They’re Hanging Me Tonight – Marty Robbins

Marty Robbins’ Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs is seriously one of my favorite albums of all time. It’s so much fun to listen to; I would compare listening to the album to watching old Western serials like The Lone Ranger. It’s a super entertaining and also very relaxing piece of work that happens to feature some of the greatest country and western songs ever recorded. “Big Iron” might be the ultimate cowboy song. For the penultimate murder ballad post this week, I decided to feature a double murder. Exciting stuff, I know.

“They’re Hanging Me Tonight” tells us the story of an unnamed narrator and his love, Flo. The narrator happens to be telling us the story from his jail cell. (bet you can’t guess what happens next) Pretty quickly (within the first verse), Flo leaves this poor fella for another man. Initially, it seems like it’s amicable; he begs her to stay but ends up saying goodbye and letting her leave. We then get the first chorus and one of my favorite lines in all of country music.

“They’ll bury Flo tomorrow, but they’re hanging me tonight“

Hm. Guess he didn’t handle the breakup well. He then tells us his confession.

“As I walked by a dim café, and I looked through the door
I saw my Flo with her new love and I couldn’t stand no more
I couldn’t stand no more

I took my pistol from my hip, and with a trembling hand
I took the life of pretty Flo, and that good for nothin’ man“

Marty Robbins managed to deliver us one of the more brutal murder ballad stories (a double murder in a public cafe), and yet when you listen to the song, you really feel bad for the guy in jail. It’s not as ominous or dark as, say, “Kate McCannon” or “John Came Home,” but it may be my favorite of the murder ballads this week. I love the instrumentation throughout this entire album, and this song in particular. Spanish guitar can be so beautiful.

Link to song – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLgqgh7qAbU

Link to live – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-5P_puMj9g