Rock "n" Roll and Criminal Law?

Rock ‘n’ Roll and Criminal Law?

By Scott Saul

Most readers of this blog are immersed in the world of criminal law. It may have come across the mind that, perhaps, there are greener pastures or an easier path than our daily regimen yet, you can’t deny that criminal law enters the world of pop culture a lot more than other fields of law. How often do you see tales about probate, real estate or contract lawyers?

Throughout the history of music and song, the law, particularly criminal law, has always been placed into a lyrical context. These songs can act as a portal for news events, be metaphorical, convey an attitude or, most importantly, actually promote change.

Here is a list of songs that are vital in chronicling what we do, what we do onto others or how others view what we do …into song.

These songs, my very subjective selection, represent but a small fraction of what is actually out there. Since I’m a middle-aged “rock ‘n’ roll” guy, I have omitted highly applicable songs coming from other genres such as hip hop, country, etc. I welcome any suggestions since this can hardly be an exclusive list.

1.    Billy Austin -Steve Earle

Steven Earle is an amazing wordsmith that straddles the genres of roots, rock and country. In that he has had real significant demons in his life (addiction, arrests, prison sentences, 9 marriages), he has his finger on the pulse for human suffering. 

‘Billy Austin” is a harrowing, first-person account of an unsophisticated young man that commits an armed robbery, kills his victim and is put to death.  With lyrics like;

but my trial was over quickly,

and the long hard wait began,

court-appointed lawyer couldn’t look me in the eye

He just stood up and closed his briefcase

when they sentenced me to die.

Steve Earle, quite accurately, captured the grim aspect of a death penalty case.

2.  Long Black Veil-The Band

This country standard, brought into the mainstream by rock and roll hall of famers “The Band”, takes on the scenario of “falling on the sword”. It’s told from the point of view of an executed man falsely accused of murder. He refuses to provide a saving alibi since, on the night of the murder, he was having an affair with his best friend’s wife and he would rather die and take the secret to the grave than admit to such a damning truth;

Ten years ago, on a cold dark night

There was someone killed’ neath the town hall light

There was few at the scene and they all did agree

That the man who ran looked a lot like me

The judge said “Son, what is your alibi?

If you were somewhere else, then you won’t have to die

I spoke not a word although it meant my life

I had been in the arms of my best friend’s wife

3.  Crime in the City (Sixty to Zero) -Neil Young 

Rock icon Neil Young focused a stanza of this song (this is from the unabridged, live addition, not the recorded one off of his remarkable “Freedom” album) on the vulnerability of being a judge;

There’s a judge in the city,

He goes to work every day,

Spends his life in the court house,

keeps his perspective that way,

but I respect his decision,

He’s got a lot on his mind,

He’s pretty good with the gavel,

A little heavy on the fines

4.  Ma and Pa-Fishbone

1980-1990’s punk/ska/funk Fishbone has always incorporated thoughtful, insightful and provocative lyrics into their hyperkinetic, very danceable jams. This song focuses on divorce law but, it’s bitter, third-party point of view is alarming for anybody working within the legal system;

She’s a problem child now because of a divorce

Hey Ma and Pa, What the hell is wrong with y’all

Hey Ma and Pa, what the hell is wrong with y’all

Well there’s a lot of money for all the attorneys

It’s just not a fight for child custody

Cause Ma and Pa’s revenge

Is making little sister bleed

5.   Mr Bad Example-Warren Zevon 

Werewolves of London’s Warren Zevon has always been a talented provocateur writing about gritty issues. The excerpt from this tune;

Of course, I went to law school and took a law degree

And counseled all my clients to plead insanity

Echoes an all too common public perception towards the profession (by the way, for a very poignant treatise on mortality, check out his swansong “The Wind”, his last work as he was dying from lung cancer).

6.  I Fought the Law -The Clash

This cover of the Sonny Curtis song (he was in Buddy Holly & the Crickets) features the consequences of crime from the protagonist’s position;

Robbin’ people with a six-gun

I fought the law and the law won

I lost my girl and lost my fun

I fought the law and the law one

I left my baby and it feels so bad

Guess my race is run

She’s the best girl that I ever had

I fought the law and the law one

If only criminal defense work, with such a conciliatory tone, was that easy. 

7.   One Million Lawyers- Tom Paxton

You mean everybody doesn’t love me? Iconic 1960’s-1970’s folkie, Tom Paxton, wrote a damning song as to his perspective of our profession. These lyrics should surely impact what you do with your degree and how you act in court;

Humankind has survived some disasters, I’m sure

Like locusts and flash floods and flu

There never a moment when we’ve been secure

From the ills that the flesh is heir to

If it isn’t a war, it’s some gruesome disease

If it isn’t disease, then its war

But there’s worse still to come, and I’m asking you please

How’s the world gonna take any more?

In ten years we’re gonna have one million lawyers

One million lawyers, one million lawyers

In ten years were gonna have one million lawyers

How much can a poor nation stand?

