Four Walls (The Ballad of Perry Smith)

Album: Wild World (2016)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Perry Smith (October 27, 1928 - April 14, 1965) was one of two ex-convicts convicted and executed for a 1959 quadruple murder during a home invasion of the Clutter family in Kansas. The crime was made famous by Truman Capote in his 1966 non-fiction novel In Cold Blood. Frontman Dan Smith was taken aback by the book when he read it and "Four Walls" came from it. He told Radio.com:

    "I think that's the thing that's so interesting with In Cold Blood, it's so beautifully written, and it's such an engagingly constructed kind of narrative, but then you constantly remember that this actually happened. There's something about watching fiction or reading fiction and knowing that it's fiction where it's maybe not as disturbing as it should be. But then knowing these things [in In Cold Blood] are real, there's something so eerie and creepy about that. And I remember constantly having that realization with that book when I was reading it.

    And then the same with that O.J. show, or Making a Murder or Serial, I think also the idea of it being told in a book or a live podcast where you're not seeing anything, so the image you have in your head is entirely your own, I think is really interesting. You can both have read this book and have the same experience and also a really different experience in terms of how you picture it in your head."
  • Will Farquarson's bluesy guitar solo at the end was recorded on a tour bus in Germany back in 2014. He told Radio.com: "I listen to the least amount of modern music of everyone in the band. I grew up listening to Hendrix and B.B. King and all these old guys like that. So the minute I was given free range to express myself, I was like, 'Ah, yeah, cheesy blues!' I think it's quite nicely juxtaposed against the track itself, which is very electronic and not bluesy at all."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Meshell Ndegeocello

Meshell NdegeocelloSongwriter Interviews

Meshell Ndegeocello talks about recording "Wild Night" with John Mellencamp, and explains why she shied away from the spotlight.

George Harrison

George HarrisonFact or Fiction

Did Eric Clapton really steal George's wife? What's the George Harrison-Monty Python connection? Set the record straight with our Fact or Fiction quiz.

Spooner Oldham

Spooner OldhamSongwriter Interviews

His keyboard work helped define the Muscle Shoals sound and make him an integral part of many Neil Young recordings. Spooner is also an accomplished songwriter, whose hits include "I'm Your Puppet" and "Cry Like A Baby."

Tommy James

Tommy JamesSongwriter Interviews

"Mony Mony," "Crimson and Clover," "Draggin' The Line"... the hits kept coming for Tommy James, and in a plot line fit for a movie, his record company was controlled by the mafia.

Joe Elliott of Def Leppard

Joe Elliott of Def LeppardSongwriter Interviews

The Def Leppard frontman talks about their "lamentable" hit he never thought of as a single, and why he's juiced by his Mott The Hoople cover band.

Mike Scott of The Waterboys - "Fisherman's Blues"

Mike Scott of The Waterboys - "Fisherman's Blues"They're Playing My Song

Armed with a childhood spent devouring books, Mike Scott's heart was stolen by the punk rock scene of 1977. Not surprisingly, he would go on to become the most literate of rockers.