Lorne ,'Why We Fight'
There's a lady plays her fav'rite records/On the jukebox ev'ry day/All day long she plays the same old songs/And she believes the things that they say/She sings along with all the saddest songs/And she believes the stories are real/She lets the music dictate the way that she feels.
I'm sure David has better ideas, but the two off the top of my head are "Murder In The Red Barn" and "Black Wings"
Sparklehorse, which has certainly taken a hat tip from Mr. Waits, has the wonderful song "Painbirds," too, which may fulfill what you're looking for.
Dear lord Nick Cave has got to have more than a few of those, but I don't even know where to start (at least he definitely has the death songs - one album is called Murder Ballads for doG's sake).
The Mercy Seat on Tender Prey is an absolute killer track about a man facing execution. Probably my favorite Nick Cave song of all time.
Henry Lee on Murder Ballads will get you PJ Harvey as well. (He also has a duet with Kylie Minogue on there, and a version of Stagger Lee which is about as big a death song as you can get).
I can post it to buffistarawk this evening if you need.
That would be appreciated and awesome!
Hec, which Tom Waits song should I use?
Well, in my book I list ever single song that Tom wrote that has a crow reference. So you could just pick that up and look at it.
Very crow-ish songs though would include: "Shiny Things" off of Orphans (which is a whole song about crows collecting shiny things etc.), "16 Shells From a Thirty Ought-Six" off Swordfish, the instrumental track on Black Rider that is just the sound of crows cawing (I'd have to look it up for you).
But Tom's got about 15 songs with crow references like: "The Earth Died Screaming" and "The Other Side of the World" (girl turns into a crow), "Hang on St. Christopher" (nail a crow to the door) and "Big in Japan" ("I've got the rooster / I've got the crow"). I'll get the whole list for you tonight and can upload tracks to buffistarawk for you.
"Black Wings" is not one of them, Cor! The black wings are on the spaghetti western dude he's singing about. It's basically a "Red Right Hand" tribute song.
"Crow King" by Nick Cave would be good too.
John Gorka's "Raven in the Storm"?
Well, in my book I list ever single song that Tom wrote that has a crow reference. So you could just pick that up and look at it.
And if I had it to hand, I would. But work Frowns upon me being obviously non-productive, so instead I type away and look thoughtfully at iTunes.
Fuck, I lost a post.
And if I had it to hand, I would. But work Frowns upon me being obviously non-productive, so instead I type away and look thoughtfully at iTunes.
I don't expect you to have it handy - just that I can reference it more exactly tonight.
"Our Mother the Mountain" is dark and beautiful and has a vengeful spirit who flies away on wings (as I recall).
"Raven Girl" by Mimi & Richard Farina.
I've got a lot of dark, deathy folk songs I can look up on iTunes tonight. I was putting together a mix of that stuff.
Hmmm, Mary Timony has a scary song about an owl too.
"Black Wings" is not one of them, Cor! The black wings are on the spaghetti western dude he's singing about. It's basically a "Red Right Hand" tribute song.
D'oh! I was thinking that I might have it mixed up with another song in my head.
Crow by Jim Carroll
Crows on a Phone Line - Let's Active
There's a Japanse lullabye about crows going home. . . but I can't remember what it's called nor do I know who may have recorded it.
Counting Crows "A Murder of One" Corinne Bailey Rae "Choux Pastry Heart" (obliquely references crows) Sting "Something the Boy Said" Fiona Apple "Carrion" "I Wish My Baby Was Born" Various covers David Gray "The Other Side"