THE FIVE BEST SHOOTIN' SONGS OF THE LAST CENTURY
There's nothing like the sound of gunfire to really get your attention. The real trick is to incorporate gunshots into a song and not be a hip-hop guy. Hip-hop guys use live fire sounds in songs like the Stones used a guitar in 'Jumpin' Jack Flash'.
Guns in hip-hop songs are like living next to a busy highway-you get used to the noise.
But this list is all about mainstream 20th Century music that just happened to have a little bit of gunplay built into the song.
In essence, a different backbeat-an American Bandstand "good beat I'll give it a five because you can dance to it moment".
Number 5 is R. Dean Taylor's "Indiana Wants Me" from 1970. This one had a pretty thin plotline-somebody was bad-mouthing R. Dean's girlfriend so R. Dean killed him. No verdict on whether this seemingly over the top retribution was justifiable homicide because R. Dean goes down in a hail of police gunfire at the end.
You can actually hear the ricochet of the bullets over the police telling R. Dean "you are surrounded" in what has to be one of the most obvious moments in musical teen tragedy history.
Final score: Taxpayers 1 (no expensive trial) - Misguided Lovelorn Idiot 0.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZL_tZxyBDo
Number 4 is Georgie Fame's hit from 1967 called the "The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde". This one had a similar R. Dean Taylorish bullet-ridden conclusion but it was based on real life bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde so if you Google them... no surprise ending. It has that catchy 60s retro-Vaudeville sound that was big for about two weeks during the summer of love era in 67 so it's a much happier sound-almost upbeat. But in the end, the body count is one person higher and the machine gun and rifle fire is much clearer...
Final score: Police 2 – Star Crossed Bank Robbers 0.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubOI9yY55JU
Number 3 is the Byrds' "Draft Morning" from 1968. It has all the Byrds' trademarks-great harmonies, jangly guitars and the ultimate Byrds trademark...a built-in hippie psychedelic theme. This 60s classic has a So-Cal laid-back "walking on the beach after a night of excessive drug use" sound punctuated in the middle by a major firefight- more like a "Love-In" Viet Cong style. In essence-it was an antiwar song wearing a Beach Boys shirt.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOWDKpdScpA
Number 2 is Bill Withers' "Better off Dead" from 1971. Most people are well aware of Bill's song "Lean on Me"-in fact that song in an ad campaign sold quite a few Chevy pickups over the years based on the strength and hope behind the song. This song is nothing like that. It's a suicide note put to music punctuated at the end with the world's best period. A single gunshot. So if your girlfriend dumped you and you're feeling a little blue, read the warning label on this song because the depressed guy in this song was truly committed to the cause.
Number 1 is The Doors "Unknown Soldier" from 1968. Only Jimmy Morrison could take dark, bleak and hopeless and turn it into a money machine. The title guy is in front of a firing squad so the faint hope clause is clearly not an option. Cue the drumroll/gunfire early-the end. But Jimmy was so good at what he did that shooting this poor schmoe was merely a lead-in to the rest of the song.
And a great song it was-the legendary Jimbo was at the top of his game with Unknown Soldier.
That's why it's #1 with a bullet.
