Wikipedia tells us that ZZ Ward first performed Put The Gun Down on VH1 Big Morning Buzz Live with Carrie Keagen. And now, more than a year-and-a-half later, we know the appropriate line dance for the song. In Taiwan. If you’re line dancing alone. Anyway, American music travels well. There are more than a few gun-related songs out there, somewhere, inculcating the world to our pro-gun POV. What’s you favorite gun song? No points for Ted Nugent’s classic Kiss My Glock.

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176 COMMENTS

    • That’s a great song, however I’ve never been able to separate my politics from my media, therefore I will never be able to separate that band from my middle school music teachers decision to shove Saturday Night Special down my adolescent throat. (My opinion was not permissible)

      • Show us on the doll where he he hurt y… ohhh, wait, the SONG Saturday Night Special. Right? Please tell me you meant the song,

    • I listened to a lot of the selections posted; hands down, this is the most melodic, easiest to listen to, and has the greatest truth, : “we might as well run, if we give up our G-d and guns” Amen.

  2. Crossfire, by Jethro Tull
    “Somewhere there are Brownings in a two-hand holds
    Cocked and locked, one up the spout
    There’s nothing for it but to sit and wait
    For the hard men to get me out”

    Big Iron, Marty Robbins

  3. “Hey Joe” by Jimi Hendrix!!
    ———————————————————
    “Hey Joe where you goin with that gun in your hand?”
    “Going to shoot my old lady, she’s been messin around with another man”

  6. Nick do you see what your ban on Israeli supermodels has done to RF? He’s now resorted to watching Asian women line dancing to gun songs all day. Bring back the bikini clad gun toating hotties in the sand.

    • +1

      I also like “Devil’s Right Hand” by Steve Earl, though I guess it is somewhat anti-gun.

      • Nah, “Devil’s Right Hand” isn’t anti-gun – it shows the fallacy of blaming the firearm for a crime instead of the criminal who pulled the trigger. The narrator is so far in denial that he insists it’s the gun’s fault, and nothing touched the trigger but the Devil’s right hand.

        It pokes holes in that whole “guns cause violence” argument.

      • As is Steve himself, pretty sure. But I still love Steve Earle, and all six of his marriages – two to the same woman. Incurable romantics. Both of ’em.

    • Warren Zevon was a man of the gun. Besides Roland, there’s Lawyers, Guns and Money, and the “hand claps” that start the song Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School are actually a S&W M29 (the one that appears on a plate on the inside jacket of the LP) being fired into a metal trashcan full of gravel. (That was Hunter S. Thompson’s idea, there may have been some recreational pharmaceuticals involved.)

      • LG&M! I forgot about that one. Can I switch my vote, please?

        I’m stuck here in Honduras
        I’m a desperate man
        Send lawyers, guns and money
        The sh*t has hit the fan!

        Hank Jr. did a great version too. Of course.

  12. Powderfinger Neil Young:

    Look out, Mama,
    there’s a white boat
    comin’ up the river
    With a big red beacon,
    and a flag,
    and a man on the rail
    I think you’d better call John,
    ‘Cause it don’t
    look like they’re here
    to deliver the mail
    And it’s less than a mile away
    I hope they didn’t come to stay
    It’s got numbers on the side
    and a gun
    And it’s makin’ big waves.

    Daddy’s gone,
    my brother’s out hunting
    in the mountains
    Big John’s been drinking
    since the river took Emmy-Lou
    So the powers that be
    left me here
    to do the thinkin’
    And I just turned twenty-two
    I was wonderin’ what to do
    And the closer they got,
    The more those feelings grew.

    Daddy’s rifle in my hand
    felt reassurin’
    He told me,
    Red means run, son,
    numbers add up to nothin’
    But when the first shot
    hit the docks I saw it comin’
    Raised my rifle to my eye
    Never stopped to wonder why.
    Then I saw black,
    And my face splashed in the sky.

    Shelter me from the powder
    and the finger
    Cover me with the thought
    that pulled the trigger
    Think of me
    as one you’d never figured
    Would fade away so young
    With so much left undone
    Remember me to my love,
    I know I’ll miss her.

  16. I had a good friend in New York City he never called me by my name just hillbilly he used to send me pictures of the Broadway lights and I’d send him some homemade winebut he was killed by a man with a switchblade knife for $43 my friend lost his life I live back in woods you see the women in the kids in the dogs and me I got a rifle shotgun in a four wheel drive in a country boy can survive

    • Ding Ding Ding!!!
      Hey Joe by Hendrix was my first choice!
      Roland would be my second choice!!

  29. I just got done creating a “Gunny” playlist, although most of it is just general high-energy songs for when I’m about to murder some clay pigeons or something.

    Gunpowder and Lead by Miranda Lambert is nice though.

  30. 1- The Highwaymen – The Devil’s Right Hand

    2 – I always like the line the Robert Earl Keene song ‘The Road Goes On FOrever’ that the girl stepped into the alley with a single shot .410. I inherited a single shot .410 from my grandfather.

    • Aww, hell. I knew I wasn’t going to be the first person to bring up Big Iron. Johnny Cash did a good version of it too. Also Mike Ness did a cover if you like Social D at all.

