"Earl Had to Die: The 20 Greatest Country Songs Depicting Homicide towards Men"
In the realm of classic country music, murder ballads have always held a significant place. Although they are not as common nowadays, there still exists a collection of exceptional songs that narrate the act of men killing their female romantic partners. However, it is less frequent to come across songs that portray the opposite scenario. But fret not, as the country genre also offers a substantial number of songs about women who commit murder, and we have compiled a list to showcase them.
In creating this list, we had to consider certain parameters that eliminated a few obvious choices. Our main criterion was to include only one song per artist. This means that even though Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert, both country stars who have multiple murder songs in their repertoire, are highly deserving, we could only feature one song from each of them. Songs like "Before He Cheats," "Church Bells," "White Liar," and "Kerosene" are all exceptional revenge anthems. However, in the end, there were even more popular songs that took precedence over them and made it into the final selection.
The theme of the list was quite specific, which helped to further narrow down the selection. In order for a murder song to be included, it had to involve at least one male victim. Therefore, even though Ashley McBryde's "Martha Divine" is considered one of the best modern murder songs in the genre, it did not meet the criteria for this list. 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 the cut for the same reason.
What remains is a remarkable and exceptionally sinister collection of the most powerful songs in country music that express the desire to harm or kill someone. Take a look at the images below to discover our selections for the top revenge songs and lesser-known gems that revolve around the act of murder, particularly targeting the man in one's life (or persuading someone else to do it on their behalf). Continue reading, and don't forget to share your favorite song about eliminating your partner in the comments if we happened to overlook it.
Earl Had to Perish: The Top 20 Country Songs Depicting the Act of Killing Your Partner
Acknowledgment: Carena Liptak
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