gts007 “shekill”
What do you do with a drunken sailor? After he’s been out whoring and stumbles into your flat an hour before daybreak expecting a warm bed? If you’re Nellie or Joan you stab him (knife and icepick, respectively), Miss Otis and Frankie shoot him, Wanda and Mary Ann (and Marry Ann too) poison him, Angie just traps him forever in her mad menagerie of musical miniatures. Or go simple like Ella and just whack him with a frying pan. This is the episode of ladyrage, because well-behaved women don’t make it into history month!
01-01 Kathryn Grayson – Kiss Me Kate 202 – I Hate Men (1953)
— five years after it hit Broadway, became a hit movie musical, which this version hails from. Lauded as the first “3D” musical. Not sure why. I mean, I know why, just not sure why anyone would think that a Shakespeare adaptation needs 3D?
01-02 Kirsty MacColl – Galore 16 – Can’t Stop Killing You (1995)
— unclear who’s actually getting killed here, but Kirsty lays out a solid motive for the lady to do the deed.
01-03 April Smith & The Great Picture Show – Song For A Sinking Ship 02 – Terrible Things (2010)
— popped up for the tv series Californication, makes great use of April’s bubbly yet devious facet.
01-04 She And Him – Volume3 10 – Snow Queen (2013)
— one way to off him, shove him outside in shorts and socks on a subzero night!
01-05 Ella Fitzgerald – Sings the Rodgers & Hart Songbook 305 – Ev’rything I’ve Got (1956)
— this one was difficult to find, but easy to enjoy. Would love video of Ella practicing the hammerlock.
02-01 Homer & Jethro – RCA 21-0349 – Put That Knife Away Nellie (1950)
— heartless hillbillies on both sides, plenty of people today would rather she didn’t put the knife away, given the number of clearly racist sides H & J produced.
02-02 The Persuaders – Thin Line Between Love And Hate 101 – Thin Line Between Love And Hate (1971)
— classic R&B, unclear if she poisoned or bludgeoned him, maybe both?
02-03 Dixie Chicks – Fly 05 – Goodbye Earl (1999)
— now just The Chicks, for decades I have avoided blackeye peas.
02-04 New Blood Revival – Nice Girls 10 – He’s No Good For You (2004)
— this one’s pretty gruesome, red flags everywhere. If Guy #1 is no good for her, will Guy #2 be any better? She should just leave town and change her name.
03-01 Gilda Radner & Bill Murray – NatLamp Goodbye Pop 106 – I’m A Woman (1975)
— i thought she could hack it. Paul Schaeffer is in there too, but wasn’t he everywhere in NYC in 1975?
03-02 Helen Reddy – Free And Easy 101 – Angie Baby (1974)
— oooh creepy. This little fruitcake doesn’t need a weapon, just a volume knob.
03-03 The Fabulous Miss Wendy – The Fabulous Miss Wendy 03 – Crazy Fucked Up Bitch (2008)
— Miss Wendy has plenty of fun disturbing songs, this one placed here to make sure nobody misses the point of Angie.
03-04 Nina Simone – Nina Simone In Concert 03 – Pirate Jenny (1964)
— despite my labeling, this is not the version from Carnegie Hall in 1964. But much prefer this one, despite lesser recording quality and Nina’s vocal gaffe, this one is more menacing.
04-01 Kirsty MacColl – Galore 06 – Miss Otis Regrets (1995)
— a Cole Porter tune, based on a true story.
04-02 Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Jordan – Decca 23546 – Stone Cold Dead In The Market (1946)
— murder has never been more fun than when these two go at it. One of the three Kings Louis: Jordan, Prima and Armstrong ruled the middle of the last century.
04-03 Pat Benatar – Live From Earth 204 – Love Is A Battlefield (1983)
— not a murder ballad, just an exposition of motive.
04-04 Regina Spektor – Eleven Eleven 05 – Marry Ann (2001)
— perhaps the scariest tune in this show, never trust anyone who arranges food by alphabet. Naturally, the foods mentioned are all euphemisms for sex.
… and later at the Green Room After Party …
05-01 Andrews Sisters & Bing Crosby & Vic Shoen Orchestra – Decca 23277 – Pistol Packin’ Mama (1943)
— hey Claudia here’s your song, you pickle packin’ mama!
05-02 Bell Biv Devoe – Poison 201 – Poison (1990)
— still at it today, but here’s their greatest hit.
05-03 Dr. Hook – Dr Hook 102 – Marie Laveaux (1972)
— she’s got the motive (lying), the opportunity (alone in the swamps), it’s just the means that make this a horror show.
05-04 Nick Cave & Bad Seeds – Murder Ballads 08 – Crow Jane (1996)
— laughing all the way home too, yeesh.
05-05 Bessie Smith – Columbia 14554D – Black Mountain Blues (1930)
— folklore about Bessie writing this after playing Roseland are false, it was written by a guy named Johnson in New York City.
05-06 PJ Harvey – Rid Of Me 01 – Rid Of Me (1990)
— difficult song for radio, the volume levels between the main song and the outbursts are drastic. When I bought this in 1992, had to sit next to the stereo with hand on the volume knob or get blasted. Did some heavy editing on this to try to even it out, it’s better but you’ll probably still get blasted.
05-07 Sandy Dillon – Electric Chair 02 – Send Me To The ‘Lectric Chair (1999)
— kinda eliminates the insanity defense.
05-08 Victoria Spivey – Okeh 8581 – Murder In The First Degree (1928)
— one of the last cuts from the “seksh” show was Victoria’s “Hot Nuts”.
06-01 Suzanne Vega – Songs In Red & Gray 09 – If I Were A Weapon (2001)
— nice to see a vicious side of Suzanne.
06-02 Alice Gerrard & Hazel Dickens – Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard 204 – Beaufort County Jail (1976)
— Alice wrote this while with Mike Seeger, but he squashed it, saying it “wouldn’t sell in the South.” Wow, considering the topic, a lot packed into that. One of the reasons she fell out with Seeger.
06-03 Sweet Honey In The Rock – Sweet Honey In The Rock 105 – Joanne Little (1976)
— based on the same true story as the previous song, her name was (is?) Joan Little but it’s pronounced “Jo An”. Her Wikipedia entry is shockingly short, considering her national profile at the time.
06-04 Sippie Wallace – Women Be Wise 05 – Murder Gonna Be My Crime (1994)
— hell hath no fury like a woman misunderstood.
06-05 Queen – Sheer Heart Attack 102 – Killer Queen (1974)
— the last addition, how could I have forgotten this one? Maybe not a full murderess, but she certainly slays.
06-06 Jimmie Rodgers – Victor 22143 – Frankie and Johnny (1929)
— obviously, could not let a week go by without yodeling. Oh that black hearted Nellie Bly!
06-07 Scandal – The Warrior 101 – The Warrior (1984)
— probably should have replaced this with a song about Lizzie Borden, know there are some.
06-08 Skin Of Tears – After Eighties 10 – Love Is A Battlefield (2002)
— have a bunch of punk/ska cover tunes, just give me the slightest excuse to trot one out.