“The song ‘Tupelo’ is basically a meditation on my personal theory that there are only two kinds of people in the world; those who pick up a hitchhiker and think of all the ways they could murder or be murdered by that person, and liars.” – Ben de la Cour
The murder ballad: a morbid song that tells the story not only of a life lost, but the events leading up to, through and following a crime. Iconic songwriters like Huddie William Ledbetter (aka Lead Belly) and Bob Dylan come to mind as well as timeless classics like “Long Black Veil,” “Frankie and Johnny”, both made legendary by Johnny Cash, and present day stories such as Colter Wall’s “Kate McCannon” tell the grim tales that may make us uncomfortable, but simultaneously draws us in to the macabre.
Add Ben de la Cour‘s “Tupelo” to that list. The Nashville-by-Brooklyn-by-London singer/songwriter penned this tale of a woman looking for a ride to get her out of Tupelo following the death of her father. Trusting a stranger she thinks is a good Christian man, she exits the city she’s running from, but not the way she was hoping:
I dumped her clothes behind a truck stop, off of highway 45
The snow was coming down so thick it was hard to even drive
Somethings you chose all by yourself, somethings they choose you
I guess it wasn’t Memphis, but it was gonna have to do.
We come into this wrold screaming
And that’s how most of us will go
I turned that car around and head back to Tupelo
Donned in a cowboy hat, suit, rodeo bolo tie and walking stick topped with a pewter hooded cobra, de la Cour tells his story as scenes of the woman’s dead father on the bathroom floor, a dead fish and a disturbed man appear throughout the video. “We shot the video in one day with Jay Wasley from Sun House Films, who directs all my videos,” de la Cour explains. “Jimmy Sullivan, bassist-at-large around town and my longtime musical slampiece, plays the tortured psychopath. It’s a role he’s been preparing for all his life.”
Watch the exclusive music video premiere of “Tupelo” below:
“Tupelo” is featured on de la Cour’s forthcoming album The High Cost of Living Strange, available April 6.
For more information on Ben de la Cour, including upcoming tour dates, visit his website at: www.bendelacour.com