Ten Favorite Dark Songs: Dark Angel (#9)

Tweet

While looking through the iPod for songs with the word "dark" in the title I came across this one and thought, hey, I should do an "angels" series. That's forthcoming. For right now, however, here's another song with "dark" in the title, a companion list to the ten favorite "light" songs. #9: Dark Angel - Benny Joy Typing burns 135-155 calories per hour, so let me save you some energy: no, you've never heard of him. If I hadn't won a CD of his in a trivia contest I would probably have never heard of him, either. Born Benjamin Eidson in Georgia, Benny Joy had a few regional rockabilly singles in the southeast in the late 1950s. The best of the lot, according to little ol' me, is "Ittie Bittie Everything." The most peculiar song on that CD I won is this one, where Joy obviously tried to sound like Johnny Cash. (Merle Kilgore did a parody of Johnny Cash with a song called "All Over Again, Again," and even in that he didn't sound this much like Cash!) And if the sound isn't enough, how about the subject matter: a man shoots himself, and after he pulls the trigger he decides he really didn't want to commit suicide. No, this is from the 1950s, so there's a happy ending: he survives and proclaims, "I'll never shoot myself again." Hokey, yep, but you know something? If you listen to some of Cash's "darker" songs you could almost hear him doing something like this. Benny Joy died in 1988, shortly after his 53rd birthday. He had a moment in the spotlight, leaving behind a few deeply buried treasures. Dark Angel Written by Benny Joy Recorded by Benny Joy Released as a single, 1958 (Available on Rockin' and Rollin' With Benny Joy, 1992) I need a little more time: