# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/61 "2013-01-07T22:03:39Z")
_The Parting Glass_ – Shaun Davey, Sinnead O’Connor, others, classic Irish wake song. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/62 "2013-01-07T22:06:02Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > “Knockin On Heavens Door” - Warren Zevon And, arguably, “My Ride’s Here.” ---
**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, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/63 "2013-01-07T22:29:01Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > And, arguably, “My Ride’s Here.” Easier to list all the Warren Zevon songs that _weren’t_ about death. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/64 "2013-01-07T22:38:38Z")
> [@sweetie pea](#): > > (Joins multiple dopers listening to Green Green Grass Of Home. Tries to be inconspicuous in wiping eyes.) (You’re excused a manly sniffle, but be quiet about it. :') ---
**Author:** ![TheChileanBlob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thechileanblob/32/435_2.png) [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/65 "2013-01-07T22:39:46Z")
_[One Last Time](http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/dusty-drake/one-last-time-2050.html)_ by Dusty Drake, is about a man calling his wife from Flight 93 on Sept 11. A real tear-jerker. The twist is you think he’s calling to tell her he’s leaving her for another woman until the last verse. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/66 "2013-01-07T23:06:01Z")
Another just-about-to-be-hanged song: The Men They Couldn’t Hang [The Colours](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNKLBwAcP04) ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/67 "2013-01-07T23:27:57Z")
Sharp Knife of a Short life by The Band Perry. ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/68 "2013-01-07T23:29:24Z")
For the medievalists: [The Burden of the Crown](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gewHAeWCJ_M). ---
**Author:** ![Rain\_Soaked](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19adc/32.png) [@Rain\_Soaked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rain_Soaked)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/69 "2013-01-07T23:38:36Z")
Mark Knopfer: [Dream of the Drowned Submariner](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy5rnl_sx0Q) ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/70 "2013-01-07T23:39:35Z")
I guess some of the songs from Sondheim’s ASSASSINS would qualify; in one of them, The Ballad of Booth, Booth sings his own imagined eulogy and then shoots himself at the end. And Giuseppe Zangara is electrocuted and Charles Guiteau is hanged at the end of their main songs, but they’re being executed. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/71 "2013-01-08T00:58:24Z")
“Sister Morphine” by the Rolling Stones: > [@](#): > > 'Cause you know and I know in the morning I’ll be dead > Yeah, and you can sit around, yeah and you can watch all the > Clean white sheets stained red. ---
**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 8, 2013, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/72 "2013-01-08T01:03:55Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > Note that I specifically ruled this song out in the OP. In general, I’m not looking for songs sung by people waiting to be executed… I guess the criterion would be that it should be physically impossible for the singer to be singing the song because they’re either dead or mortally wounded. I’d say “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” and “Powderfinger” qualify. (I just thought of another one… “Polly on the Shore” by Fairport Convention … “And here am I a-bleedin’ on the deck and for her sweet sake must die”). Sorry. Didn’t notice it. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/73 "2013-01-08T01:36:36Z")
Some interpretations of “Bohemian Rhapsody” would qualify, where “a man” that the singer “just killed” is actually himself. ---
**Author:** ![Magicicada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c67d28/32.png) [@Magicicada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magicicada)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/74 "2013-01-08T01:37:34Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > (You’re excused a manly sniffle, but be quiet about it. :') (Wails) But I’m a GIRL!!! ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/75 "2013-01-08T01:47:15Z")
What? No love for Rolf Harris? \*There’s an old Australian stockman, lying, dying And he gets himself up on one elbow And he turns to his mates, who are all gathered 'round him And he says “Watch me wallaby’s feed, mate…”\* ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/76 "2013-01-08T02:55:02Z")
_Last Meal_, by Asleep At The Wheel ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/77 "2013-01-08T03:36:50Z")
“Love Vigilantes” by New Order Then I looked into her hand And I saw the telegram That said I was a brave, brave man But that I was dead ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/78 "2013-01-08T04:10:41Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > What? No love for Rolf Harris? > > \*There’s an old Australian stockman, lying, dying > And he gets himself up on one elbow > And he turns to his mates, who are all gathered 'round him > And he says > > “Watch me wallaby’s feed, mate…”\* I thought my parents were the only ones outside of Australia who ever owned a Rolf Harris album. ---
**Author:** ![Registered\_at\_Last](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bc79bd/32.png) [@Registered\_at\_Last](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Registered_at_Last)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/79 "2013-01-08T04:11:47Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > This is the one that immediately sprang to mind (along with his recording of _Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door_)…are these the only ones here that were \*literally \*sung by a dying man? Here is another … almost. It was originally written and recorded before she was diagnosed with what was ultimately terminal cancer. I first heard Lhasa’s [“Soon this Space will be too Small”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j46E3Myuyeg) shortly before she died. [Here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9WtuuoaBgQ)is her explanation of her song as told by her after her diagnosis. Brings a lump to my throat every time. Hauntingly prophetic when you realize it was written and sung by a woman destined to die of cancer at 37. ---
**Author:** ![Reepicheep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@Reepicheep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reepicheep)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/80 "2013-01-08T04:12:18Z")
I’m surprised that no one has mentioned [Lord Randall](http://poetry.about.com/od/poemsbytitlel/l/bllordrandall.htm) by now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362.md?page=5)