Best Song About Death and Dying

[Ghanima]

Frontier Wives:

Big River, deep river is going to carry me.
If I die in the night, don’t you bury me,
Just drop me in the water and I’ll float out to sea.
Into the water with me.

Blue water, dark water,
Ain’t no reason to cry.
From the bottom of the ocean I can look at the sky
There ain’t no reason to cry.

When I’m gone, I’ll be gone forever.
And when I die, I’ll be free.
Forever…
They have another song that goes:

I want to die
Like a Frontier Wife
With a heart strong and true
And a six-gun nestled by my side!

[Only_Mostly_Dead]

@Ludovic

I agree with the sound, that of a pop-punk-meets-70s-semiprog, but I sort of disagree with the hollowness. Sure, each individual song on the album seems hollow, but each of them seems to be written from the perspective of a different person who died. So not each of them will fully explore the concept of death and dying, but overall, the album does.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the album. I get a laugh out of Mama every time, because of its ridiculously clever use of a very cabaret sound. This is How I Disappear is one of the best straightforward rock songs I’ve heard in a while (and I would love to see it released as a single). The entire album is good music, but it’s not art, and not as lasting as a lot of the other songs listed.

…Especially Seasons in the Sun.

[Judith_Prietht]

“Meet Me In Heaven” by Johnny Cash:

Can’t be sure of how’s it’s going to be
When we walk into the light across the bar But I’ll know you and you’ll know me
Out there beyond the stars

We’ve seen the secret things revealed by God
And we heard what the angels had to say
Should you go first, or if you follow me
Will you meet me in Heaven someday

[Crazy_Canuck]

Lots of great songs already mentioned on this list. I’m a bit surprised that “Tears in Heaven” by Eric Clapton isn’t mentioned, that song always gave me the heebie-jeebies.

In a much, much, different vein, the only time I recall crying to a song was when a friend of mine sang “Suicide is Painless” (the theme to MAS*H) Simply blew me away.

[An_Gadai]

I hate the song Tears In Heaven. I kinda think there are things in ones life you either shouldn’t sing about or shouldn’t explain in great detail what a songs about. I dunno…

[Bridget_Burke]

Somebody mentioned “death haunted country music”…

A few from the Carter Family:

The Wayworn Traveler. (Bob Dylan borrowed the tune for “Paths of Victory.” But AP Carter got publishing rights on many tunes that were either public domain or forgotten Victorian parlor music. Call it “the folk process.”)

I saw a wayworn traveler, in tattered garments clad
And struggling up the mountain, it seemed that he was sad
His back was laden heavy, his strength was almost gone
Yet shouted as he journeyed, Deliverance will come

 Then palms of victory, crowns of Glory
 Palms of victory I shall wear

Will You Miss Me? (With AP’s mournful refrain.)

When death shall close these eyelids
And this heart shall cease to beat
And they lay me down to rest
In some flowery bowery tree

  Will you miss me (miss me when I'm gone)
  Will you miss me (miss me when I'm gone)
  Will you miss me (miss me when I'm gone)
  Will you miss me when I'm gone

Who can forget He Stopped Loving Her Today by the Great George Jones?

Good country is never far from the blues. Texas Bluesman Blind Lemon Jefferson asked:

Well, there’s one kind of favor I’ll ask of you,
Well, there’s one kind of favor I’ll ask of you,
There’s just one kind of favor I’ll ask of you,
You can see that my grave is kept clean.

And there’s two white horses following me,
And there’s two white horses following me,
I got two white horses following me,
Waiting on my burying ground.

Townes van Zandt had country & blues roots. First time I heard him, at Sand Mountain Coffee House in the 60’s, he played his first “serious” song: Waitin’ Round to Die.

Now we’re in Singer-Songwriter territory. How about John Hiatt?

Up and down the Rio Grande
A thousand footprints in the sand
Reveal a secret no one can define
The river flows on like a breath
In between our life and death
Tell me who’s the next to cross the borderline

[It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery]

Fade To Black by Metallica.

