I call it punk, because it has a vey simple, repetitive sound that brings early Ramones to mind.
Basically, the chorus is a repetition of the lines “Lots of people die, die” and ending with “All my friends, they died.”
The verses are lists of how people died in accidents, suicide, drug overdoses, etc.
I heard it once, a few years ago, while driving to class. I’ve never heard it since, don’t know the band or the title, but every now and then it pops into my head, and I’d really like to get it.
“People Who Died” by Jim Carroll.
Thanks! I’ll look that up.
Wow, that was fast.
Damn, beaten again. Great song, I had to call up the radio station I heard it from to find out a couple of months ago.
It’s a great song. And Jim Carrol was (is?) a fasinating person. The Jim Carrol Band is considered a seminal early punk band, but most people know about him because of the Basketball Diaries.
The chorus is actually
These are people who died, died
(repeat 3x)
They were all my friends, and they died.
Interestingly enough they song was made famous because it was used in E.T. of all things.
Interesting rock and roll trivia to impress the ladies* with (hey, it’s never worked for me, but it might for you!)
Jim Carroll was holding the microphone on the recording of the last night that Lou Reed played with the Velvet Underground, which came out as the record ‘Live At Max’s Kansas City’. You can hear him talking about booze (“pernod”), drugs (“tuinols”) and other seedy pursuits. Spookily enough, twenty five years later, the last recording that Velvet Underground guitarist Sterling Morrison was a cover of ‘People Who Died’.
Coincidentally, I was listening to this very song during my drive home from work tonight.
If you rent **The Basketball Diaries ** (about Carroll’s teen years) there’s a video of this song after the credits. I love that song and Carroll is my favorite living poet.