# Songs sung by the dead or dying **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 7, 2013, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362 "2013-01-07T17:17:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/1 "2013-01-07T17:17:53Z")
What I am referring to here is: Songs in which the lyrics clearly indicate that the person singing the song is either already dead or is in the process of physically dying as the song is being sung. Some examples are: - “Long Black Veil”, in which the singer has been dead for about ten years; - “I Started a Joke” by the Bee Gees (“Till I finally died…”); - “Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven Any More” by John Prine (in the final verse of which the titular phrase is spoken to the protagonist by St. Peter). I would also include “El Paso” by Marty Robbins and “D.O.A.” by Bloodrock, as in both cases the singer is obviously toast. But “I’ve Gotta Get A Message To You” by the Bee Gees is right out, because the guy’s got a whole hour to go. One borderline category that I’m excluding is songs sung by historical figures who are dead (e.g., “Nostradamus” by Al Stewart). Although Nostradamus is long dead, the lyrics don’t state that he is dead _at the time he is singing the song._ (I hope this makes sense.) Other examples? ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/2 "2013-01-07T17:21:00Z")
Seasons in the Sun - Terry Jacks. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/3 "2013-01-07T17:21:11Z")
**Two Hangmen** Mason Proffit ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/4 "2013-01-07T17:21:27Z")
Hmmm. “Streets of Laredo/Cowboy’s Lament” I’d assume does not count? Ulimately the singer is just relating what the dying person said to them? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/5 "2013-01-07T17:29:34Z")
“Knockin On Heavens Door” - Warren Zevon Which applies in several ways. “Indiana Wants Me” - R. Dean Taylor I’m betting it turned into suicide by cop within a minute of his finishing the letter. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/6 "2013-01-07T17:31:02Z")
David Gray’s “The One I Love” is about a guy thinking about his loved one as he dies on a battlefield: There’s things I might have said Only wish I could Now I’m leaking life faster Then I’m leaking blood Tell the repo man And the stars above You’re the one I love [Full lyrics](http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/davidgray/theoneilove.html). ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/7 "2013-01-07T17:32:44Z")
“The Man’s Too Strong”, by Dire Straits (on the _Brothers in Arms_ album), is told by a man who’s apparently about to be executed for war crimes. ---
**Author:** ![Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4bbf92/32.png) [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/8 "2013-01-07T17:41:49Z")
“[Where the Wild Roses Grow](http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/nickcavethebadseeds/wherethewildrosesgrow.html)”, by Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue, is a duet between a woman who was murdered and her murderer. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/9 "2013-01-07T17:45:33Z")
Procol Harum, “The Dead Man’s Dream” Grateful Dead, “Black Peter” Roy Harper, “Don’t You Grieve” (about Judas: “My name is Jude Iscariot, and my home address is Hell”) ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/10 "2013-01-07T17:48:43Z")
HoD’s mention of a duet brought to mind The Decemberists’ [Yankee Bayonet](http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/decemberists/yankeebayonetiwillbehomethen.html), a duet between a dead soldier and his surviving wife. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/11 "2013-01-07T17:54:31Z")
“Hangman” ([as sung by the Smothers Brothers](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeGzPohkyew)) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/12 "2013-01-07T17:58:16Z")
Most of the **Black Parade** album by My Chemical Romance, sung from different characters that are either dead or dying. While several of the deaths are not even mentioned (so technically they might still be alive,) once you know the theme of the album, most of the rest of the songs are pretty obvious. The most blatant example is the album opening tracks, which really should be played together, _Famous Last Words_ and _Dead!_. Famous Last Words even tells you right from the start that for the rest of the album you will be seeing things from the viewpoint of various dead characters. ---
**Author:** ![edwards\_beard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@edwards\_beard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwards_beard)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/13 "2013-01-07T17:58:53Z")
Iron Maiden - Hallowed Be Thy Name, a prisoner about to be executed by hanging Metallica - Ride The Lightning - a prisoner in the electric chair Led Zeppelin - Gallows Pole Two other possibles if you are including Suicide - Adams Song - Blink 182 Metallica - Dyer’s Eve ---
**Author:** ![Bumbershoot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbershoot/32/3428_2.png) [@Bumbershoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbershoot)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/14 "2013-01-07T17:58:54Z")
John Prine has another one; [Please Don’t Bury Me](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfBdMXhpQnU). “Woke up this morning, put on my slippers Walked in the kitchen and died” “Send my mouth way down south and kiss my ass Goodbye” ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/15 "2013-01-07T17:59:26Z")
[Powderfinger](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMvjfBdeiKw) - Neil Young Though it’s not perfectly clear to me if the singer is actually dead or if it’s a “live” account of his dead, the lines “Then I saw black, and my face splashed in the sky” suggest that it’s sung from a dead man’s perspective. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/16 "2013-01-07T18:00:49Z")
Would “I Gotta Get A Message To You” by the Bee Gees count? It’s about a murderer who is about to be executed in a short time. “The preacher came to me and he smiled. He said ‘Come walk with me. Walk with me one more mile.’” ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/17 "2013-01-07T18:03:29Z")
Knocking on Heaven’s Door, song by Bob Dylan > [@](#): > > Mama, put my guns in the ground > I can’t shoot them anymore > That long black cloud is comin’ down > I feel like I’m knockin’ on heaven’s door ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/18 "2013-01-07T18:05:42Z")
To late too Edit: Got another one: [25 Minutes To Go](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCVxQcsdpWI) - Johnny Cash ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/19 "2013-01-07T18:05:43Z")
Kate Bush’s song _[Wuthering Heights](http://youtu.be/-1pMMIe4hb4)_ was Cathy calling to Heathcliff from the grave. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/20 "2013-01-07T18:06:05Z")
“The Mercy Seat” (by Nick Cave - though I like the Cash version) is sung by a man foreseeing his own execution. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362.md?page=2)