There are certain songs that tell us the stories of people that became legends in their own way, and thus worth singing about. These people were killers, saints and everything in between.
These illustrations are inspired by them.
JOLENE
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
I'm begging of you please don't take my man
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
Please don't take him just because you can
Your beauty is beyond compare
With flaming locks of auburn hair
With ivory skin and eyes of emerald green...

THE WRECK OF OL' 97
...He turned around and said to his black greasy fireman
"Shovel on a little more coal
And when we cross that White Old Mountain
Watch old 97 roll"
And then a telegram came to Washington station
This is how it read:
It said, "That brave engineer that has run old 97
Is lying down in Danville, dead"

HE'S MISSTRA KNOW IT ALL
He's a man
With a plan
Got a counterfeit dollar in his hand
He's Misstra Know-It-All...

SPACE ODDITY
...This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I'm stepping through the door
And I'm floating in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today...


A BOY NAMED SUE
...And he said, "Son, this world is rough.
And if a man's gonna make it he's gotta be tough.
And I know I wouldn't be there to help you along.
So I gave you that name and I said goodbye.
I knew you'd have to get tough or die...


THE KING OF HOLLYWOOD
...Come sit down here beside me honey
Let's have a little heart to heart
Now look at me and tell me darlin'
How badly do you want this part?...


SEVEN CURSES
...These be seven curses on a judge so cruel:
That one doctor will not save him,
That two healers will not heal him,
That three eyes will not see him.
That four ears will not hear him,
That five walls will not hide him,
That six diggers will not bury him
And that seven deaths shall never kill him.

AFTER WE SHOT THE GRIZZLY
After we shot the grizzly
After the airship crashed
After we lost the compass
After the radio went dead
We shot and ate the horses
We marched through deadly swamps...

...One by one we chose our straws
Till only I remained
But Mary you are with me now
All around me in the waves...
THE BALLAD OF IRA HAYES
Ira Hayes
Ira Hayes
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinking Indian
Or the marine that went to war...

THE DEVIL WENT DOWN TO GEORGIA
...When he came upon this young man
Sawin' on a fiddle and playin' it hot
And the devil jumped
Up on a hickory stump
And said, "boy, let me tell you what

I guess you didn't know it
But I'm a fiddle player too
And if you'd care to take a dare, I'll make a bet with you...


COPACABANA
...Her name is Lola, she was a showgirl
But that was thirty years ago, when they used to have a show
Now it's a disco, but not for Lola
Still in dress she used to wear
Faded feathers in her hair...

THE MAN WHO COULDN'T CRY
...His dog got ran over, his wife up and left him
After that he got sacked from his job
Lost his arm in the war, was laughed at by a whore
Ah, but still not a sniffle or sob...

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