Earl Had to Die: The 20 Greatest Country Songs About Committing Homicide Against Your Significant Other
Songs about murder have always been a significant part of traditional country music. Although they may not be as common nowadays, there are still numerous exceptional songs about men killing their female romantic partners. However, it is less frequent to come across songs that portray women as the ones committing the act. Nevertheless, fear not, as the country genre also offers a substantial collection of songs about women who take the life of their partners, and we have compiled a list to showcase them.
We had to make some decisions to narrow down the contenders for this list. We decided to choose only one song per artist, so even though Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert have multiple murder songs in their collections, we only included one from each of them. While songs like "Before He Cheats," "Church Bells," "White Liar," and "Kerosene" are all excellent revenge anthems, they were ultimately excluded from the final selection because there were even more popular songs that took their place.
The criteria for making it onto this list of murder songs was quite specific. Only murders with at least one male victim were considered, which meant that Ashley McBryde's "Martha Divine," although a great modern murder song, did not qualify. Other notable mentions, such as Willie Nelson's "Red Headed Stranger" and The SteelDrivers' "If It Hadn't Been for Love," also didn't make it onto the list for the same reason.
The remaining content is a truly outstanding and wicked collection of the most powerful songs in country music that express the desire to harm someone. Take a look through the images below to discover our choices for the top revenge tracks and lesser-known songs on the subject of murder, particularly targeting the man in one's life (or persuading someone else to do it on your behalf). Keep reading, and don't forget to inform us in the comments if we overlooked your preferred song about eliminating your man.
Earl Had to Perish: The Top 20 Country Songs Depicting the Act of Harming Your Partner
Credit for the Gallery: Carena Liptak
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