Murderesses, Prostitutes, & Thieves

FRAMED Mixtape #2: Women Outlaws

I was so excited to share FRAMED’s second quarterly crime mixtape that I decided to post it earlier than originally scheduled. When the first one was released, I posted a reader poll to help pick a theme for the second mix. While voter turnout was low, the end result was “women outlaws.” I spent the last couple of months curating songs about women who commit crime and putting a selection of them together for this mixtape.

Songs About Women Committing Crime

Given the long tradition of murder ballads (if you are not familiar with them you can read a little about the history in Courtney Smith’s piece for Esquire), as well as a general pop culture obsession with women who kill, most of the songs are about women committing murder—most often killing the men in their lives. I think my husband might have been slightly worried as I belted out the words to Cellblock Tango, and laughed at songs such as My Big Iron Skillet, I Didn’t Know the Gun was Loaded, and To Keep My Love Alive. But I had to do my research to put this collection of songs together!

Most of the murder songs are fictional, however, a few convey true crime tales, including a humorous song about Lizzie Borden, as well as songs about Bonnie and Clyde and Aileen Wuornos.

Women in these songs kill out of jealousy, abuse, revenge, and on occasion mental health issues. In actuality, women are significantly less likely to commit acts of violence compared to their male counterparts and the reasons are more complicated than these songs suggest. Yet songs about murder are the cornerstone of music about women breaking the law, especially in the genre of country music.

I was also able to find songs about the types of crimes women are more likely to commit such as prostitution, theft, and drug use (although Girl Blunt is not universally a crime song with the legalization of marijuana in many places, but it is a song I love).

I was not able to include all of the songs I wanted to on this list as some were not available on Spotify (check out Women’s Prison by Loretta Lynn and Long Time Woman by Pam Grier). And, if you check out Mixtape #1 there are two songs about women who murder that I did not want to repeat. By no means is this list exhaustive. Just like any creation, this mix reflects the types of music I like or am familiar with as that was my starting point. A couple of the songs came from Spotify lists I created for my classes using song submissions from my students. I am sure I still missed some good selections. If you can think of any, pop them in the comments!

The Mix

This mixtape has three parts. Part I offers an eclectic set of songs. Opening with the theme song from the 1965 film Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! and ending with the only prison song I included. Many of these songs are on the lighter side and the artists sing about a variety of crimes.

Part II is significantly shorter than the other two. It opens with I’m Tired by Madeline Kahn from a scene in Blazing Saddles and features songs about prostitution, theft, and drugs.

Part III is by far the longest section as it focuses on traditional murder songs. It opens with the theme song from one of my favorite shows, Killing Eve, and includes songs by artists ranging from Reba McEntire and Miranda Lambert to Taylor Swift and Rhianna. There were many, many, more (especially country songs) that could have been included but I had to cut it off at some point.

While I put together the crime mixtapes for fun and entertainment, I want to leave you with one fact: Women are five times more likely to be murdered by their intimate partners than men. There are songs about domestic violence and other types of violence against women. With this mixtape’s focus on women who commit crime, several of the songs convey tales of women fighting back against their abusive spouses; taking “justice” into their own hands because no one else will help. It is a persisting theme. Have you ever stopped to think about why this might be the case? For some listeners these may be empowering anthems, while for others the songs may be triggering (if the latter is the case, skip Part III of the mix). Either way, these songs are a commentary about the culture in which they are created.

Below is the crime mixtape on Spotify. I hope you enjoy it. Stay tuned for Mixtape #3 in November.