"Earl Had to Go: The Top 20 Country Songs Depicting the Act of Killing Your Partner"
Traditional country music has often featured murder ballads as a prominent theme. Although they may not be as common in contemporary country music, there still exists a collection of exceptional songs about men killing their female romantic partners. However, it's less frequent to find songs that portray women committing such acts. Nevertheless, the country music genre does have a substantial number of songs that delve into this subject, and we have compiled a list to showcase them.
We had to consider certain parameters while making this list, which resulted in excluding some obvious choices. Our focus was on selecting only one song per artist, so even though Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert have released multiple murder-themed songs, they were only allowed one spot each on the list. Songs like "Before He Cheats," "Church Bells," "White Liar," and "Kerosene" are all excellent revenge anthems, but in the end, other songs of greater popularity took precedence and earned their place on the final cut.
The criteria for the list was quite specific, which further narrowed down the options. In order for a murder song to be included, it had to involve at least one male victim. This meant that even though Ashley McBryde's "Martha Divine" is considered one of the best modern murder songs in the genre, it couldn't be included. Other songs such as Willie Nelson's "Red Headed Stranger" and The SteelDrivers' "If It Hadn't Been for Love" were also worth mentioning, but they didn't make it onto the list for the same reason.
What remains is an extraordinary and wicked collection of the most powerful songs in country music that revolve around the idea of killing someone. Take a look at the images below to discover our choices for the top revenge songs and lesser-known tracks that explore the theme of murder, particularly targeting the man in one's life (or persuading someone else to do it on their behalf). Keep reading, and don't forget to share your favorite song about eliminating your man in the comments if we overlooked it.
Earl Must Perish: The Top 20 Country Songs Depicting the Act of Eliminating Your Partner
Image Credit: Carena Liptak
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