8.  State Trooper-Bruce Springsteen

  

The boss’s much covered song off of the very folky “Nebraska” record hits the stark reality of the inherent dangers of being a law enforcement officer. With the protocol of constant defensive challenges to probable cause and allegations of pretextual stops, this song mirrors so many of the tragic cop killings that arise out of just a simple traffic stop;  

New Jersey turnpike ridin’ on a wet night ‘neath the refinery’s glow

Out where the great black rivers flow

License, registration, I ain’t got none, but I got a clear conscience

‘Bout the things that I done

Mister state trooper please don’t stop me…

Maybe you got a kid, maybe you got a pretty wife

The only thing that I got’s been botherin’ me my whole life

Mister state trooper please don’t stop me

In the wee wee hours your mind gets hazy, radio relay towers lead me to my baby

Radio’s been jammed up with the talk show stations

It’s just talk, talk, talk til you lose your patience

mister state trooper, please don’t stop me

Hey somebody out there, listen to my last prayer

Hi ho silver-o deliver me from nowhere

Yes defense bar, there’s a reason behind police apprehensions in dealing with the public... you never know what is lurking within that car.

9.  Night the Lights Went out in Georgia-Bobby Laurence

This southern gothic song, made famous by Vicki Lawrence, tell the all too common tale of an innocent man being executed.  However, look at the stab onto his lawyers;

That’s the night the lights went out in Georgia

That’s the night they hung an innocent man

Well, don’t trust your soul to no backwoods Southern lawyer

Cause the judge in the town’s got blood stains on his hands.

As we are as Southern as you can get (at least from a geographical perspective), do we fall into this “backwoods” category?

10.  The Trial-Pink Floyd

The Roger Waters’ penned “The Wall” is hardly a legal theme but, rather, it more about a descent into madness. The Trial is used as a metaphor, yet the lyrics are so biting. Who in the court house has not had this attitude at some time?  

The voice before the court is incontrovertible

There’s no need for the jury to retire

In all my years of judging

I gave never heard before

Of someone more deserving the full penalty of law

The way you made them suffer

Your exquisite wife and mother

Fills me with the urge to defecate

(Go on, judge. Shit on him)

Since my friend you have revealed

Your deepest fear

I sentence you to be exposed to your peers

11.     Testify-Common

Veteran rapper Common penned this unique tale of a murder trial where the epiphany by the prosecution is at focus. In this song, a girlfriend provides the supporting testimony at a murder trial that doesn’t go well for the defense;

The court awaited as the foreman got the verdict from the bailiff

Emotional outbursts tears and smeared makeup

He stated, he was guilty on all charges

She shakin’ like she took it the hardest

A spin artist, she brought her face up laughin’

That’s when the prosecutor realized what happened

All that speaking her mind, testifyin’ and cryin’

When this bitch did the crime  

That last line really changes the context of the entirety of the preceding lyrics.

12.   Hurricane-Bob Dylan

I’ve saved the best for last. 

It should be as no surprise that one of the most important artists, in any form, wrote one of the most impactful songs of all time.  Can a song lead to an exoneration? For former boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, it actually did. Writers Bob Dylan and Jacques Levy took an interest in this triple murder case where there many defensible aspects. The song was released on a 1975 album which exposed the case to a widespread attention. The song triggered increased public interest in the case leading to the raising of substantial funds used towards post-conviction representation. In 1985, a federal judge ruled that the prosecution was predicated upon racism meaning there was no fair trial resulting in the dismissal of the case. 

Dylan forwent any metaphors with the lyrics acting as an in-your-face indictment towards the jurisdiction that entertained such a debacle;  

Yes, here's the story of the Hurricane
The man the authorities came to blame
For somethin' that he never done

Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world

        All of Rubin's cards were marked in advance
        The trial was a pig-circus, he never had a chance
        The judge made Rubin's witnesses drunkards from the slums
        To the white folks who watched he was a revolutionary bum  
        And to the black folks he was just a crazy nigger
        No one doubted that he pulled the trigger
        And though they could not produce the gun
        The D.A. said he was the one who did the deed
        And the all-white jury agreed

        Rubin Carter was falsely tried
        The crime was murder "one, " guess who testified?
      Bello and Bradley and they both baldly lied
       And the newspapers, they all went along for the ride
       How can the life of such a man
       Be in the palm of some fool's hand?
       To see him obviously framed
       Couldn't help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land
       Where justice is a game

Notice the common denominator among many of these tunes? Dylan, Springsteen, Earle, Zevon, Young, Common…these are serious songwriters, superior lyrists, very daring artists, thinkers outside the box. Is this not the same type of creativity desired for the practice of law? Documents and evidence should be reviewed over and over because…you may notice something that you didn’t see before?  Right?

These musical artists learned from the legal profession yet, at the same time, it is quite obvious that the legal profession may learn from these types of artists.

Is there a connection between criminal law and rock 'n' roll? Does a bear plotz in the woods?