3 Narrative Country Songs Where the Villain Actually Wins

Most of the time, songs are from the perspective of a protagonist. Someone who finds love after heartbreak. Someone overcoming the odds. A moral center to look to. But if music really does mirror life, then there have to be songs that show the villain winning. The good guy doesn’t always come out on top, and morals can be murky. Revisit these three country songs in which the villain wins in the end.

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“Jolene” — Dolly Parton

First, we have Dolly Parton’s “Jolene.” Though we don’t have firm confirmation from the lyrics alone, it seems like this country icon loses her man to the titular character. It’s never good to be on the bad end of a love triangle, and that’s where Parton finds herself here.

If our inference is correct and Jolene does win out in the end, then the villain takes the day in this country hit. “Please don’t take him even though you can,” she futilely begs in the lyrics. This is one of the greatest examples of an unsatisfactory end in a narrative country song.

“Goodbye Earl” — The Chicks

The Chicks’ “Goodbye Earl” is a morally murky country song. On face value, the main characters in this track murder someone and dump his body in the river. That, in the traditional sense, would make them the villains. But when we consider the abuse they suffered, the protagonist/antagonist split isn’t so cut and dry.

“It wasn’t two weeks after she got married / That Wanda started gettin’ abused,” the lyrics read, providing a motive for this crime. Sure, they might get away with murder in “Goodbye Earl,” but it’s pretty universally justified.

“The Night That The Lights Went Out In Georgia” — Reba McEntire

Does the villain really win in this song? Hard to say. Again, the main character commits murder in this song, marking them as the traditional villain. But on the other hand, the victims are cheaters, which prompted the whole crime. Really, any way you look at this dark country staple, a villainous character is taking the day.

“That’s the night that the lights went out in Georgia / That’s the night that they hung an innocent man,” Reba McEntire sings in this track. The narrator’s brother is wrongly convicted, the cheaters are murdered, and the law is corrupt. This isn’t a good song for those who believe justice will always be served.

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