# How many songs have a death in them? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 11, 2000, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-songs-have-a-death-in-them/32789 "2000-09-11T17:28:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![uberDave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f04885/32.png) [@uberDave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uberDave)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-songs-have-a-death-in-them/32789/61 "2000-09-13T18:36:55Z")
Sleep When I’m Dead - warren zevon Brothers in Arms - dire straits. ---
**Author:** ![Nocturne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9fc348/32.png) [@Nocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nocturne)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-songs-have-a-death-in-them/32789/62 "2000-09-13T20:46:18Z")
“I Hope You Die”-Bloodhound Gang (implied) What’s that old song about Casey Jones and the train wreck? “Riders on the Storm”-the Doors (actually, it’s about a serial killer, but what the heck…) “Undun”-Guess Who (about drug addiction, you don’t know if the girl dies or not though). ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-songs-have-a-death-in-them/32789/63 "2003-06-03T22:30:12Z")
“Undun”? I listened to that song on the radio when it first came out (I have the single now), and I never connected it with drugs. _She found a mountain that was far too high And when she found out she couldn’t fly… She didn’t know what she was headed for And when she found what she was headed for… She’s gone too far She’s lost her sun She’s come Undun._ **Drugs?** 😕 It sounded really poetic, but I think “Puff, the Magic Dragon” sounded more drug-related. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-songs-have-a-death-in-them/32789/64 "2003-06-03T23:35:08Z")
How about: -“Down By the River” by Neil Young; -“Pepper” by the Butthole Surfers; (Shouldn’t this revived thread be in Cafe Society?) ---
**Author:** ![BuckleberryFerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5f9b8f/32.png) [@BuckleberryFerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuckleberryFerry)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-songs-have-a-death-in-them/32789/65 "2003-06-03T23:37:15Z")
Mr. Bojangles–his dog. Don’t know the artist, sorry. ---
**Author:** ![medstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f07891/32.png) [@medstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medstar)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-songs-have-a-death-in-them/32789/66 "2003-06-04T00:14:29Z")
I can’t remember the title but Richard Marx recorded a song in the mid 80’s set in Nebraska about a young couple who dreamed of ways to leave their small town. The young woman was found dead by the river side and the young man was under suspicion as her killer. The young woman’s name was Mary if that jogs anyone’s memory. ---
**Author:** ![Extraneous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/0ea827/32.png) [@Extraneous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Extraneous)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-songs-have-a-death-in-them/32789/67 "2003-06-04T01:34:01Z")
Ringo - Lorne Greene Brown-Eyed Women - Grateful Dead Running Bear - don’t even WANT to know ---
**Author:** ![Mariemarie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58f4c7/32.png) [@Mariemarie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mariemarie)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-songs-have-a-death-in-them/32789/68 "2003-06-04T03:18:21Z")
Gimme Shelter – Rolling Stones Sister Morphine – Rolling Stones Yer Blues – The Beatles Lucky Man – Emerson Lake and Palmer Louise – Bonnie Raitt And When I Die – Laura Nyro; Blood Sweat and Tears Gallows Pole – Led Zeppelin In My Time of Dying – Led Zeppelin Mexicali Blues – Grateful Dead Saturday Night Special --Lynyrd Skynyrd Curtis Lowe – Lynyrd Skynyrd My Father’s Gun – Elton John ---
**Author:** ![Gail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Gail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gail)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-songs-have-a-death-in-them/32789/69 "2003-06-04T03:38:56Z")
“Jeremy” by Pearl Jam “Travelin’ Soldier” by The Dixie Chicks “Ohio”, “Tired Eyes”, “The Needle and the Damage Done” by Neil Young “Adam’s Song” by Blink 182 “Indiana Wants Me” by R. Dean Taylor “Danny Bailey” (?), “Ticking” by Elton John “Freddie’s Dead” by Curtis Mayfield ---
**Author:** ![Extraneous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/0ea827/32.png) [@Extraneous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Extraneous)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-songs-have-a-death-in-them/32789/70 "2003-06-04T04:44:15Z")
Cruel War Below the Gallows Tree Ramblin’ Boy Born in East Virginia Barbara Allen Po’ Howard (Howard’s Dead And Gone) Greenland Whale Fisheries and, for the giggles factor: Aunt Rhodie ("Go tell Aunt Rhodie That the old gray goose is dead…) Puff (The Magic Dragon) (“A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys…”) - folk music forever! Also by Neil Young: Don’t Let It Bring You Down ("Dead man lying by the side of the road With the daylight in his eyes…) ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-songs-have-a-death-in-them/32789/71 "2003-06-04T05:50:29Z")
