Murder in the Red Barn by Tom Waits

Album: Bone Machine (1992)

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Waits said in a 1999 interview with Mojo magazine that his favorite line in this song is, "There's always some killing you gotta do around the farm."
This song was written after Waits moved into the country for the first time in his recording career.
In the first verse, the phrase "Pin it on a drifter" refers to charging a homeless person with the crime, possibly to avoid investigating the murder further. Could hint at small-town police laziness or corruption.
There are several lines in the song that suggest the locals think of murder as somewhat natural, almost seasonal: "Road kill has its seasons/Just like anything," "Is that blood on the tree/Or is that Autumn's red blaze?"

Comments: 1

Eric M from Vanc BcIn a great many of Wait's tales, differing interpretations are common. With this dirty, uncut gem, the story begins with the sound of what must be rusty bedsprings...the repeated images of trauma might lead one to consider that the murder is of one unborn, in the red barn of a womb. Dark, incisive genius.

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