  35. Two favorites would have to be “A country boy can survive” and “Bubba shot the jukebox”

    • Yep, and there’s this one:

      The Cubans grabbed the goodies and Sonny grabbed the Jack
      He broke a bathroom window and climbed on out the back
      Sherry drove the pickup through the alley on the side
      Where a lawman tackled Sonny and was reading him his rights
      She stepped into the alley with a single shot .410
      The road goes on forever and the party never ends

  46. Sabaton- The White Death
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLTpKs2ylP4

    “Almost night, a crimson horizon paints a thousand lakes red.
    As your army approaches in the east, a hunter is switching his prey!
    All alone, a man with his gun, wanders into the wild- tracks you down, you cannot hide- once he is onto your trail!

    Into the night, a flash in the darkness- White Death is heading your way!
    The fear of his foes, a hero at home- hundreds will fall by his gun!”

  47. Gunpowder and Lead – Miranda Lambert

    With the hope that if my little girls ever have to do this, they will!

  52. Can’t go wrong with bobaflex, between their single “bury me with my guns on” and thier leaser known “guns a blazing” they’ve got you covered

  56. Not necessarily my favorites but good/obscure ones that have been missed so far…

    Banditos – The Refreshments
    16 Shells From A .30-06 – Tom Waits
    The Gunner’s Dream – Pink Floyd
    Tommy Gun – Clash
    Janie’s Got A Gun – Aerosmith
    Could You Please Oblige Us With A Bren Gun – Noel Coward

    Edit: Angry Johnny – Poe kinda fits too…

    • Nice to see Aearosmith reference. My two cents (not necessarily faves but noteable):
      Billy’s Got a Gun – Def Leppard
      Come As You Are – Nirvana

    • “Could You Please Oblige Us With A Bren Gun – Noel Coward”

      Reached DEEP for that one! I LIKE it!!

  58. “Seven Spanish Angels” – Willie Nelson, Ray Charles and Merle Haggard.

    She reached down and picked the gun up,
    that lay smoking in his hands.
    She said, “Father, please forgive me,
    I can’t make it without my man.”

    And she knew the gun was empty.
    And she knew she couldn’t win.
    And he final prayer was answered,
    when the rifles fired again.

    There were seven Spanish angels,
    at the altar of the Sun,
    They were prayin’ for the lovers,
    in the valley of the gun.

    When the battle stopped and the smoked cleared,
    There was thunder from the throne,
    and Seven Spanish Angels,
    took another angel home.

    ——–Plus two mentioned above: “I shot the Sheriff” and “Big Iron”

    • Classic. Reminded me of “Pancho and Lefty” by Townes Van Zandt

      “Pancho was a bandit, boys
      His horse was fast as polished steel
      He wore his gun outside his pants
      For all the honest world to feel”

  65. Scooter and rip already mentioned Miranda Lambert. I saw her concert last June, and she opened it with a wonderful video montage of women wielding guns, mostly women in movies an tv. Post-Newtown, it seemed very transgressive, in a good way.

  67. Billy the the Kid, by Joe Ely

    Big Iron, El Paso, by Marty Robbins. For that matter, Robbins’ entire GunFighter ballad album.

  68. Robert Johnson – 32-20 Blues –
    She got a 38 special, and it do very well
    Yes a 38 special, it do very well
    But my 32-20 , it’s a burnin’ hell
    Well, if she get’s unruly, says she won’t do
    Well, she get’s unruly, says she won’t do
    Get my 32-20, cut her half in two

    Doc Boggs – Wild Bill Jones –
    He said, my age it is just twenty-one
    Too old for to be controlled
    So I drew my revolver
    Up from my side
    I destroyed that poor boy’s soul

    Mississippi John Hurt – Stagolee
    Boom-boom, boom-boom, Went the forty-four
    Next thing, ol’ Billy DeLyons was lyin’ dead on the floor
    Oh, that bad man, cruel Stagolee

    Clarence Ashley – Little Sadie –
    Went out one night just to make a little round
    Met little Sadie and I shot her down
    Went back home, got in to bed
    With a forty-four smokeless under my head

    Memphis Jug Band – Good Time Charlie –
    Got a thirty-eight special
    On a forty-four frame
    How can I miss when I got dead aim
    Good time Charlie’s back in town

    Bully Of The Town – Leadbelly (the original one) –
    Got me my razor
    Got me my gun
    Gonna’ cut him if he stand here,
    Shoot him if he run
    Lookin’ for that bully of the town

    That Crazy War – Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers –
    McKinley called for volunteers
    Then I got my gun
    First Spaniard I saw comin’
    Dropped my gun and run
    From that war, that crazy war
    Why are you runnin’?
    Are you afraid to die?
    The reason why I’m runnin’
    Is because I cannot fly
    From that war, that crazy war

    I could keep this up all day. I have a couple of centuries worth of folk songs to call on, here, but I’m getting tired of typing.

    • Hey ‘Belly, you is the hippest dude here! +1000 each for Gid Tanner and Clarence “Tom” Ashley!

      I mean, DAMN!!!

