Swamp Dogg - Murder Ballad

Swamp Dogg - "Murder Ballad" from his new album Blackgrass: From West Virginia to 125th ST. Purchase/save here: https://ohboy.lnk.to/blackgrass

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Murder Ballad (LYRICS)

I murdered a man
It was easier than I thought
I don’t really care about death row or hell
or even gettin’ caught
the first one put up a fight
the second tried to plea
the third one tried to bribe me
and for some reason the fourth one was fast asleep
let’s just say they reminded me of some people I do not like
I’m on a roll
four people in one day
all you people better get on your knees
get on your knees and pray
cause I’m comin’ to your town soon
They’re talkin’ about me on the scanner mama
mama I made it
I’m on my way home
to you and pa
to show you I’m finally famous
You said I’d never be nothin’
well I’m the biggest thing goin’ today
I choked that old heifer out in her room
and she died smellin’ of Bengay
see they used to make me wear mama’s clothes
and all her cheap hair
so for my final trick
I’ll go back downstairs
and take care of my old man
dirty son of a bitch
now I’m waiting for
12
I can hear em coming down the street
their music sounds like sweet home San Quentin
and some commissary
my father used to teach me
“boy us and blacks ain’t alike”
now I’m sittin’ here in this char
all wired up
wearing stripes black and white
Pull the leaver I can’t wait to die
Pull the leaver
Pull the leaver
Pull the leaver
I’m not afraid to die
Pull the leaver
Pull the leaver
Pull the leaver
Pull the leaver


Hailed by Pitchfork as “one of pop’s great cult acts,” Swamp Dogg has spent the better part of the last 70 years pushing the boundaries of soul, funk, and R&B, rebelling against the confining racial and commercial politics of the music industry with more than two dozen critically acclaimed albums ranging from the radically subversive to the downright absurd.

With his remarkable new collection, Blackgrass: From West Virginia to 125th St., Swamp Dogg adds yet another chapter to his endlessly surprising career, celebrating the sounds he grew up on in 1940s Virginia while at the same time shining a spotlight on bluegrass music’s deep African American roots. Produced by Ryan Olson and recorded with an all-star band including Noam Pikelny, Sierra Hull, Jerry Douglas, Chris Scruggs, Billy Contreras, and Kenny Vaughan, the collection is a riotous blend of past and present, one that filers the sacred and profane through a progressive Appalachian lens that nods to tradition without ever being bound by it. Special guests like Margo Price, Vernon Reid, Jenny Lewis, Justin Vernon, and The Cactus Blossoms all add to the excitement, but it’s ultimately the 81-year-old Swamp Dogg’s delivery—sly and playful and full of genuine joy and ache—that steals the show. The result is a record that’s as reverent as it is raunchy, a work that challenges conventional notions of genre and race as it combines lust and heartbreak, pain and ecstasy, revolution and ridiculousness the way only Swamp Dogg can.

#SwampDogg #MurderBallad #Blackgrass