Song · Violent Femmes
“Country Death Song” by Violent Femmes
From the album Hallowed Ground (1984)
“Country Death Song” by Violent Femmes appears on 11 radio countdowns from 2 stations between 1999 and 2024. It was first released in 1984 on the album Hallowed Ground. Its best result is #178 on the CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #1,461 alternative song of all time.
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"Country Death Song" lives on Hallowed Ground, the second Violent Femmes album, released in 1984, but it goes back further than that: Gordon Gano wrote it while sitting in his high school classes, taking his cue from the old folk tradition of songs that tell grisly, awful tales. Gano sings lead and plays guitar, Brian Ritchie on bass and Victor DeLorenzo on drums and percussion both add vocals, and guest Tony Trischka's banjo gives it a creaky back-porch grain.
Mark Van Hecke produced, and John Tanner recorded and mixed. The album as a whole was a bleak, experimental swerve away from the plainer folk-rock of the debut, and it divided fans and critics, many of whom wrongly took Gano's sincere Christian lyrics for irony.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 178 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) | 2000 |
| 2000 | 178 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000) | 2001 |
| 2001 | 180 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) | 2002 |
| 2002 | 180 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002) | 2003 |
| 2003 | 180 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003) | 2004 |
| 2004 | 180 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) | 2005 |
| 2005 | 178 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) | 1994 |
| 2007 | 2000 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007) | 2008 |
| 2008 | 1973 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008) | 2009 |
| 2009 | 2004 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009) | 2010 |
| 2024 | 528 | KEXP | The Best Opening Tracks of All Time | 738 |
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