ATL’s Official Top Ten Law Songs
There was a fierce battle for #1 law song between The Clash’s “I Fought the Law” and Warren Zevon’s “Lawyers, Guns, and Money.” The Clash took home the prize. See poll results here.
There was some bellyaching about who should get credit for songs: the original creator or the performer. We think how you sing it matters. Bobby Fuller 4 pleasantly fight the law, while the Clash punk-rock the law, earning them the top spot. The song was originally written by Sonny Curtis and The Crickets. If you’ve actually listened to that version, kudos to you. You’re a true music connoisseur, even if you don’t rock.
Thanks to everyone who voted. Here’s the official ATL Top Ten Law Song list:
1. I Fought The Law - The Clash [ Lyrics│YouTube ]
2. Lawyers, Guns, and Money - Warren Zevon [ Lyrics│YouTube ]
3. 99 Problems - Jay-Z [ Lyrics│YouTube ]
4. Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash [ Lyrics│YouTube ]
5. We’re All Winners, as arranged by Nixon Peabody [ Explanation]
6. Law and Order theme song [ YouTube │Dance Remix ]
7. Hurricane - Bob Dylan [ Lyrics│YouTube ]
8. Alice’s Restaurant - Arlo Guthrie [ Lyrics│YouTube ]
9. I Fought The Law - Bobby Fuller 4 [ Lyrics│YouTube ]
10. The Road Goes on Forever - Robert Earl Keen [ Lyrics│YouTube ]
A little background on the songs appears after the jump. Warning: This is Above The Law, not Rolling Stone, so set your expectations for music analysis accordingly.
We’ll expound a bit on our top ten songs, as voted in by ATL readers. For a bunch of lawyers, you all were surprisingly sympathetic to songs told from the perspective of those on the wrong side of the law.
1 (and 9) - With its catchy riff and easily-remembered chorus, “I Fought The Law” is the song most people think of when one says “law song.” A prison convict laments the heavy hand of the law having its way with him. The beauty of the lyrics is in the simple but powerful line” “I fought the law and the law won.”
2 - “Lawyers, Guns, and Money” is also told from the perspective of a man on the wrong side of the law, who’s gotten caught up in crimes across the border and is hiding out in Honduras. He asks his dad to send lawyers, guns, and money, to get him out of the mess. Lawyers and money always help, but we think guns may just get him into more trouble.
3 - The only hip hop song to make the cut out of the many nominated, “99 Problems” recounts a brush with the law in the form of a traffic stop. Jay-Z refuses the cop’s request to search the car, saying he needs a warrant, explaining “Nah I ain’t pass the bar but I know a little bit, Enough that you won’t illegally search my s**t.”
4 - Johnny Cash has many a song about brushes with the law. “Folsom Prison Blues” was the one to make the top ten list, probably because “I hear that train a-comin” is one of the most famous song intros ever written. A murderer stuck in California’s Folsom prison thinks about life on the trains that he hears passing outside his cell. The song has the famous line, “I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die.” If that’s what he said during the trial, it’s no surprise he wasn’t acquitted.
5 - Nixon Peabody commissioned “We’re All Winners” after being recognized by Fortune Magazine as one of the 100 Best Places to Work. The lyrics include such gems as “Everyone’s a winner at Nixon Peabody” (the chorus) and “It’s all about the team, it’s all about respect, it all revolves around integri-tee yeah.” There was a lot of controversy when ATL shared the song with the world. And that’s all we have to say about that.
6 - You hear the Law and Order theme song, and it screams LAW. It arguably could have been number one on the list. Except it’s not really musically awesome. We kind of like the dance remix though.
7 - Bob Dylan’s famous protest song “Hurricane” recounts the wrongful imprisonment of boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter. Dylan was inspired to write the song after reading Carter’s autobiography about racism leading to an unfair trial and conviction of an innocent man. The song is chockful of the law, and there’s also a little more law behind it: lawyers for Columbia Records had Dylan rewrite the lyrics and rerecord the song, leaving out the names of two eyewitnesses to the crime, to avoid defamation charges.
8 - “Alice’s Restaurant” is another protest song based on a true story. Arlo Guthrie’s protest against the Vietnam war draft centers around Guthrie being arrested for illegally dumping garbage for the restaurant on Thanksgiving Day in 1965. He is convicted and fined. Turned out to be a good thing for him. When he was called up for the draft, he’s rejected because of his criminal record. Sometimes being on the wrong side of the law can be a good thing.
