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The Outlaw Life Set to Some Outstanding Music
Shady characters, great songs
I was watching a documentary on the legendary criminal John Dillinger the other night, and the narrator said something that has stuck in my mind ever since. He said that for reasons no one fully understands, Americans have always had a soft spot for certain outlaws: Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, John Gotti, and many others. Why some murderous gangsters are idolized while others are vilified is indeed a mystery; some just have more charisma than others, I guess.
This fascination with criminals is well represented in American cinema as well. People are drawn to gangster films like moths to a flame, as evidenced by the continued popularity of movies like The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, Goodfellas, Casino, Scarface, Carlito’s Way, and Heat, to name just a few. In most of these, we’re rooting for bad guys against worse bad guys, but sometimes against the good guys too (as in the case of Heat).
As I pondered those shadowy figures who live on the wrong side of the law, a few songs came to mind, which works perfectly since it’s been two weeks since my last Rate-A-Record installment. I’ve chosen the three below because they go beyond the “criminals are just bad” notion most of us default to and make us consider the circumstances that caused the choices the protagonists…
