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When Richard was still a young boy
His cousin told him 'bout the Vietnam war
He showed him pictures of how 'Nam girls got raped
And of those he killed and maimed
Chorus:
Violent scenes of murder and death
Crossed young Richard Ramirez's path
Deep within his teenage mind
He turned to the night stalking kind
Richard's Vietnam veteran cousin
Was a proud owner of his gun
And (at) only 12, right before his eyes
Richard's cousin shot his dear own wife
Chorus
'In December 2001 I had the idea of composing some songs about the life of Richard Ramirez, the infamous killer after whom Danny Ramirez named himself. After having reconsidered the idea ‘cause it wouldn’t be all about murder and manslaughter, in July of 2002 I finally felt the urge to begin writing a series of such songs. While writing them I mainly focused on the lyrics, and (without trying them out) just wrote random chords that I thought would go along with the words in the margin of each line. Later I changed some chords and chord sequences, ‘cause they didn't fit or I couldn’t sing over them properly. In this Violent Scenes!-song it becomes clear that Richard’s cousin showed him bloody pictures of rape and murder. This cousin took those pictures when he was in the army in the Vietnam war. Some time later, in the early 1970s, he shot his wife before Richard Ramirez’s 12-years old eyes. It is the short up-tempo opening tune for the tape, but like most of the songs about the life and times of Richard Ramirez has never been done in concert.'
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Chorus:
Richard tied up and raped his first victim
At the hotel where he worked in his hometown
And when the victim's husband entered
The man didn't hesitate to knock Richard down
At the age of 15, he used to spy upopn women
By looking through bedroom windows
Together with his brother-in-law
He started working at the hotel
There he ransacked the rooms of the guests
And at around the same time
He turned to his first rape crime
Chorus
And when handed over to the cops
He told them a story he made up:
The woman had him seduced
But the husband came back to soon
The police believed young Richard
While his parents too believed he was innocent
No one could foresee
What would become reality
Chorus
'This song is a slow song about when Richard for the first time tried to rape a woman and strangely it sounds a bit like the Danny Ramirez classic Baby, Soon I’ll Take Your Life!, which is quite bizarre considering Richard Ramirez’s later sadistic years. Anyway, in his early years he got knocked down by the husband and delivered to the police, but got away by telling them the woman had seduced him and that her husband came back unexpectedly. They’d better had him arrested, but they didn’t because he was only 15 years of age. Ten years later he would first shoot the husband.'
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Richard was in his teens
When he reconsidered religiously
The prayers he did learn in church
Made more sense reading them backwards
Chorus:
The devil had been walking by his side
For all of his life
It had been clear up from birth
He would be called on to serve
His master for the rest of his life
With gun and knife
And in some years he would emerge
To be the devil's accomplice on earth
It was no good for Ramirez
This traditional religious awareness
He knew he had but one goal:
To give in to his darkened soul
Chorus
'The lyrics to this song tell about Richard Ramirez getting away from his religious Roman-Catholic upbringing and giving in to the Darkness in his soul, which seem to have attracted him more and more during his teens. And of course as we all know, The Devil picks out his accomplices when they’re still at a young age. It’s a somewhat fast song with a traditional chords theme, and obviously inspired by the punk rock band Bad Religion (there is even a Greg Graffin "one, two" right before the lead guitar kicks in). Six Months Of Night Stalking!, Richard Drew Pentagrams In Blood Around The Place! and The Devil Had Been Walking! are the only songs from The Night Stalker! tape that were performed live, albeit this one most likely only once (in 2004).'
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Richard was like 18 years old
When he left his hometown El Paso
And headed for the west coast
To get high and to burgalize homes
Homeless Richard lived on the streets
He robbed others in order to eat
For living otherwise there was no need
As long he'd had (have) cocaine and weed
Chorus:
Richard used LSD, pot and coke
He needed money to pay for his dope
Breaking into houses through a door or window
Taking what's easily sold
While robbing homes in L. A.
Richard took on violent ways
Being on drugs ev'ry day
His behaviour would soon escalate
Chorus
'In this happy sounding song Richard Ramirez heads for Los Angeles in the late 1970s. Once in L.A. he lived on the streets and used different kinds of dope, as well as in the lyrics unmentioned alcohol. In order to pay for his drugs, Richard became a very skilled burglar within a few years. He broke into the L.A. suburbs at night and also stole cars.'
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Chorus:
Metal bands like AC/DC and Judas Priest
Made Richard turn to a satanic belief
He felt protected by the sign of the beast
There were no questions, it was just meant to be
Richard Ramirez rose from catholic ground
But he'd always knew there was more to be found
He listened to heavy metal each day
And started to read the books by LaVey
Chorus
Richard always knew he was different from the rest
He'd already had that notion in the past
But this time Satan took him by the hand
To be eternally protected by the inverted pentagram
Chorus
'When Richard was around 20 years old, he got interested in Satanism. He also listened to hard rock and heavy metal bands, like AC/DC, Black Sabbath and Judas Priest. This both fast and relaxed song combines heavy metal and Satanism in an ironical way in the lyrics, but basically it’s about Richard coming to the belief that he was protected by Satan. Hence the song title.'
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By 1984 Richard still lived in L. A.
