have it Chris
They still don’t know today just what he meant
by this
Craig fired the pistol, but was too young to swing
So the police took Bentley and the very next thing
Let him dangle
Let him dangle
Bentley had surrendered, he was under arrest,
when he gave Chris Craig that fatal request
Craig shot Sidney Miles, he took Bentley’s word
The prosecution claimed as they charged them
with murder
Let him dangle
Let him dangle
They say Derek Bentley was easily led
Well what’s that to the woman that Sidney
Miles wed
Though guilty was the verdict, and Craig had
shot him dead
The gallows were for Bentley and still she
never said
Let him dangle
Let him dangle
Well it’s hard to imagine it’s the times that
have changed
When there’s a murder in the kitchen that is
brutal and strange
If killing anybody is a terrible crime
Why does this bloodthirsty chorus come round
from time to time
Let him dangle
Not many people thought that Bentley would
hang
But the word never came, the phone never rang
Outside Wandsworth Prison there was horror
and hate
As the hangman shook Bentley’s hand to
calculate his weight
Let him dangle
From a welfare state to society murder
Bring back the noose is always heard
Whenever those swine are under attack
But it won’t make you even
It won’t bring him back
Let him dangle
Let him dangle (String him up)

The Fall of Troy-Tom Waits (Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan)

Tom Waits is the only artist I know who can write and sing a death penalty song without actually mentioning anything to do with capital punishment itself. From what I can surmise, the song is more about the effect of the crime and the punishment on the families of the criminals and the victims. If anyone gets any different meaning out of this I would love to hear it.

It’s the same with men as with horses and dogs
Nothing wants to die
Evelyn James they killed in a game
With guns too big for their hands
Just off St. Charles in no man’s land
And you’ll have to find your own way home, boys
You’ll have to find your own way home

The oldest was Troy, an eighteen year old boy
Shot dead in March in a robbery
His brother started out to hell and to ruin
Troy’s killer was never caught, they say
Young Nick, he just went bad that day
Now he’ll have to find his own way home, boys
He’ll have to find his own way home

Why cook dinner, why make my bed
Why come home at all?
Out the door and through the woods
There’s a world where nothing grows

It’s hard to say grace and to sit in the place
Of someone missing at the table
Mom’s hair sprayed tight and her face in her hands
Watching TV for answers to me
After all she’s only human
And she’s trying to find her own way home, boys
She’s trying to find her own way home

My legs ache
my heart is sore
The well is full of pennies

Ellis Unit One-Steve Earle (Steve Earle)

I originally heard this song on the Dead Man Walking soundtrack. Earle is a very outspoken opponent of the death penalty and this song, along with his Over Yonder (Jonathan’s Song)is one of his strongest statements. I’ve been a fan of Earle’s for quite a long time and this is one of my favorite songs of his. I may not share his philosophies, but like the saying goes I will defend his right to those philosophies.

I was fresh out of the service
It was back in ‘82
I raised some Cain when I come back to town
I left to be all I could be
Come home without a clue
Now, I married Dawn and had to settle down

So I hired on at the prison
Guess I always knew I would
Just like my dad and both my uncles done
And I worked on every cell block
Now, things’re goin’ good
But then they transferred me to Ellis Unit One

Swing low
Swing low
Swing low and carry me home

Well, my daddy used to talk about them long nights at the walls
And how they used to strap ‘em in the chair
The kids down from the college and they’d bring their beer ‘n all
‘N when the lights went out, a cheer rose in the air

Well, folks just got too civilized
Sparky’s gatherin’ dust
‘Cause no one wants to touch a smokin’ gun
And since they got the injection
They don’t mind as much, I guess
They just put ‘em down at Ellis Unit One

Swing low
Swing low
Swing low and carry me home

Well, I’ve seen ‘em fight like lions, boys
I’ve seen ‘em go like lambs
And I’ve helped to drag ‘em when they could not stand
And I’ve heard their mamas cryin’ when they heard that big door slam
And I’ve seen the victim’s family holdin’ hands

Last night I dreamed that I woke up with straps across my chest
And something cold and black pullin’ through my lungs
‘N even Jesus couldn’t save me though I know he did his best
But he don’t live on Ellis Unit One

Swing low
Swing low
Swing low and carry me home
Swing low
Don’t let go
Swing low and carry me home

Over Yonder (Jonathan’s Song)-Steve Earle (Steve Earle)

A companion piece to Earle’s Ellis Unit One. Enough said.

