I’m in a morbid mood right now, and I’m getting a lot of enjoyment out of “death” songs. These are songs where death has a large role to play. I’d like to know if any of you out there have any suggestions.
I’d like good songs that treat death in an almost humorous fashion, but certainly not serious. Something along the lines of “I used to love her” or Neon Genesis Evangelion’s “Kom, suesser todd.” I’d prefer to avoid sappy, tear-jerking crap like “tears in heaven.” I’m feeling morbid, not depressed.
Damn you, **BlackLabel[/b/! I was gonna say that one!
Okay, well how’s about Metallica’s One? Not necessarily about death, but probably pretty close to the mood you’re looking for if I’m reading you right.
Tom Leher along with “We will all go together when we go” Also offers the Irish Folk Song, I’ll Hold Your Hand in Mine" and “My Home Town” All of which are really funny and twisted.
My very favorite death song-- “Anyway” by Genesis from “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway”
A couple lyrics:
All the pumping’s nearly over for my sweet heart
This is the one for me
Time to meet the Chef
Oh boy! running man is out of death
Feel cold and old, it’s getting hard to catch my breath
It’s back to ash-- now you’ve had your flash, boy
The rocks in time compress your
Blood to oil
Your flesh to coal,
Enrich the soil
Not everybody’s goal
That’s one of my favorite lyrics ever:
Just about anything from Iron Maiden is about death, but “Die With Your Boots On” might be the best to fit your mood. My fave though is “Hallowed Be Thy Name.”
Damn. Mr. Blue Sky beat me to it. Well, at least there’s still “Nosferatu”, also by Blue Oyster Cult.
From a rather different genre:
“Irish Rover”–Only the singer and a dog survive an outbreak of measles. Then the dog drowns.
“The Mermaid”–A jolly, sometimes bawdy song about a ship sinking with all hands.
“The Ship that Never Returned”–A rollicking tune about a ship that, well, never returned.
“Yo Ho Ho”–I’m sure you’ve heard parts of this one. “Twas a cutlass swipe or an ounce of lead/Or a yawing hole in a battered head”…yeah, plenty of death.
All of the above are traditional/trad-style sea songs. I favor the Corsairs renditions. You may even be able to hear some of them on their site.
“Feel Like I’m Fixin’ To Die” by Country Joe and the Fish.
About half of Bob Dylan’s self-titled debut album from 1962 is old blues standards about dying. “In My Time Of Dyin’” and “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean” are two that come to mind.
The Grateful Dead do a good cover of “Death Don’t Have No Mercy,” which was originally by an old bluesman whose name escapes me right now. Plus, they have the word “Dead” in their name! Oh, they also have any number of recorded versions of “Morning Dew,” which is about the aftermath of nuclear war. Among their original tunes are “Black Peter” and “New Speedway Boogie,” the latter of which is about the Rolling Stones’ concert at Altamont where the Hell’s Angels killed someone.
Phil Ochs has several anti-war songs that deal with the death that comes with war, including “Song of A Soldier,” “We Seek No Wider War,” and “White Boots Marching In A Yellow Land.” He also wrote and recorded a song called “The Crucifixion,” which is sort of about Jesus Christ but is more generally about any person (John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi) who, like Jesus Christ, ends up being killed for his or her beliefs.
“You All Look Alike” by The Byrds is a sardonic song written from the viewpoint of a dying man who has been shot over a case of mistaken identity:
Lyin’ here and dyin’ here I’m tryin’ to get my strength
It’s so hard to get on back when you’re lyin’ at full length
All the crowds and all the dogs from miles around just stare
They look at me and shed a tear I’m glad those people care
Kinky Friedman wrote “Something Wrong With The Beaver” about Beaver Cleaver dying of a drug overdose and being found by by his parents the next morning in his room. You might try his song “The Ballad Of Charles Whitman” as well.
Lots of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins songs deal with death, murder, and cannibalism in rather cartoonish and funny way ways. In “She Put The Whamee On Me” he points a shotgun at the woman in question and threatens to “put the moonlight clean through your bald head”. “Feast Of The Mau Mau” has touches like “pull the skin from your friend with a razor blade”.
“Clockwork Chartreuse” by Loudon Wainwright III is a jaunty little number about a guy dreaming of a murderous rampage with his buddy:
God I hate women
They mess up your life
I’ll kill your mother
If you kill my wife
::snip::
I know a rooftop
Don’t you say nope
Let’s try out that rifle
The one with the scope
Tom T. Hall’s “Ballad Of Forty Dollars” is a funny take on a funeral from the viewpoint a man drafted into digging the grave since he’s in jail.
Absolutely anything off of Nick Cave’s Murder Ballads, but especially “The Curse of Milhaven”:
*There were all the others, all our sisters and brothers
You assumed were accidents, best forgotten
Recall the children who broke through the ice on Lake Tahoo?
Everyone assumed the “Warning” signs had followed them to the bottom
Well, they’re underneath the house where I do quite a bit of stowing
La la la la La la la lie
Even twenty little children, they had to die
And the fire of '91 that razed the Bella Vista slum
There was the biggest shit-fight this country’s ever seen
Insurance companies ruined, land lords getting sued
All cause of wee girl with a can of gasoline
Those flames really roared when the wind started blowing
La la la la La la la lie
Rich man, poor man, all got to die *