Freddie Hart’s deeply dark “The Neon and the Rain”–the title track from his 1967 album–falls into the same homicidal category as Porter Wagoner’s classic “The Cold Hard Facts of Life.” Freddie covers the latter song on this album as well, though it’s hardly necessary. He’s already taken us down the deep hole with these opening lines:

As I sit beneath the steerin’ wheel a gun in my right hand
I watch the girl I married keep a date with another man
The neon sign above her head blinks motel vacancy
And through the rain it’s flashin’ like the storm inside of me

The black leather gloves he’s sporting in the cover image–and what those gloves are holding–add to the menace.