"The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead" is a song by XTC from their 1992 album Nonsuch. It was the band's second #1 hit on the Modern Rock Tracks chart after "Mayor of Simpleton".

The song follows the story of Peter Pumpkinhead, a man who comes to an unspecified town, "spreading wisdom and cash around." He is extremely popular with the people of the town, but extremely unpopular with government figures. In the end, Peter Pumpkinhead is killed by his enemies and, "nailed to a chunk of wood."

The name Peter Pumpkinhead came about by Partridge having carved out a Halloween jack o'lantern and, following the October festival, sticking it on one of the fence posts in his garden. Partridge walked past the pumpkin each day on the way to his composing shed and, feeling sorry for the increasingly decaying fruit head, decided to write a song about him.

There are two different versions of the XTC music video, both of which feature a scenario very similar to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, although one is heavily edited for US television broadcast and removes much of the more controversial material. The Kennedy reference is also made explicit by the image of a pig with a map of Cuba superimposed on it — a clear reference to the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion. They also briefly feature an actress dressed like Marilyn Monroe during the third verse.

In addition, the uncensored video makes brief reference to Jesus Christ by flashing the words "three nails" and showing a crown of thorns. The lyrics "Peter Pumpkinhead was too good; Had him nailed to a chunk of wood" reinforce this crucifixion reference. It also cross references all three stories by strongly implying that the death of all three were caused by some sort of government conspiracy. It is of note that during the last verse of the uncensored video, there are shots of evidence bags marked with the tags "X" (possibly a reference to Malcolm X), "R" (possibly a reference to Robert F. Kennedy) and (together) "J" and "F".

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