Album: Making Contact (1983)

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• Diesel In The Dust
  My daddy told me "Boy, you only shoot to kill"
  I'm livin' just for that thrill
  Nobody hurts me ''cause the payback's twice as bad
  
  In this town you don't make a man mad
  * Ted McKinley's dying
  At the wheel of his truck
  The engine running till it seized up
  
  And nobody heard a thing
  Not a shout or gun shot ring
  Just a smell of diesel in the dust
  (Diesel in the dust)
  
  McKinley wouldn't back down from any man alive
  But you need to if you're to survive
  The folks in town want to settle their score
  By using their own kinda law
  [Repeat]
  
  No one had seen a thing when the sheriff's car pulled in
  Just the silence you get from kin to kin
  The preacher bowed his head, glad that he was dead
  And the better the least that was said
  [Repeat]
  
  In this town there was a man out on his own
  With no account of how he stood alone
  Nobody hear a thing, not a shout or gun shot ring
  Just the smell of diesel in the dust
  Diesel in the dust Writer/s: NEIL CARTER, PHIL MOGG
  Publisher: BMG Rights Management
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 2

• Bleepyf from Edinburgh, ScotlandI remember an interview at the time the album came out and Phil Mogg said that it was based on a real incident. Obviously, he used a fictional name in the song, but mentioned that the guy in real life was the sort that few would miss. His name, in actual fact, had been Ken McElroy.
  
  It's known that reporters trying to write up the story at the time often complained that “didn’t see a thing” was the usual response whenever they tried to question the townsfolk about his murder.
  McElroy, from Skidmore, MO had been a petty criminal as a kid. As an adult, he did not improve, being widely considered a bully and a thief; known to have stolen grain, alcohol, gasoline, antiques, and also livestock. Worse than that, he had not only been accused of assault and arson, but also child molestation and statutory rape. However, despite being indicted twenty one times, McElroy was never convicted.
  
  Author Harry MacLean wrote a book about McElroy’s murder, called "In Broad Daylight".
  
  "McElroy was a big man with cold eyes who always carried a gun. He would intimidate anyone who got in his way, usually by repeatedly harassing them or threatening them... His attorney, Richard McFadin, said he routinely defended Ken McElroy in three or four felonies a year. “Best client I ever had... he was punctual, always said he didn’t do it, paid in cash and kept coming back. The town, on the other hand, hated him. He had been terrorising Skidmore for years and he kept getting away with it", MacLean says. "Things reached a boiling point in 1980 when Ken McElroy got into a confrontation with the town’s elderly grocer, Ernest “Bo” Bowenkamp. McElroy wound up shooting Bowenkamp in the neck, nearly killing him."
  
  McElroy was finally charged and convicted of something - this time, attempted murder. However, McElroy appealed and was released on bail. He then proceeded to harass and intimidate his victim. The townsfolk held a meeting and allegedly decided on some vigilante justice - with the town mayor apparently in attendance. Later, a crowd of three to four dozen approached McElroy as he was getting into his pick-up truck and several shots fired. McElroy was hit twice and left to die in his vehicle. No ambulance was called, no witnesses came forward and as McElroy's lawyer said “the town got away with murder.”
  
• Jim from Long Beach, CaAwesome song..Great post!!

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