Firearms in Popular Music

[pancakeofdoom]

courtesy of "shoot me down" by lil wayne:

I spit Alcatrez bars I know
And d-boys are the only alphabet boys I know
Gotta 3-80 on my waist and rambo at home

..., is the 380 the new 9mm? what are they gonna think is all hard next?

gotta .22 on my waist and rambo at home?

seriously, was seriously considering one for my girlfriend, but i dunno if she can handle the raw power. (not serious)

 

[DeepSouth]

 

[Quentin]

Bonnie And Clyde by Georgie Fame

Bonnie and Clyde were pretty lookin' people
But I can tell you people They were the devil's children,
Bonnie and Clyde began their evil doin'
One lazy afternoon down Savannah way,
They robbed a store, and high-tailed outa that town
Got clean away in a stolen car,
And waited till the heat died down,
Bonnie and Clyde advanced their reputation
And made the graduation
Into the banking business.
"Reach for the sky" sweet-talking Clyde would holler
As Bonnie loaded dollars in the dewlap bag,
Now one brave man-he tried to take 'em alone
They left him Iyin' in a pool of blood,
And laughed about it all the way home.
Bonnie and Clyde got to be public enemy number one
Running and hiding from ev'ry American lawman's gun.
They used to laugh about dyin',
But deep inside 'em they knew
That pretty soon they'd be lyin'
Beneath the ground together
Pushing up daisies to welcome the sun
And the morning dew.
Acting upon reliable information
A fed'ral deputation laid a deadly ambush.
When Bonnie and Clyde came walking in the sunshine
A half a dozen carbines opened up on them.
Bonnie and Clyde, they lived a lot together
And finally together they died,



The Battle of New Orleans by Johnny Horton

In 1814 we took a little trip
Along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip.
We took a little bacon and we took a little beans
And we caught the bloody British in the town of New Orleans.

[Chorus:]
We fired our guns and the British kept a'comin.
There wasn't nigh as many as there was a while ago.
We fired once more and they began to runnin' on
Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

We looked down the river and we see'd the British come.
And there must have been a hundred of'em beatin' on the drum.
They stepped so high and they made the bugles ring.
We stood by our cotton bales and didn't say a thing.

[Chorus]

Old Hickory said we could take 'em by surprise
If we didn't fire our muskets 'til we looked 'em in the eye
We held our fire 'til we see'd their faces well.
Then we opened up with squirrel guns and really gave 'em ... well

[Chorus]

Yeah, they ran through the briars and they ran through the brambles
And they ran through the bushes where a rabbit couldn't go.
They ran so fast that the hounds couldn't catch 'em
Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

We fired our cannon 'til the barrel melted down.
So we grabbed an alligator and we fought another round.
We filled his head with cannon balls, and powdered his behind
And when we touched the powder off, the gator lost his mind.

[Chorus]

Yeah, they ran through the briars and they ran through the brambles
And they ran through the bushes where a rabbit couldn't go.
They ran so fast that the hounds couldn't catch 'em
Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

 

[cratti]

Fuel - "Jesus or a Gun"

Walk away, I walk the wire
And my fields are burning in the flames
Feel my way, blind in the mire
Struggling from your voice inside my head
But now everything's trying to drag me down
But I'll rip the sky from the ground
But tell me now, who's my saving one
Jesus or a gun
Stripped away my last desire
Nothing comes and nothing's sent away
Happiness I couldn't hire
Struggling from these thoughts inside my head
All that's safer falls from my favor
When it over who will cry for me
It's safe to say I don't desire
Everything you push inside my head
And I'll reject it until I'm dead

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

An unspecified gun is implied to have been used and threatened to be used in Seether's "Driven Under."

 

[theotherwaldo]

How about that little gem, written by Shel Silverstein and made famous by Johnny Cash -
A Boy Named Sue that includes:

I tell ya, I've fought tougher men
But I really can't remember when,
He kicked like a mule and he bit like a crocodile.
I heard him laugh and then I heard him curse,
He went for his gun and I pulled mine first,
He stood there lookin' at me and I saw him smile.

-Or something done most recently by Kenny Rogers:

Greybeard

He was 9 years old when his folk left home on a wagon heading west
When his mom and dad knew he'd grow bad by the mark of the devil on his chest
On 17 he turned up mean, he already made his bid
He had a name in the fast gun game and they called him “The Devil Kid.
Now the kid’s name grew and his gang did too
As an old ghost town appeared,
Sitting there in the Marshal’s chair
Was the one they called “Grey Beard."

Said you better quit, while the quitting's good
‘Cause there’s always one that's bigger
There’ll be one guy with a faster eye
Who’s lightning on the trigger.

Let me tell you son
Of a real fast gun that every outlaw fears
He made his name in this killing game
It’s the one they call “Grey Beard.”

He had a drawing hand like no other man
It was faster than the eye
And there were always plenty of kids about 20
Just couldn’t wait to die.

He was a fast gun looking to make a name
And hooking was his virtue and killing was his game.

So the kid said: “Tell me where is this man who never feared a gun”
Grey Beard raised his head and said: “You’re looking at him, son”
So the kid tried staring Grey Beard down with eyes like ace up dice
And Grey beard’s frown, turned upside down to a smile as cold as ice.

So the devil kid reached for his gun with a draw as fast as light
But he lost the game to a shot that came from somewhere out of sight
And as the kid went down and he hit the ground
Before he lost his mind,
He heard Grey Beard snicker,
"I was even quicker before I went stone blind."

He was a fast gun looking to make a name
And hooking was his virtue and killing was his game.

 

[Fred West]

An episode from The High Chaparral entitled The Guns of Johnny Rondo.
Later released as a single by Faron Young.
I can’t remember how it all went but it started something like this:-

It started when McGrawley came
And put young Johnny’s Ma to shame
Revenge was sweet that night in town
The night he shot McGrawley down

Chorus

Sixteen tried and sixteen died
At the hands of Johnny Rondo.
Sixteen holes in sixteen souls
From the guns of Johnny Rondo.

Fred.

 

[eye5600]

Pancho and Lefty
by Townes Van Zandt

Pancho was a bandit boys
His horse was fast as polished steel
Wore his gun outside his pants
For all the honest world to feel
Pancho met his match you know
On the deserts down in Mexico
Nobody heard his dying words
That's the way it goes

All the federales say
They could have had him any day
They only let him hang around
Out of kindness I suppose

 

[scythefwd]

Mack10 was the group, and I believe the Beastie Boys did a cover on it later

Possom,
Try Cypress Hill.

 

[Boba Fett]

Gene Pitney - (The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance


Ya beat me to 1814 Quentin ^_^

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

Two other Seether songs mention guns: "Walk Away From the Sun" and "No Jesus Christ," both from Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces. Not in a good way, either, although it is metaphorical and not meant to be taken literally.

 

[Blackbeard]

However, they never censored that Marilyn Manson song that numerous people killed themselves after listening to, basically promoting suicide.

I presume you mean "Suicide is Painless". This is actually Manson's cover of the theme from M*A*S*H. The TV show omitted the lyrics, but the song is the same.

 

[Tim the student]

However, they never censored that Marilyn Manson song that numerous people killed themselves after listening to, basically promoting suicide.

I think he is mistakenly referring to Marilyn Manson personally. I remember something along those lines with Ozzy, but none from Marilyn Manson.

 

[Blackbeard]

Here's one from one of my favorite modern bands, Maroon 5.

Wake Up Call

I didn't hear what you were saying
I live on raw emotion baby
I answer questions never maybe
And I'm not kind if you betray me.
So who the the hell are you to say we
Never would have made it babe

If you needed love
Well then ask for love
Could have given love
Now I'm taking love
And it's not my fault
'Cause you both deserve
What's coming now
So don't say a word

Wake up call
Caught you in the morning with another one in my bed
Don't you care about me anymore?
Don't you care about me? I don't think so.
Six foot tall
Came without a warning so I had to shoot him dead
He won't come around here anymore
Come around here? I don't think so.