9 - See above.
10 - In “The Road Goes on Forever,” guy rescues girl. Guy and girl go to Miami and get mixed up with Cuban refugees and contraband goods. The “law comes bustin’ in.” Girl shoots cop. Guy takes blame. Guy gets convicted and sent to the electric chair. Girl buys Mercedes-Benz. It’s a heart-warming tale.
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Comments
WTF? No "Lawyers in Love" by Jackson Browne?
And you're not first!
first!
Poor Sonny Curtis and The Crickets. You write a song, the Clash steals it, and years later ATL names it best law song.
They fought ATLaw, ATLaw won.
The LA law theme is pretty fun
http://youtube.com/watch?v=z09O4D2EmL0
(Lat you should really have included youtubes of the songs you listed.)
Black Flag - "Police Story"
The Dead Kennedys version of "I Fought The Law" was neglected in this poll, but has a far more interesting legal context: The Dead Kennedys wrote and recorded a different version as a comment on Dan White's 1978 murder of San Francisco mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk, and White's subsequent use of the "Twinkie defense" to influence the court to convict him of the lesser charge of manslaughter. The song, sung from White's perspective, replaced the line "I fought the law and the law won" with "I fought the law and I won".
Listen to Bruce's version of Johnny 99:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9VZFyLQzok&feature=related
Hurricane is only loosely based in fact.
No love for "Jamie" by Weezer? They wrote the song to their lawyer after they had some legal troubles getting the Blue album out. Features lyrics such as "You've got the Beach Boys/and your firm's got the Stones/but I know, you won't leave me alone" and "Jamie, oh Jamie/I won't let you down/Cuz you are the best lawyer in town." Good stuff. More bands need to serenade their legal counsel.
A band I just saw, and I think should be on this list, is My Morning Jacket. If SG's were allowed their own wrestling style entrance music to oral argument, how could the soundtrack not be from My Morning Jacket?
The LA Law theme song is much better than Law & Order.
What happened to the Genesis song "Robbery, Assault and Battery"???????????????????????!!!
Punk *commences head lock*
Judas Priest, Breakin the Law
You guys are lawyers, maybe you can explain it. If he shot a man in Reno, why is he doing time in California?
how about "99 Years Is Almost For Life," another Johnny Cash classic
3:59
Perhaps the man he shot was in Reno, but he was in California, shooting across the state line. The song is ambiguous.
Mojo Nixon, "Destroy All Lawyers"
Kev:
I know you read this everyday so hear goes:
Mom died this afternoon - Dad just called me and I'm on my way to Fort Collins tonight. Call me - I will pay for you to fly out. You need to be there.
Brian
These deal with the penal aspects of law:
Prison Sex by Tool
Jailbreak by Thin Lizzy
Office Krupke from West Side Story
Theme from Hawaii Five-O
Lovely Rita, Meter Maid
Best album cover:
Face the Music by ELO
These deal with the penal aspects of law:
Prison Sex by Tool
Jailbreak by Thin Lizzy
Office Krupke from West Side Story
Theme from Hawaii Five-O
Lovely Rita, Meter Maid
Best album cover:
Face the Music by ELO
No love for the nation's premier law rock band? Check out Mikey Mel and the JD's (www.myspace.com/mikeymelandthejds)
How about "Forbidden Lawyer Love"?
Favorite traffic law-related song: "I Can't Drive 55" by Sammy Hagar.
Speaking of lawyers and Rock 'n Roll...
If you are in DC, don't forget that tonight is "Banding Together: Battle of the Law Firm Bands" TONIGHT from 7pm til midnight at the Black Cat. All proceeds go to Gifts for the Homeless. It's about what you would expect from lawyers who fancy themselves "musicians" but it's a good excuse to get out of the office whilst still seen "supporting the firm". Winner is selected by Chicago-style voting, i.e., the band bringing in the most donations wins. More info here: http://www.gfth.org/banding_together_2008
Hey Lat, isn't this whole thing deserving of its own post?
What about "Stick your Fried Frank in my Cravath till the partners go home?"
Kash -- whether it's Rolling Stone or ATL, it's "centers on," not "centers around."
Oh, man, did Tom T. Hall get screwed! "Turn It On, Turn It On, Turn It On" shoulda been there. But at least Robert Earl gets a nod, so it all kinda evens out in the end.
