What exactly does it mean to “die with you boots on”? And is it good or bad to do so? I’ve seen movies where characters would say they wanted to die with their boots on, and I’ve seen movies where they said the didn’t want to die their boots on! (All of these westerns, by the way).
What in the world does it mean?
At its most basic, one does not wear boots to bed. To die with one’s boots on is to die “in action.” This can simply mean “to drop in the traces” (i.e., to die while working as if an old reliable horse died while pulling the wagon).
Since the speakers in Westerns were more often (although not always) young and healthy, to die with one’s boots on was to die in a gunfight. It is similar in origin to naming cemetaries “Boot Hill” where everyone buried there had died a violent death rather than dying peacefully in their sleep.
Those who expressed the desire to die with their boots on probably were expressing the “drop in the traces” concept. Most would prefer to die peacefully of old age (boots off) in bed.
I’ve watched at least one (old) WWII movie where the soldiers agreed that it was much preferable to die with one’s boots on. The alternatives discussed here, however, was being surprised in the sack (boots off) or being prepared for the enemy and buying it in combat (boots on).
(And of course, being Danish, I’ll have to mention that the Viking ticket to paradise was being killed in combat. But presumably they didn’t wear boots.)
Dawn is when the French and Indians attack… and everyone else, I’m sure. While it is much more comfortable sleeping without socks or boots, if you are in combat zone, then you pretty much have to sleep with your boots on.
It’s a way of saying, roundabout, that I’m ready for whatever happens, and I’m not going to go easy or cheap.
Agreeing with the above … also I think is this subtext: how you present yourself at the moment of your death should stands as a metaphor for your entire life. If you were active and vigorous etc., you should perish upright in the saddle and facing your foes as it were, not doddering away under the sheets in your jammies.
“If you’re gonna die … die with your boots on” - I. Maiden
OK, maybe I’m drawing heavily on movies today for cites, but what the hell…
Tomndebb’s point is illustrated nicely in the movie Tombstone. Toward the end, Doc Holliday is lying in bed in a Colorado sanitorium, with his boots off. Wyatt Earp had just left for the last time, after Doc pleaded with him to do so. After Wyatt was gone, Doc just sort of layed there thinking about his predicament. At one point, he raised his head and looked at his bare feet at the end of the bed. His reaction was, “I’ll be damn. This is funny.” Although it was never stated, he was expressing surprise and amusement that he was about to die with his boots off. After he had led such a violent life, he probably expected to die with them on.
This kind of reminds me of Catch-22 and the conversation in the whore house between the old man and Nately (I think) where the old boys outlines how well Italy are now doing having just surrendered and finishes up something like, “…it is better to live on your knees than die on your feet.”.
Nately “Haven’t you got that the wrong way around?”
Old man, “No, trust me. My way is far better…”
“He died with his boots on” was an accolade first given to the Duke of Wellington, victor at Waterloo. It’s probably apocryphal, but the story is that, on his deathbed, he asked that his boots be put on his feet. (I believe that contemporary obituaries carried this story, but I am entirely too lazy to search for a link).
I think that the original meaning of the accolade, as it applied to Wellington, was that, even on his deathbed, he was always ready to answer the call of King (Queen? Did he die during Victoria’s reign?) and Country. It has since taken on the slightly different meaning noted in the other posts.
V.
Another Prophet of Disaster
Who says the ship is lost
Another Prophet of Disaster
Leaving you to count the cost
Taunting us with Visions
Afflicting us with fear
Predicting War for millions
In the hope that one appears
No point asking when it is
No point asking who’s to go
No point asking what’s the game
No point asking who’s to blame
'cos if you’re gonna die, if you’re gonna die
'cos if you’re gonna die, if you’re gonna die
If you’re gonna die, die with your boots on
If you’re gonna try, just stick around
Gonna cry, just move along
If you’re gonna die, you’re gonna die
In 13 the Beast is rising
The Frenchman did surmise
Through earthquakes and starvation
The warlord will arise
Terror, Death, Destruction
Pour from the Eastern Sands
But the truth of all predictions
Is always in your hands
Between the Iron Duke and Iron Maiden there was Errol Flynn, who appeared in the 1941 movie They Died With Their Boots On, a Hollywood version of the life of George Custer. In a slant which must have stretched the creativity of the screenwriters, Flynn portrayed Custer as a pro-Indian activist. On the plus side, the movie did have Olivia DeHaviland playing the babe interest.