# Songs where narrator dies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 30, 2019, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748 "2019-05-30T01:51:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/21 "2019-05-30T02:57:52Z")
_The Trooper_ by Iron Maiden is a good example. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/22 "2019-05-30T02:59:48Z")
“Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/23 "2019-05-30T03:20:50Z")
Kind of a regional hit in the late 60s, early 70s: “Two Hangmen” by Mason Proffit ends with the narrator swinging from a tree. The uber-depressing Harry Chapin song “The Shortest Story” is told from the point of view of a baby who dies of starvation three weeks after birth. Bruce Springsteen’s haunting “Paradise” uses a couple of narrators, including a suicide bomber. The narrator of Billy Joel’s “Goodnight Saigon” probably doesn’t make it. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/24 "2019-05-30T03:23:28Z")
_Found a Peanut_. ---
**Author:** ![Anamorphic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anamorphic/32/3057_2.png) [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/25 "2019-05-30T03:44:29Z")
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Mercy Seat ---
**Author:** ![Kimble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimble/32/19185_2.png) [@Kimble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimble)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/26 "2019-05-30T04:08:38Z")
I’m guessing there are a lot of songs by The Decemberists that fit, but “The Hazards of Love 4 (The Drowned)” (spoiler alert!) is the only one that comes to mind right now: “But I pulled you and I called you here, And I caught you and I brought you here These hazards of love, never more will trouble us. And these hazards of love, never more will trouble us.” The narrator of the first part of Kendrick Lamar’s “Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst” gets shot mid-verse. That song is what I though of when I saw the thread title, but it doesn’t really fit the OP (especially since the song goes on with 4 other narrators over the rest of the 10 minutes of the song): “And I love you cause you love my brother like you did Just promise me you’ll tell this story when you make it big And if I die before your album drop I hope [three gunshots]” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/27 "2019-05-30T04:15:16Z")
I think “Gallows Pole” would qualify. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/28 "2019-05-30T04:47:36Z")
[“Where to Now St. Peter?”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HskPT1xLtzQ) - Elton John ---
**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:** [May 30, 2019, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/29 "2019-05-30T04:55:05Z")
The Bee Gees - _I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You_. > [@](#): > > I’ve just got to get a message to you, hold on, hold on > One more hour and my life will be through, hold on, hold on > Hold on > One more hour and my life will be through, hold on, hold on > I’ve just got to get a message to her, hold on, hold on ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/30 "2019-05-30T05:58:44Z")
[“God’s Comic” - Elvis Costello](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0N6TfU54o8) ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/31 "2019-05-30T07:06:25Z")
“Stan” by Eminem ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/32 "2019-05-30T09:24:57Z")
“[Breathing](https://youtu.be/VzlofSthVwc)” by Kate Bush ---
**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:** [May 30, 2019, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/33 "2019-05-30T09:29:05Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Terry Jacks- [_Seasons In The Sun_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=YG9otasNmxI) > [@running\_coach](#): > > [Green, Green Grass Of Home.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u81CTfbc99c) > [@cochrane](#): > > The Bee Gees - _I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You_. I don’t think any of those count. In each of them the narrator is going to be executed soon, but isn’t actually dead at the end of the song. Although : [quote=“The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat, post:7, topic:834748”] John Cash–25 Minutes To Go [/QUOTE] counts, because it ends with the actual death of the narrator. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/34 "2019-05-30T10:02:17Z")
"And now, the end is near And so I face the final curtain My friend, I’ll say it clear I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain I’ve lived a life that’s full I’ve traveled each and every highway But more, much more than this [everybody together!] I did it MY WAY" ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/35 "2019-05-30T10:35:31Z")
In _Danny Boy_, the narrator is inviting Danny to visit the narrator’s grave, should Danny only return after the narrator’s death. Not a precise match to the OP’s requirement, but the narrator anticipates that even in death, he or she will know of Danny’s visit. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/36 "2019-05-30T12:07:18Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > _Found a Peanut_. :p:p:p I just did a spit take ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/37 "2019-05-30T12:18:58Z")
_Hotel California_ _[Open Me First at Christmas](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzBlYzU2CfE)_ > [@Kimble](#): > > I’m guessing there are a lot of songs by The Decemberists that fit,… _[The Mariner’s Revenge Song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Sw61oITuts)_ ---
**Author:** ![EckyThump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47774/32.png) [@EckyThump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EckyThump)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/38 "2019-05-30T12:27:54Z")
“Tie me Kangaroo Down, Sport”? \*There’s an old Australian stockman lying, dying And he gets himself up onto one elbow and he turns to his mates Who are all gathered around and he says \ Tan me hide when I’m dead, Fred Tan me hide when I’m dead So we tanned his hide when he died, Clyde And that’s it hangin’ on the shed! Altogether now!\* Would “Bohemian Rhapsody” count? ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/39 "2019-05-30T12:31:58Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > “[Breathing](https://youtu.be/VzlofSthVwc)” by Kate Bush Wow, good one. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/40 "2019-05-30T12:32:31Z")
In David Gray’s [The One I Love](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqJnIsWQKgA) the singer is dying on a battlefield. > [@](#): > > Perfect summers night > Not a wind that breathes > Just the bullets whispering gentle > 'Mongst the new green leaves > 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 > That you’re the one I love > You’re the one I love > The one I love [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748.md?page=3)