The warden said he’d mail my letter
The chaplain’s waitin’ by the door
Tonight we’ll cross the yard together
Then they can’t hurt me anymore.

I am going over yonder
Where no ghost can follow me
There’s another place beyond here
Where I’ll be free I believe.

Give my radio to Johnson
Thibodeaux can have my fan
Send my Bible home to Mama
Call her every now and then.

I suppose I got it comin’
I can’t ever pay enough
All my rippin’ and a runnin’
I hurt everyone I loved.

The world’ll turn around without me
The sun’ll come up in the east
Shinin’ down on all of them that hate me
I hope my goin’ brings ‘em peace.

The Long Road-Eddie Vedder with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (Eddie Vedder)

Okay, so I take back what I said earlier about Tom Waits. Apparently Eddie Vedder can write a song about the death penalty without actually mentioning it, too. This is also from the Dead Man Walking soundtrack. I’m not a big Pearl Jam fan, but I do feel that this is some of Vedder’s best singing.

And I wished for so long, cannot stay…
All the precious moments, cannot stay…
It’s not like wings have fallen, cannot stay…
But I feel something’s missing, cannot say…

Holding hands are daughters and sons
And their faiths just falling down, down, down, down…
I have wished for so long
How I wish for you today

We all walk the long road. Cannot stay…
There’s no need to say goodbye…
All the friends and family
All the memories going round, round, round, round
I have wished for so long
How I wish for you today

And the wind keeps roaring
And the sky keeps turning gray
And the sun is set
The sun will rise another day…

We all walk the long road. Cannot stay…
There’s no need to say goodbye…
All the friends and family
All the memories going round, round, round, round
I have wished for so long
How I wish for you today
How I’ve wished for so long
How I wish for you today

We all walk the long road

Sing Me Back Home-Merle Haggard (Merle Haggard)

A condemned man longs for the good old days once again. This is probably Haggard’s most well known song. All I know is that there was no damn way I could write a post about death penalty songs and not include this one. Karaoke nearly ruined the song for me as every redneck in a five mile radius had to put his or her spin on it. It’s like a friend of mine said when Run-DMC covered Walk This Way: You don’t f**k with a classic.

The warden led a prisoner down the hallway to his doom
I stood up to say good-bye like all the rest
And I heard him tell the warden just before he reached my cell
‘Let my guitar playing friend do my request.’ (Let him…)

Sing me back home with a song I used to hear
And make my old memories come alive
And take me away and turn back the years
And sing Me Back Home before I die

I recall last Sunday morning a choir from ‘cross the street
Came in to sing a few old gospel songs
And I heard him tell the singers ‘There’s a song my mama sang.
Could I hear once before you move along?’

Let him sing me back home, with the song I used to hear
And make my old memories come alive
And take me away and turn back the years
And sing Me Back Home before I die

Sing Me Back Home before I die

Sing Me Back Home before I die

THE Green,Green Grass of Home-Tom Jones (Claude ‘Curly’ Putnam, Jr,)

Have you ever read An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce? It’s about a Confederate sympathizer sentenced to hang. Suddenly, he is free and running for home. As he runs to the loving arms of his wife he feels a jerk and a snap of his neck. He was never free. It was his life as he longed for it to be flashing before his eyes. This song could easily be the lyrical companion to the story.

The old home town looks the same as I step down from the train,
and there to meet me is my Mama and Papa.
Down the road I look and there runs Mary hair of gold and lips like cherries.
It’s good to touch the green, green grass of home.
Yes, they’ll all come to meet me, arms reaching, smiling sweetly.
It’s good to touch the green, green, grass of home.
The old house is still standing, tho’ the paint is cracked and dry,
and there’s that old oak tree that I used to play on.

Down the lane I walk with my sweet Mary, hair of gold and lips like cherries.
It’s good to touch the green, green grass of home.
Yes, they’ll all come to meet me, arms reaching, smiling sweetly.
It’s good to touch the green, green grass of home.

[spoken:]

Then I awake and look around me, at the four grey walls that surround me
and I realize, yes, I was only dreaming.
For there’s a guard and there’s a sad old padre -
arm in arm we’ll walk at daybreak.
Again I touch the green, green grass of home.
Yes, they’ll all come to see me in the shade of that old oak tree
as they lay me neath the green, green grass of home.