Stone the Crow by Down

Album: NOLA (1995)

License This Song

Songfacts®:

Down is the New Orleans based band fronted by Phil Anselmo, best known as the frontman in Pantera. "Stone the Crow" is their most popular song; it was written by Anselmo and guitarist Pepper Keenan.
Is there a deep, philosophical meaning to this song, which finds Anselmo singing about how he's never stoned a crow and living a life of "handwritten pain?" The lyrics certain go to a dark place, but in our interview with Anselmo, he said: "That came out of nothing, really. Even when we recorded the record, I really didn't have any set set of lyrics, so a lot of them are just bulls--t, really, that just fit the song."

"I guess over the years, they've become something," he added. "They've become whatever they are. I still think when people sing that song live with us out in the audience, I don't even think they know what the f--k they're saying, but they know the pattern to it, and they know the notes, so f--k it, it's good enough."

Comments: 2

Ron from NyEven though it's just a fluke that you happen to come up with those lyrics I believe there's more to it than that because there's a lot of people that understand what that phrase means as we all know crows are scavengers so basically what you're saying is you never kicked anybody while they were down and that's why people respect that
Mark from NhWhile the expression “stone the crow” is used to express surprise or shock (similar to “I’ll be damned!” or “Holy mackerel!”), in this song it more likely refers to the fact that crows feed off of carcasses, so if one were dying they would throw stones at a crow who was attempting to pick away at them as they lay dying. In this sense, “stone the crow” means “refuse to die”. Therefore “not stoning the crow” means “accepting that you are going to die” and “shouldn’t stone the crow” means “should give up on life”.

see more comments

More Songfacts:

1979Smashing Pumpkins

"1979" by Smashing Pumpkins is about Billy Corgan entering adulthood. A more accurate year would be 1983, but 1979 was easier to rhyme.

MMMbopHanson

Hanson's megahit "MMMbop," released when they were teenagers, is surprisingly profound. Zac Hanson told Songfacts it "represents a frame of time or the futility of life."

Life Is A HighwayTom Cochrane

Tom Cochrane wrote "Life Is A Highway" to pull himself out of a funk following an exhausting humanitarian trip to Africa.

Crazy KidsKesha

Kesha (known at the time as Ke$ha) was still pretty wild when she released her song "Crazy Kids" in 2012. It's about one of her birthday parties that got a little out of hand.

HappyPharrell Williams

If you have a whole day to kill, you can check out the full version of Pharrell Williams' "Happy" music video, the world's first 24-hour music video.

Second ChanceShinedown

Shinedown lead singer Brent Smith had a band before Shinedown that was dropped by Atlantic Records, but the label offered him a development deal - that was his "Second Chance."