Hallowed Ground is the second
album by
Violent Femmes, released in June 1984. Like the band's first album, the songs were mostly written by singer/guitarist/lyricist
Gordon Gano when he was in high school. "Country Death Song", for example, was based on a true story from an 1862 news article about a man who intentionally threw his daughter into a well and then hanged himself in his barn. It was written by Gano during his 10th grade
study hall. The Christian-related lyrics on
Hallowed Ground were thought by some to be sarcastic, but Gano is a devout
Christian. The other two members of Violent Femmes were
atheists, and initially refused to perform those songs, but after their debut had been recorded, they relented and several of Gano's religion-themed songs were recorded for
Hallowed Ground.