Some more come to mind: -“Where to Now St. Peter?” by Elton John; -“Reason to Believe” by Bruce Springsteen (dead dog); -“The Late Great Johnny Ace” by Paul Simon; -“The Man’s Too Strong” by Dire Straits. ---
**Author:** ![Armilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e19b73/32.png) [@Armilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Armilla)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-songs-have-a-death-in-them/32789/72 "2003-06-04T09:54:01Z")
Just a few random ones I came up with that I don’t think have been mentioned so far: “Rasputin” - Boney M “Smooth Criminal” - Michael Jackson “Her Ghost in the Fog” - Cradle of Filth “Where the Wild Rose” - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds & Kylie ---
**Author:** ![3trew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/13edae/32.png) [@3trew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3trew)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-songs-have-a-death-in-them/32789/73 "2003-06-04T10:19:40Z")
This thread filled up fast. I need to get some more music. “Richard Hung Himself” by DI “Tomorrow, Wendy” by Concrete Blonde “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” by Bauhaus “Alice Henderson” by The Sons Of Freedom “Psycho” by Elvis Costello Don’t try to google “Teen Angel” to find out who sang it. It’s depressing enough to get you your own song. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-songs-have-a-death-in-them/32789/74 "2003-06-04T11:35:46Z")
**Rocky Racoon** - The Beatles **Run For Your Life** - The Beatles **I Want My Baby Back** - The Downliners Sect ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-songs-have-a-death-in-them/32789/75 "2003-06-04T13:26:13Z")
Check out this old thread in Cafe Society that lists [songs about killing](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=111592). ---
**Author:** ![low\_man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/aeb1de/32.png) [@low\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/low_man)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-songs-have-a-death-in-them/32789/76 "2003-06-05T03:44:13Z")
Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer ---
**Author:** ![tolyri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@tolyri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tolyri)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-songs-have-a-death-in-them/32789/77 "2003-06-05T04:10:00Z")
Medstar - that song was “Hazard” The Doors - The Unknown Soldier The Beatles - Strawberry Fields Forever “Yellow matter custard dripping from a DEAD dog’s eye” Who sang the “sequel” to Space Oddity? Didn’t Major Tom die? ---
**Author:** ![Mearl\_Dox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@Mearl\_Dox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mearl_Dox)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-songs-have-a-death-in-them/32789/78 "2003-06-05T08:11:30Z")
For a “joke” pop band, They Might Be Giants have an awful lot of songs about death, or murder, or suicide, or just with references to death in them. Exquisite Dead Guy Till My Head Falls Off Dig My Grave Turn Around Hope That I Get Old Before I Die Dead No One Knows My Plan Where Your Eyes Don’t Go Hopeless Bleak Despair That’s just a few. I once did a list of all the references to death I could find in They Might Be Giants songs, just out of boredom, but I don’t remember where I saved it. ---
**Author:** ![Pammipoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/87869e/32.png) [@Pammipoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pammipoo)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-songs-have-a-death-in-them/32789/79 "2003-06-06T04:40:57Z")
The Freshman- Verve Pipe There’s another song I can’t put my finger on the lyrics or title…it was about a couple driving down a highway, and getting in a car accident, and the girl died…they came out with a remake a few years back…Where did my baby go, or something? God this is gonna bug me until I figure it out ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-songs-have-a-death-in-them/32789/80 "2003-06-06T10:23:19Z")
Pammipoo, you may be thinking of “I Want My Baby Back,” by Jimmy Cross, from about 1964. This has been played by Dr. Demento on his show, naturally, and he apparently helped compile an album titled “The World’s Worst Records,” which includes Cross’s song. At the end the singer finishes digging up his girl’s grave, and opens the casket, and gets inside, and closes the lid; the song ends with him singing, in a muffled voice, “I got my baby back…” 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-songs-have-a-death-in-them/32789.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-songs-have-a-death-in-them/32789.md?page=5)