Trying to survive by making his criminal way
He would steal a car and then drive around
Looking for a house with riches to be found
But armed with murderous thoughts and with a knife
He couldn't resist taking some one's life
Chorus:
With sadistic visions on his mind
Richard kept on breaking in homes
And during a warm June night
He slit an occupant's throat
She was an elderly lady
Richard had beaten and raped her
And when he left she was dead
He had nearly severed her head
Chorus
'This one opens the B-side of the tape. It’s a slow, cynical sounding song about how Richard Ramirez committed his first archived murder in June 1984. He seemed to have had sadistic visions, that lead to an escalation of his behaviour and eventually to killing for the first time. Remarkably, he killed his first victim with a knife. In 1985 Richard would get infamous for his brutal shootings.'
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It was about nine months later
Richard Ramirez struck again
Protected by the powers of Satan
And wearing his AC/DC cap
Chorus:
Six months of night stalking had begun
With two victims shot by a gun
The city of L.A. lived in fear
For the next half of the year
When Richard fled in the night
He lost his cap at the crime scene
But that didn't change his mind
For he would kill again within weeks
Yeah, he would kill again within weeks
Chorus
'In March 1985 Richard killed again. This time he had a gun with him and shot two people in a few hours time. A third one was lucky, but couldn’t give a good description of the killer. The fact that Richard’s AC/DC baseball cap was found at the crime scene didn’t help the police either. Up from March to late August of 1985 The Night Stalker maintained his nightly realm of terror. This mid/up-tempo song is about all that, and has been done live 5-10 times from May 14, 2004, to probably October 6, 2006.'
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Chorus:
Up from March of 1985
Richard killed by gun and by knife
No one could be sure at night
To live to see next sunrise
The Night Stalker got dressed in black
When he went out to rob and attack
Just like the fantasies in his head
He would kill a man in his bed
Chorus
The Night Stalker would take his knife
To torture the remaining wife
And force her to get sodomized
To get killed, maimed and brutalized
Chorus
'When I started recordings for the The Night Stalker!-tape in December 2002, I decided to write two more songs to complete the story about Richard Ramirez and to create a tape that would be around 30 minutes in length. No One Could Be Sure! is a song about the modus operandi of The Night Stalker. Dressed in black, and killing the male with a gun before taking on the surviving female. It’s a short up-tempo song, but when Richard Ramirez was in your L.A. house in 1985 and had killed you, it could take him a couple of hours before he would leave, playing his AC/DC tapes over your stereo and drinking your booze.'
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On his six month killing spree
Richard's bloodlust did increase
What once started as burglary
Had escalated through his sadistic tendencies
Chorus:
Richard drew pentagrams in blood around the place
Made women swear to Satan, while they got raped
The Night Stalker now operated in a rage
And couldn't stop to kill and to mutilate
With his gun and his knife
Richard caused terror in the night
By late August of 1985
Richard had taken fifteen or more lives
Chorus
'During his six months of killing people, Richard got more and more sadistic. He began mutilating the people he’d shot and with his knife carved pentagrams and other symbols in their bodies. Furthermore at some crime scenes, he drew pentagrams in his victim’s blood on the walls. The lyrics to this song tell of those bloody events, accompanied by a gentle but deadly mid-tempo guitar melody. Next to Six Months Of Night Stalking! and The Devil Had Been Walking By His Side For All Of His Life! from this tape only Richard Drew Pentagrams! has been played in concert -- debuting on May 14, 2004, and appearing a further 5-10 more times on the set list, until February 15, 2008, or November 14, 2013. The song made a brief return at Grindhoven Festival on March 16, 2024.'
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When The Night Stalker's fingerprints were found
The cops were able to link them
To a car thief they knew hung around
In L. A. by the name of Ramirez
In their records they did find his face
A mugshot from a car theft arrest
And while Richard was out of the state
Through the media his picture got spread
Chorus:
On a Saturday morning
Richard got back in L.A.
There was no one to warn him
That his face was on the front page
He went inside a store
After getting off of the Greyhound
Then saw the newspapers and ran out the door
But got recognized and caught by the crowd
Richard tried to get away
Into the neighbourhood nearby
But it was already too late
To escape from justice this time
Some men were hunting him down
Through the L.A. streets
And he had been knocked to the ground
When he got rescued by the police
Chorus
'In August of 1985 the Los Angeles cops were able to link a stolen car to the probable serial killer that was active since March. The fingerprints on the car found corresponded with those of a guy called Richard Ramirez. To the police he was known to be a petty criminal who lived in L.A. and whose picture they had from a December 1984 car theft arrest. This energetic song tells about the arrest of Ramirez after he had tried to get away on foot, followed by a couple of people who had recognized his face in the morning newspapers. He had been out of the state, when his photograph and search warrant were send to the press by the police. When he arrived back in L.A. in the morning hours of Saturday 31 August 1985, he saw his face staring back at him from the front page of the newspapers after he’d got into a liquor store. Being recognized by some people, Richard ran out of the store trying to escape and attempted carjacking, but eventually got hunted down in an exhausting foot chase. After being knocked to the street he’d almost got lynched. The cops had to rescue him from the angry crowd.'
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Danny Ramirez's 2004 tape, about the life and times of the infamous 1985 serial killer Richard 'The Night Stalker' Ramirez.
