Johnny Cash
Delia's Gone
Like most of Johnny Cash's songs, "Delia's Gone" feels like a ballad about a typical heartbreak, but there's nothing typical happening here. The reason Delia can't be his wife isn't because she broke up with him and left town, it's because she was "cold and mean," so he ended her. Not only is the premise incredibly creepy, but it's also actually based on a real story, and the song gets extremely graphic about Delia's suffering with the lyrics: First time I shot her Shot her in the side Hard to watch her suffering But with the second shot she died It's all pretty hard to swallow, but Cash somehow makes the scene seem casual. By the end of it, his sorrowful, deep voice has you almost feeling sympathetic toward the narrator, as if it was just your typical breakup ballad.