[Spoke]

@Bridget Burke

Now we’re in Singer-Songwriter territory. How about John Hiatt?

Good one! So many layers to that song.

[plnnr]

@August West

With the Grateful Dead mentions, you guys missed Black Peter, which never fails to choke me up. Especially this part:
*
Just want to have
a little peace to die
and a friend or two
I love at hand *

Yep. Much more on point than the others, even though “Box of Rain” was actually written for Phil Lesh’s dying father.

[Infovore]

I love songs about death…a few favorites that come to mind are:

*30KFT *by Assemblage 23:
“Hello, if you’re there pick up the phone
I’m calling from 30,000 feet above you
The captain’s just informed us that our plane is going down
So I’m calling for one last time to say I love you…”

*Disappoint *by Assemblage 23 (addressed to his father, who committed suicide):
“Just one more time
For the sake of sanity
Tell me why
Explain the gravity
That drove you to this
That brought you to this place
That pushed you down
Into the soil’s embrace”

*Skellig *by Loreena McKennitt:
“Now take the hourglass
And turn it on its head
For when the sands are still
'Tis then you’ll find me dead.”

Oh Life (There Must Be More) by the Alan Parsons Project:
"From the bridge she hears the voices
Turn into a roar
Oh life she cries
There must be more

On the dock her soul is sinking
But her spirit longs to soar
Oh life, she cries
There must be more…"

(I know I post these to all the sad/depressing songs threads, but they’re good songs and they do fit the criteria)

[melvin_coznowski]

I don’t think I’ve seen The Monkees’ “Goin’ Down” in this thread yet.

And I loved “Seasons in the Sun” when I was a kid. I had no taste, but it was the 70s. No one had good taste in those days.

Now I think “Keep Me in Your Heart For Awhile”, as someone mentioned before is just about the best one of the bunch. I cried when I first heard it (I thought of my dad, who died in 1998).

[Sapo]

A tip of the hat to **Ludovic ** for Marian.

And for something entirely different: *Whisky Lullaby * from Brad Paisley (country)

And *Country Death Song * from Violent Femmes. Chilling stuff.

Weird that I am a big goth fan and the two songs about death that immediately came to mind are country songs!

ETA: Hadn’t seen page 2. **Ludovic ** beat me to Country Death Song. Double tip of the hat to you, then.

[interface2x]

@winterhawk11

*Disappoint *by Assemblage 23 (addressed to his father, who committed suicide

Personally I prefer the lines:

"Though you are gone
I am still your son
And while your pain is over
Mine has just begun.

Did I disappoint you?
Did I let you down?"

[An_Gadai]

@melvin coznowski

I don’t think I’ve seen The Monkees’ “Goin’ Down” in this thread yet.

And I loved “Seasons in the Sun” when I was a kid. I had no taste, but it was the 70s. No one had good taste in those days.

Now I think “Keep Me in Your Heart For Awhile”, as someone mentioned before is just about the best one of the bunch. I cried when I first heard it (I thought of my dad, who died in 1998).

First thing I did (when I had a chance) when my dad died last year was find the Wind cd and listen to “Keep Me in Your Heart For a While”. I found it cathartic.

[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.

[MadTheSwine]

I like My Shits Fucked Up by Warren Zevon (along with the other two mentioned already).

A Most Peculiar Man by Simon and Garfunkel.

The Queen songs already mentioned.

Thought I would have seen Seasons in the Sun in this thread by now.

[Dahnlor]

“Hammer Smashed Face” by Cannibal Corpse

If I quoted any lyrics, this thread would be banned in Germany.

[Peter_Morris]

*Days * by The Kinks

[lachesis]

what, nobody’s gone for the truly macabre before me?

D.O.A. by Bloodrock
i’ll second Dust in the Wind

[Annie-Xmas]

Richard Cory–Simon & Garfunkel

O What A Circus & Eva’s Lament from Evita