3 Classic Songs Written About Outlaws and Criminals

It’s hard not to think of The Highwaymen—Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson—when thinking of outlaw songs. But I wanted to highlight three non-country tunes written about outlaws to add to your desperado playlist. Two of the three tracks below reference historical fugitives, while the third details a rock star who imagines everyone is out to get him.

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“Bonnie And Clyde” by Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow became Great Depression folk heroes as they robbed and killed across multiple states between 1932 and 1934. Serge Gainsbourg wrote the song based on a poem written by Parker. The poem, “The Trail’s End”, was written only weeks before she and Barrow were shot and killed. Gainsbourg and Bardot’s 1960s French pop classic, using Parker’s own words, remains one of the best outlaw songs. Also, check out Luna’s cover from their brilliant 1995 album Penthouse, featuring Stereolab’s Lætitia Sadier.

English Translation:

You’ve read the story of Jesse James
Of how he lived and died.
If you’re still in need of something to read,
Here’s the story of Bonnie and Clyde.

“Out Ta Get Me” by Guns N’ Roses

This utterly unhinged jam from Appetite For Destruction might be Axl Rose at his most furious point. Quite a statement if you are at all familiar with the antics of the man formerly known as Bill Bailey. But Rose always operated with a gargantuan chip on his shoulder. Exactly what you want from the singer of a dangerous rock and roll band. When Guns N’ Roses emerged from the Sunset Strip with Appetite, Rose, Slash, Duff McKagan, Izzy Stradlin, and Steven Adler made the rest of the glam rock groups look like chumps.

Been hiding out and laying low,
It’s nothing new to me.
Well you can always find a place to go,
If you can keep your sanity.

“Midnight Rambler” by The Rolling Stones

Mick Jagger alludes to the Boston Strangler, Albert DeSalvo, who brutally murdered numerous women from 1962 to 1964 in and around the Boston area. Jagger and Keith Richards wanted to write a dark tune while they vacationed in Italy, and it became a multi-part blues opera. Jagger’s distorted harp increases the track’s anxious vibe along with Richards’s woozy slide riffs. “Midnight Rambler” and its shifting tempos give the recording an unsettled feeling. I can’t imagine how Bostonians must have felt until DeSalvo was finally behind bars.

Did you hear about the midnight rambler?
The one that shut the kitchen door.
He don’t give a hoot of a warning,
Wrapped up in a black cat cloak.

Photo by Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images