# Best Song About Death and Dying

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-song-about-death-and-dying/408515>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [June 18, 2007, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-song-about-death-and-dying/408515 "2007-06-18T22:12:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 6

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Lazlo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lazlo/32/9678_2.png) [@Lazlo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lazlo)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-song-about-death-and-dying/408515/101 "2007-06-24T06:24:49Z")

</div>

Off the top of my head, there’s [Love, Me](http://www.leoslyrics.com/listlyrics.php?hid=jVIvb7j%2BoEY%3D) by _Collin Raye._ Probably the most bittersweet song I’ve ever heard.

Oh yeah, and **Seasons in the Sun** by _Me First and the Gimme Gimmes_.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-song-about-death-and-dying/408515/102 "2007-06-24T23:27:06Z")

</div>

Some of my favorites are by Mecano. The lyrics are in Spanish, but if you know some Spanish I encourage you to check these songs out. The singer, Ana Torroja, has a beautiful voice and the lyrics are very poetic.

[http://www.metrolyrics.com/mecano-lyrics.html](http://www.metrolyrics.com/mecano-lyrics.html)

Specifically, check out

_Aire_: The protagonist dreams she is air and commits suicide by jumping/blowing out the window.

_Cruz de Navajas_: A love triangle ends badly.

_Naturaleza Muerta_: young beloved husband lost at sea.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-song-about-death-and-dying/408515/103 "2007-06-24T23:50:29Z")

</div>

I’m surprised noone has mentioned that old classic of Bobbi Gentry “The Tallahatchie Bridge.”

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-song-about-death-and-dying/408515/104 "2007-06-25T00:15:38Z")

</div>

**Cicero,** I feel the same way you do about \* Loch Lomond\*.

One of my favorites is _The Long Day Closes,_ by Arthur Sullivan. [Here’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long_Day_Closes_(song)) a wiki link to the lyrics. I didn’t know until I read the wiki article about the instrumental version used in _Topsy-Turvy_.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-song-about-death-and-dying/408515/105 "2007-06-25T02:04:36Z")

</div>

[QUOTE=Mirror Image egamI rorriM]  
“Eve of Destruction” by Bishop Allen.

I tell you,  
over and over and over my friend,  
that I’m down with you,  
even on the eve of destruction.  
[/QUOTE]

That’s actually a remake of Barry McGuire’s “Eve of Destruction”, from 1965. And (maybe Bishop Allen changed it) the original lyrics are “You tell me […] that you don’t believe, we’re on the eve of destruction.”

I’m not sure that’s really about death so much as, like, World War III/nuclear holocaust.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-song-about-death-and-dying/408515.md?page=5)