# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/121 "2013-01-09T13:44:57Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > The last couple of rock tunes in the musical _Godspell_ feature the Jesus character singing “I’m dying,” and then, “I’m dead.” > > He gets better. Yeah, and thanks for the spoiler. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/122 "2013-01-10T01:58:11Z")
4+20 from _Deja vu_: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young sorry for caps, cut and paste: … MORNIN’ COMES THE SUNRISE AND I’M DRIVEN TO MY BED I SEE THAT IT IS EMPTY AND THERE’S DEVILS IN MY HEAD I, EMBRACE THE MANY COLORED BEAST I GROW WEARY OF THE TORMENT, CAN THERE BE NO PEACE? AND I FIND MYSELF JUST WISHIN’ THAT MY LIFE WOULD SIMPLY DECEASE Also, that great spooky a capella in/from _Oh Brother, Where Art Thou_, where the singer ispleading with death for just a little more time. I’d look it up but iPad is cranky about reloading empty pages. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/123 "2013-01-10T16:31:33Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Also, that great spooky a capella in/from _Oh Brother, Where Art Thou_, where the singer ispleading with death for just a little more time. I’d look it up but iPad is cranky about reloading empty pages. That would be [Ralph Stanley](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Stanley). (Saw him live about a year ago, and he did that one a cappella, just like in the soundtrack… and he added “thank you” to the end.) ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/124 "2013-01-10T17:29:22Z")
I don’t know the song she was singing, but Amy Winehouse’s video of the funeral was pretty prescient-along with her song about refusing to go into rehab. Its almost as if she wanted to die. ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/125 "2013-01-10T17:29:32Z")
I suspect that things ended very badly for the protagonist of this song - [Please Take My Scissors Away](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NlAC42LIao) ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/126 "2013-01-10T17:48:43Z")
Johnny Cash’s [“Sam Hall”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9p9FmKdMIQ) - funny as hell. 😃 And his [“Give My Love to Rose”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1LBKTONZ0M) - a big enough tearjerker that it should count, even if the narrator is simply repeating what the dying man said to him. Joe Diffie’s "[Prop Me Up Beside the Jukebox When I Die"](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCiKxjZTa2I) is worth a mention. Frank Sinatra’s [“It Was A Very Good Year”,](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emAe6IClGys)even if the singer’s death isn’t quite imminent. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/127 "2013-01-10T18:17:47Z")
And that doesn’t even get into opera - there’s a ton of arias by the soon-to-die. One particular favorite is Aida and Rhadames pledging their undying love to each other, at the top of their lungs, in the tomb where they’ve been placed to slowly suffocate. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/128 "2013-01-10T21:02:04Z")
> [@Reepicheep](#): > > Actually sung by Judas – who descends on a star/cross and is dressed in white (like the singing angles/dances) so I assume he is dead by this time. Whoops! Two more from Andrew Lloyd Webber: Evita starts with her death and Che singing Oh What A Circus, then she rises from her coffin and joins him. It ends with the dying-or-death Evita singing her Lament. The musical Sunset Boulevard starts with the dead Joe Gillis singing I guess It Was 5 a.m. ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/129 "2013-01-10T22:34:08Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Johnny Cash’s [“Sam Hall”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9p9FmKdMIQ) - funny as hell. 😃 Personally, I prefer [this version](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3nBTB-_NWY). (Frank Tovey) ---
**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 10, 2013, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/130 "2013-01-10T23:20:00Z")
Another just-about-to-be-executed song Tony Christie - [I did what I did for Maria](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAp0Djd5Xn4) ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/131 "2013-01-10T23:26:43Z")
I Hung My Head - guy accidentally shoots someone, hangs his head, gets hanged. Sting originally, I believe. Johnny Cash covered it. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/132 "2013-01-10T23:33:55Z")
There’s a haunting song called [Little River](http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiLITRIVER.html) that I first heard covered by a folksinger named Cindy Mangsen. It’s a lament by a drowned sailor who’s now (apparently) a spirit: “Spring comes warm to Little River, storm comes black I was headed home when the Indian Giver took me back” And for something slightly different, there’s always James Taylor’s “The Frozen Man”. He was dead, but they brought him back. “I know what it means to freeze to death To lose a little life with every breath To say goodbye to life on earth And come around again” Salamander Crossing did a lovely adaptation of [Tennyson’s Crossing the Bar](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELp0YvtBUUE). I’m not sure the narrator is explicitly dying or just contemplating it, though. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/133 "2013-01-10T23:55:08Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > I Hung My Head - guy accidentally shoots someone, hangs his head, gets hanged. > Sting originally, I believe. Johnny Cash covered it. I think Rick Rubin found every damn song there ever was about dying cowboys for Cash to sing on his “American Recordings” albums. Hell, just get the whole set. They include, btw, "[Let the Train Blow the Whistle When I Go"](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtgTuLNcm3A). ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/134 "2013-01-11T00:01:53Z")
Bobby Bare’s “Dropkick Me, Jesus (Through the Goalposts of Life)” (written by Shel Silverstein): _A lowly benchwarmer I’m contented to be Until the time that You have need of me To put on the big scoreboard that shines from on high The Great Super Bowl way up in the sky …_ ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/135 "2013-01-11T00:07:42Z")
And [“I’m Being Swallowed by a Boa Constrictor”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dki6hO22XFg) 😃 ---
**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 11, 2013, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/136 "2013-01-11T00:24:36Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > And [“I’m Being Swallowed by a Boa Constrictor”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dki6hO22XFg) 😃 whaddya know, [Johnny Cash covered it.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1CNzOR80TA) ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/137 "2013-01-11T00:29:34Z")
And his [Danny Boy](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_d6d-E_DwQ) is the best ever, too. Yes, the lyrics he used make it fit the category. ---
**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 11, 2013, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/138 "2013-01-11T00:47:44Z")
What the hell was it with Johnny Cash and dying songs. Does [The Streets of Laredo](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSzfWLlvlAE)count? Technically the singer isn’t dying, but reporting the words of a dying man. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/139 "2013-01-11T02:43:19Z")
Having just come from the Heinlein thread, and recently posted the “Songs that can be sung to ‘The Ballad of _Gilligan’s Island_’” thread, I should long ago have thought to mention “The Green Hills of Earth,” from the very inspiring short story that gives all the necessary background. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362/140 "2013-01-11T06:20:11Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Bobby Bare’s “Dropkick Me, Jesus (Through the Goalposts of Life)” (written by Shel Silverstein): > > _A lowly benchwarmer I’m contented to be > Until the time that You have need of me > To put on the big scoreboard that shines from on high > The Great Super Bowl way up in the sky …_ I’d heard the title mentioned, but in the context of that mention, which was by Dave Barry IIRC, I thought it was a joke, not a real song. 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-sung-by-the-dead-or-dying/646362.md?page=8)