Something From Nothing Lyrics - Dead Outlaw

Song Overview

Song Credits

• Featuring: Eddie Cooper
• Producers: David Yazbek & Dean Sharenow
• Writers: David Yazbek & Erik Della Penna
• Release Date: May 2, 2025
• Album: Dead Outlaw (Original Broadway Cast Recording, Part 1)
• Track #: 6
• Genre: Country, Musical Theatre
• Language: English
• Style: Dark comedy, vaudevillian groove

Song Meaning and Annotations

The Dead Man's Side Hustle

“Something From Nothing” is where *Dead Outlaw* gleefully rips the curtain off mortality and sells tickets to the show. Performed by Eddie Cooper as Coroner Johnson, this number is part sales pitch, part sermon, and part side-show revival, grinding humor and horror into one swinging stomp.

Look at the dead man / Nothin' to no one

From the jump, the song frames the corpse — presumably Elmer — as both abandoned and commodified. He’s no longer a man, just a prop. But even props, it turns out, can earn cash.

Now he's just nothin' / Nothin' but somethin' / That's takin' up space

The lyrical wordplay plays like a con man’s lullaby. “Nothing” morphs into “something” not through redemption, but reinvention. This is capitalism at its most grotesque — and most entertaining.

If you use your head / You can get yourself somethin' from nothin'

The tune’s title turns out to be a creed for profiteering. Coroner Johnson doesn't mourn the outlaw — he markets him. Death becomes a hustle, and every bullet hole is a business opportunity.

Give him a rifle / Prop him up proud

The image is gruesome and theatrical — a Weekend at Bernie’s in boots and spurs. The absurdity is intentional. We’re meant to laugh, then flinch.

He's not like he was before / Now I'm an entrepreneur

There it is: the American Dream, played in reverse. Instead of bootstraps, you’ve got cadavers. It’s Broadway satire at its slickest — and sickest.

And the lights go on / And the dead man lives

It's not resurrection — it's exploitation. The "lights" aren’t divine; they’re stage lights, carnival bulbs, the glint of dollar signs in a showman's eyes.

Similar Songs

1. "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" – *Sweeney Todd*
   Both songs open the stage for death-as-performance. The twisted cheerfulness of murder turned moneymaker echoes in both musicals’ gothic showmanship.
2. "Everybody’s Got the Right" – *Assassins* (Sondheim)
   A similarly sardonic look at American ambition through historical tragedy. “Something From Nothing” follows that tradition: mocking the myth of fame, even in death.
3. "God, That’s Good!" – *Sweeney Todd*
   Another carnival-esque ensemble about profiting from a corpse. Both songs ask: how far will we go to feed the machine, and how complicit is the audience?

Questions and Answers

What is “Something From Nothing” about?

It’s a satirical musical number about turning death — specifically Elmer’s corpse — into a spectacle and a source of income, exposing how death can be commodified.

Who is Coroner Johnson?

A character who oversees Elmer’s remains and chooses to profit from them. He represents the opportunist — both comic and chilling — who sees value in the macabre.

Is this song supposed to be funny?

Yes, in a very dark way. It uses humor to critique how society exploits tragedy and sensationalizes the dead, especially those with a “story.”

Why does the ensemble join in?

To show complicity. The crowd isn’t innocent — they buy the tickets, they watch the show. The number implicates all of us in the circus of spectacle.

What does “somethin’ from nothin’” really mean?

On the surface, it’s clever showbiz. But underneath, it’s a jab at capitalism and the hunger to turn every corpse, crisis, or outlaw into a commodity.

Fan and Media Reactions

"This song is like if P.T. Barnum met Weekend at Bernie’s and wrote a musical." — TheatrePitchfork

"I was laughing until I realized how close this hits to true crime podcasts and sensational news. Oof." — YouTube User: CorpseCoin

"Eddie Cooper OWNS this track. It’s creepy, hilarious, and oddly catchy." — Commenter: WesternWaltz

"The way they turn Elmer into a prop and a brand is… way too real. This musical doesn’t hold back." — StageCritiqueRanch

"It’s vaudeville with fangs. I’d buy a ticket — and then feel guilty for liking it so much." — BroadwayUnderbelly