C.S.
1:41(1) and 1:48 got it right.
Also, Merle Haggard:
I turned 21 in prison
Doin' life without parole
No one could steer me right
But Momma tried
Momma tried to raise me better
But her pleading I denied
That leaves only me to blame
'Cause Momma tried.
Hurricane did it. He wasn't wrongly imprisoned. Not even the people who formerly worked for his freedom believe him anymore.
One treacly movie with Denzel Washington does not change that.
Cosign with 4:29
Indiana Wants Me
Papoose -- Law Library (part 3)
It's on youtube.
Here's another vote for Lawyers in Love. Also, does anyone remember a country and western song with the line "I'm a member of the American Bar and Grill Association"? I could've sworn I heard that, but Google says I'm hallucinating.
that law and order remix is the worst thing ive ever heard in my 30 years on this planet. dear god that was terrible.
I Shot the Sheriff? Either Marley or Clapton.
The one song I would have expected to be on this list that isn't:
"Freedom of Speech" by Above the Law (the rap group, not the blogger)
http://music.yahoo.com/Above-The-Law/Freedom-Of-Speech/lyrics/429836
Perhaps the man he shot was in Reno, but he was in California, shooting across the state line. The song is ambiguous.
He's a hell of a shot, then. Reno is a good half-hour from the state line...
Closing Argument by Wyclef Jean
Agree with 8:18. Hurricane would still be in prison today were it not for the luck-of-the-draw in getting his 2254 petition assigned to Sarokin.
"Law Library" by Papoose. The lyrics are straight statutory, yo.
BIG PUN -- CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
(The whole freakin album!)
One of the hottest rap albums ever.
re: 8:38 guest -
Are you thinking of "American Honky Tonk Bar Association?"
Along the same lines, the Derailers do a song called "Bar Exam"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrndD4Rq-Lw
re: 7:29 guest –
Right you are: American Honky Tonk Bar Association. Not really a lawyer song now that I've read the lyrics, but fun anyway.
Gilbert and Sullivan, Trial by Jury
"
When I, good friends, was call'd to the bar,
I'd an appetite fresh and hearty:
But I was, as many young barristers are,
An impercunious party.
I'd a swallow-tail coat of a beautiful blue,
And a brief which I bought of a booby,
A couple of shirts, and a collar or two,
And a ring that looked like a ruby!
At Westminister Hall I danc'd a dance,
Like a semi-despondent fury;
For I tho't I never should hit on a chance
Of addressing a British Jury.
But I soon got tired of third-class journeys,
And dinners of bread and water;
So I fell in love with a rich attorney's
Elderly, ugly daughter."
What? No song parodies?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TkuZ5oI9uY
What? No song parodies? I'm Billing Time!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TkuZ5oI9uY
What? No song parodies? I'm Billing Time!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TkuZ5oI9uY
What about Judas Priest's "Breaking the Law"?
Fuck the Police- NWA
She Got the Goldmine (I got the shaft)--Jerry Reed
Convoy--CW McCall
Best of All Possible Worlds--Kris Kristofferson
I see Chuck Berry's "Have Mercy, Judge" is not on the list, probably because most are unfamiliar with it: it wasn't a hit. But it is superb, a fine example of Berry's lyrical gift. It touches on points that any criminal lawyer will appreciate: a client coming before the same judge that gave him a break before(and warned him never to appear before him again) and what do you say to your girlfriend because you know she's not going to be able to be celibate for 10 years. Very touching--it is true to life. It's the followup to "tulane and Johnny".
I see Chuck Berry's "Have Mercy, Judge" is not on the list, probably because most are unfamiliar with it: it wasn't a hit. But it is superb, a fine example of Berry's lyrical gift. It touches on points that any criminal lawyer will appreciate: a client coming before the same judge that gave him a break before(and warned him never to appear before him again) and what do you say to your girlfriend because you know she's not going to be able to be celibate for 10 years. Very touching--it is true to life. It's the followup to "tulane and Johnny".
I saw this way too late, but Cash's Cocaine Blues really needs to be on this list. Too bad!
What about David Lindley and El-Rayo-X?
"Talk to the Lawyer"
what about "I shot the sheriff"
Not technically a "lawyer related song," but I like "I Really Like the Cops" by Desert Rat. Here's Brad Will singing it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sX_EHeCbMqc