Well what do you know, another recording from the late 60s. We have had a number of these lately. This time it's a tune from San Francisco's ultra-talented but ultimately misguided and tragic Moby Grape. Murder in my Heart for the Judge is taken from the Wow half of the Wow/Grape Jam album, two separate albums that were packaged together for one low price.
The song is a funky blues story about a guy who goes to court for a violation of some sort, and the judge tells him:
...if you look like a man,
I would be your friend,
but just give me your money
give me your time*
I don't want to see your ugly face again
Like CSNY's Almost Cut My Hair and Five Man Electrical Band's Signs, it deals with the older square generation's persecution of long haired freaky hippie people. The music is a ramshackle mess of various guitars and low end bass. The vocal harmonies are soulful and loose.
I first heard this song in the late 80s. WCKG in Chicago had a program called the Psychedelic Supper that featured lesser known songs by some of their regular classic rock artists (not that Moby Grape was ever a 'classic rock' group; I don't think they ever had any hits).
* Or and cut off your hair, boy...this is the lyric according to various online sources. That's not what I hear at all, perhaps it's in an alternate version?
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