7

Skip James Cuts a Woman in Half ("22-20 Blues" - 1931)

"22-20 Blues" tells the tale of a woman who just won't get her act straight. See, Skip James sent for her, on several occasions, and yet she didn't show up! The brazen audacity! Of course, in the world of blues, there's only one way to deal with minor punctuality issues: brutal, brutal murder.

Big on punctuality.

A Few Choice Quotes

Sometimes she gets unruly;
An she act like she just don't wanna do;
But I get my 22-20;
I cut that woman half in two;

Source.

Your .38 Special;
Buddy, it's most too light;
But my 22-20;
Will make ev'rything, alright;

Shooting your woman with a mere .38 pistol? That's for pussies. Ironically James soon found himself humbled when Robert Johnson recorded a far more popular version of his song. The only real change Johnson made? He upped the caliber and named it the "32-20 Blues." It was all about the gun size with those boys.

6

Lucille Bogan Fucks Corpses ("Shave 'Em Dry" - 1935)

5

King Solomon Hill Sentences a Woman to Devil Rape ("Whoopee Blues" - 1932)

"Whoopee Blues" is another song about a poor blues man having to deal with a mean mistreating woman. King Solomon Hill isn't one to settle for mere murder though, he wants his woman sent to hell to do it with the Devil--which strikes us as just a tad judgmental. We're no theologians, but we're pretty sure slashing your girlfriend to death with a razor is pretty much a one-way ticket to becoming Satan's bitch.

4

Josie Miles Terrorizes a City ("Mad Mama Blues" - 1924)

Obviously violence against women was a bit of an unfortunate theme of early blues; but, as Josie Miles shows, female blues singers didn't shrink from a bit of insane violence either. Josie doesn't even need a reason. In "Mad Mama Blues" she's out to wreck the city like Godzilla in a cocktail dress and there's nothing you can do to stop it.

A Few Choice Quotes

Now I could see blood runnin';
Through the streets;
Could be everyone;
Layin' dead right right at my feet.

"Hello?! 9-11? Quick! You have to... oh God, she's coming!"

Give me gunpowder;
Give me dynamite;
Yes I'd wreck the city;
Wanna blow it up tonight.

"It's Josie Miles!"

I took my big Winchester;
Down off the shelf;
When I get through shootin';
There won't be nobody left.

"Send the police! The national guard! Before it's too... arrrraaghaghh!"

3

Stuff Smith Smokes More Weed Than Snoop ("If You'se a Viper" - 1936)

More than a few rappers have based their careers on professing their affection for certain smokable substances, a proud tradition that dates back to jazz and blues from as early as the 1920s. Apparently one of the worst side effects of pot is a smoker's inability to stop writing songs about it.

This guy liked to do drugs? No way.

A Few Choice Quotes

Talk about a reefer of five feet long;
Not too fat and not too strong.

Come on now, five feet? That's just impractical.

This, but weed.

Now when your throat get dry;
And you know you're high;
Everything is dandy;
Truck on down to your candy store;
Get you kicks off peppermint candy.

Peppermint candy? Munchies in the pre-Doritos era sucked.

2

Roy Brown Gets Murderous and Gay ("Butcher Pete" - 1950)

So, there were plenty of old blues songs that were either horrifically violent, or sexually explicit, but Roy Brown wasn't a man to be satisfied with just one or the other. His song "Butcher Pete" is about a guy who goes around the countryside "chopping up all the women's meat" with his "long sharp knife." Get it? This is a rare example where hiding the sexual content behind double entendres and innuendo somehow made the song a thousand times more offensive.

1

Blind Willie McTell Might Have Been a Serial Killer ("A to Z Blues" - 1956)

From Ray Charles to Stevie Wonder, the list of beloved blind performers is a long one, but as Blind Willie McTell proves, not all blind musicians are quite so cuddly.

The blindness was the only thing that limited his carnage.

At first, the "A to Z Blues" seems to be a standard "my woman done me wrong" blues song, but then Blind Willie goes and gets creative. The result is a song that sounds like something that might have been created had Sesame Street ever been visited by Charlie Manson.

A Few Choice Quotes

I'm gonna cut your head four different ways;
That's long, short, deep and wide.

Cutting heads is a lost art. Most kids today would probably know two different ways max.

When I get a rhythm of this rusty black handle razor;
you're gonna be booked out for an ambulance ride;
Cause I'm gonna cut A, B, C, D on top of your head;
That's gonna be treating you nice like mama you ain't gonna be dead.