      • You are too kind, sir. The songs listed are a few that I perform myself. If I started trying to remember all the “bad man ballads” and “jealous girlfriend songs” I’ve WANTED to learn and never got around to we’d be here all night. Songs about guns and their use and misuse are as much a part of American history as the guns themselves. The thing I like about the old songs is the way they tell personal stories based on real events. Stagolee, for instance, describes events that took place a bit over a century ago at the Stag Club, a black Democrat’s gathering place about four or five miles from where I’m typing this. Most modern songs use “guns” as a symbol or metaphor for some abstract idea.

  77. Well I feel like snappin’
    Pistol in your face
    I’m gonna let some graveyard
    Lord be your resting place
    Woman I’m troubled, I be all worried in mind
    Well baby I can never be satisfied
    And I just can’t keep from cryin’

    Muddy Waters “Can’t be Satisifed”

  84. No place for hidin’ baby, no place to run. You pull the trigger of my….

    LOVE GUUUUUUUUN! (by Kiss)

  89. Black Powder and Alcohol by Leslie Fish

    Black powder and alcohol,
    When the states and the cities fall,
    When your back is against the wall;
    Black powder and alcohol.

    Gimme charcoal to the measure two:
    Send the bullet where you want it to.
    Gimme sulphur to the measure three:
    Make the powder gonna keep you free.
    Gimme saltpetre, measure fifteen:
    Sweetest shooting that you’ve ever seen! (chorus)

    Gimme water, yeast, and veggie-trash:
    Leave it sitting in the slurry-mash.
    When it’s ready, put it in the still:
    If you can’t heat it, then the sunlight will.
    Draw the alcohol away, and then
    Put the slurry back, and start again! (chorus)

    Booze’ll clean your cuts, or run your car.
    You can make it anywhere you are.
    Black powder in your cartridge shell
    Will send the robbers running clean to Hell.
    You can make them if you just know how.
    So kids, remember what I tell you now! (chorus & repeat
    chorus)

    • Also by Leslie:

      Lock And Load

      From the first the word was made
      our folks shall not be afraid
      of men and states
      that rule like gods
      and all the hell that brings.

      Empires rise,
      empires fall
      we will stand beyond them all
      while we keep the memories strong
      and make no truce with kings.

      Lock and load
      aim and fire
      before hell rises any higher
      ready left and ready right
      before the truth goes out of sight.

      Still the devil’s scratched the door
      whispering as he’s done before
      liberties a luxury and this is crisis time
      crisis here, crisis there
      always trouble brews somewhere
      which excuse is hot today?
      disaster war or crime?

      Lock and load
      aim and fire
      before hell rises any higher
      ready left and ready right
      before the truth goes out of sight.

      Inch by inch the ivy crawls
      over the old restraining walls
      law by law the state grows fat
      and the ancient rights go down
      show me one that isn’t breached
      by laws that politicians preached
      the old king smiles and sits and waits
      and polishes his crown

      Lock and load
      aim and fire
      before hell rises any higher
      ready left and ready right
      before the truth goes out of sight.

      Law by law we grow dismayed –
      if we were bribed we’re poorly paid
      peace and plenty never came
      for all we gave away
      while we watched the power grow
      we’ve been suckered, now we now
      what we bought wasn’t worth the price
      the game ends just one way.

      Lock and load
      aim and fire
      before hell rises any higher
      ready left and ready right
      before the truth goes out of sight.

      If this leads into war
      that is what this right is for
      to take our freedom in our hands
      we have no angels’ wings
      the gloves are off
      the rent’s come due
      the lies have failed
      we see what’s true
      remember what we always knew
      and make no truce with kings.

  90. One more – traditionally known as “The Rifleman’s Song”

    Why come ye hither, Redcoats, your mind what madness fills?
    In our valleys there is danger, and there’s danger on our hills.
    Oh, hear ye not the singing of the bugle wild and free?
    And soon you’ll know the ringing of the rifle from the tree.

    CHORUS:
    Oh, the rifle, oh, the rifle
    In our hands will prove no trifle.

    Ye ride a goodly steed, ye may know another master;
    Ye forward came with speed, but you’ll learn to back much faster.
    Then you’ll meet our Mountain Boys and their leader Johnny Stark,
    Lads who make but little noise, but who always hit the mark.
    Tell he who stays at home, or cross the briny waters
    That thither ye must come like bullocks to the slaughter.
    If we the work must do, why, the sooner ’tis begun,
    If flint and trigger hold but true, the sooner ’twill be done.

    • I have this listed in one of my “Learn Guitar” books simple as “The Rifle”. Good song.

  92. Gonna say BIG IRON by Marty Robbins, because there’s too much mail in the queue to do further research tonight… and tomorrow’s another day.

    I like it! BIG IRON!

    • Thanks for posting this.

      Shortly before his suicide by hanging, Phil Ochs claimed he wanted to be managed by Col. Tom Parker; if Parker wasn’t interested, he said Col. Harlan Sanders would do…

  98. Kevin Fowler – Beer, Bait, and Ammo

    Also, Conway Twitty – Saturday Night Special. WAAAY different song from Skynyrd’s and much harder to find, but pretty good.

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