Blue Valentines: A Musical List of Love & Murder

A few years ago, a close friend of mine held a "love-murder masquerade" for Valentine's Day. Everyone decorated masks, played games, and a small band performed murderous love odes throughout the evening. Most exciting, before the party I was asked to compose a list of songs fit for the occasion. Seeing as the twitterpated holiday is again fast approaching, I thought I'd share a shortened version of that list, which gives a tiny glimpse into that world of cuddling and killing ---

A New Jerseyian with great plains departures, Bruce Springsteen returns to his Midwestern folk influences every few albums. On his Nebraska record he tells stories of drifting loners and men born to kill (but ever faithful to their women). The eponymous song meanders through the story of Charlie Starkweather and his girlfriend, real life spree killers who inspired dozens of other copycats both fictional and non.

Nebraska - Bruce Springsteen

The spokesman of the lonesome, lovestruck prisoner, Johnny Cash is a staple on any such list. (It should also be noted that "The Man in Black" created his own Love and Murder compilations). Cash spends many a song grumbling about young men haunted by their guilt-ridden past, but perhaps his best is “Delia’s Gone”, whereupon a man laments his killing of the only woman he ever loved.

Delias Gone - Johnny Cash

It could be argued that Sufjan Stevens' subject matter in "John Wayne Gacy Jr." represents a love antithesis. But, nevertheless, Stevens Illinois ballad trips strangely into the territory of love, offering us a gentle and horrifying view into the passionate murders of the infamous killer. The result is a gorgeous three minutes of music, no matter how brutal the content.

john wayne gacy jr - sufjan stevens

Departing from the softer, folk-inspired side, Pedro the Lion ushers us soberly into the world of visceral rock 'n roll. In the middle of his novel-esque Winners Never Quit album, David Bazan moans about a dirty politician ridding the house of evidence after bludgeoning his wife in “Never Leave a Job Half Done.” In this instance, it's almost too dark without his typical humor to lesson the blow but it fits perfectly into the context of the record.

Never Leave A Job Half Done - Pedro The Lion

Perhaps the most quintessential love/murder ode is Tom Waits’ title song off his Blue Valentine record. In his gruff, wailing voice, (over a lonely guitar) Waits plays a haunted loner who can’t stop looking over his shoulder for the woman he murdered long ago. “She sends me blue Valentines,” he cries, “to remind me of my Cardinal sin, I can never wash the guilt or get these bloodstains off my hands…”

Blue Valentines - Tom Waits

And this 'blue' note is a good place to end any such list.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone.