3:36
single, 1968
Written by Leon Payne
This eerie song, with its taboo subject for the time and its spooky deadpan delivery, is a confession to the narrator's mama: "Don't you think I'm psycho, Mama? / You can pour me a cup / If you think I'm psycho, mama / Better let 'em lock me up." The narrator relates how he killed and buried his ex and her new man, as well as a little girl in the park with a wrench. It's the conversational tone that really gives the song its chilling effect. At the beginning of the song, he warns that he might handle the puppy too roughly if she hands it to him, and in a later verse, casually mentions he just killed it. Near the end, as his confession winds down, it's apparent that the mama he's talking to is also dead. It's wild that this 60 year old, calm portrait of homicidal insanity is so much more vivid and disturbing than all the glossy, affected "shout at the devil" shock rock that would come later.
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