"Earl Had to Go: The 20 Greatest Country Songs About Harming Your Partner"
Songs about murder have always been a significant part of traditional country music. Although they may be less common nowadays, there is still a remarkable collection of exceptional songs about men killing their female romantic partners. On the other hand, songs that depict women taking similar actions are not as frequent, but rest assured, country music also offers a substantial number of songs on that subject. And we have compiled a list to demonstrate it.
We set some criteria to narrow down the options for this list. We decided to choose only one song per artist, so even though Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert have multiple songs about murder, they each only made it onto the list once. Songs like "Before He Cheats," "Church Bells," "White Liar," and "Kerosene" are all excellent revenge anthems, but ultimately, other songs that were even more popular took their place in the final selection.
The criteria for making it onto this list was quite specific and required that the murder mentioned in the song have at least one male victim. As a result, even though Ashley McBryde's "Martha Divine" is considered one of the best modern murder songs in the genre, it was excluded. Other notable mentions include Willie Nelson's "Red Headed Stranger" and The SteelDrivers' "If It Hadn't Been for Love," but unfortunately, they also did not make it onto this list.
The remaining content is a remarkable and sinister compilation of the most impactful songs in country music that express the desire to harm or kill someone. Take a look at the images below to discover our choices for the most impressive revenge songs and lesser-known tracks centered around the idea of murder, particularly targeting the man in one's life (or persuading someone else to commit the act on your behalf). Keep reading and don't forget to share in the comments if we overlooked your favorite song about getting rid of your man.
Earl's Demise: The Top 20 Country Songs Depicting the Act of Eliminating Your Partner
Acknowledgment: Attribution to Carena Liptak for the Gallery
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