Would have bled to make you happy
You didn't need to treat me that way
And now you beat me at my own game
And now I'm finally sleeping soundly
And your lover's screaming loudly
I hear a sound and hit the ground

If you needed love
Well then ask for love
Could have given love
Now I'm taking love
And it's not my fault
'Cause you both deserve
What's coming now
So don't say a word

Wake up call
Caught you in the morning with another one in my bed
You don't care about me anymore.
Care about me? I don't think so
Six foot tall came without a warning so I had to shoot him dead
He won't come around here anymore.
Come around here?
I don't feel so bad, I don't feel so bad, I don't feel so bad

I'm so sorry darling
Did I do the wrong thing?
Oh, what was I thinking?
Is his heart still beating?

Wake up call
Caught you in the morning with another one in my bed
Don't you care about me anymore?
Don't you care about me? I don't think so
Six foot tall came without a warning so I had to shoot him dead
He won't come around here anymore. He won't come around here. I don't feel so bad

 

[Blackbeard]

And let's not forget the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who just keep getting better every year:

Dani California

Black bandanna, sweet Louisiana
Robbin' on a bank in the state of Indiana
She's a runner, rebel and a stunner
On her merry way sayin' baby what you gonna
Lookin' down the barrel of a hot metal .45
Just another way to survive

 

[cauberallies]

A longtime friend of mine happens to be a talented singer/rapper, and about a year ago, he recorded a song called "12 gauge serenade" in my recording studio. I made the beat for it, and it has various gun sounds throughout the song, and even integrated into the beat itself. This song has more gun references than you'll know what to do with.

The only recording I have of this song in a format suitable for posting on the internet is a rough test mix with lots of errors, and missing details, so keep that in mind if you decide to listen to it. I wrote/arranged the beat/music, recorded/produce the track, and sung the chorus, while my friend, who's rapper name is "2tone", is doing the rapping.

*WARNING*
This link will take you to the song, which has very strong language that may offend, or be inappropriate for some people, so don't listen to with kids around, etc.
LINK TO SONG

Lyrics:
"I'll be the n**** smokin' holdin' open hell's gate,
because I melt your face when I grab the 12 gauge,
they consider me an enemy in more than 12 states,
you see me as good, but I consider myself great,

too many n****s snitchin' so I only trust God,
A, you can **** off, or B, get hit with buckshot
I am a leader son you'll never see me follow s***,
you got a lot of pride, but I suggest you swallow it,
'cus if you don't, then I'll replace it with a hollow tip,
once I get a solid grip, it's your apocalypse,

I keep a shotty handy 'cus I find them suitable,
you keep on talkin' s***, then p****, it's your funeral
I know a b**** and she sings so beautiful,
this is what you call a shotgun musical

verse 2

When I'm done, your face will look like its been photoshopped,
pull out the twin 13 inches just like robocop
Ain't splittin' heads today, I'm always fair in play,
so let me introduce you to the pump action serenade,

I'm on some Godfather, Tony Montana s***,
if I don't get you today, I'll see you mañana, b****!
Yes they say that a bullet is always honest, kid,
so let us hope that you're really trying to be honest, s***

I don't know what the f*** you're testin',
better know I'm aggressive with the Smith and Wesson, and,
if you a snitch then there ain't no 5th plea,
so snitch all you want, 'til the pump says "b**** please."
Have lead washin' outchya mouth like Listerine,
you took us down to our last option. You're history.

Verse 3

Y'all might smite me, but thats not likely,
give you multiple shots to polka dot up your white tee,
You don't want to fight me, because the pair of pumps carry more muscle than Spike Lee, yeah that's right G.
You can step to me, but p**** you can die right here,
'cus I've been doin' this s*** longer than 9 years,
I tried to help you out, but now I'm all out of ideas,
to you thats disaster, but it's music to my ears!"

 

[cchris]

How about the song with Tupac called "Thug Luv" which features the sound of a pistol being cocked back and gunshots as the beat?