# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/61 "2019-05-30T19:42:33Z")
The Rolling Stones - “Flight 505” ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/62 "2019-05-30T21:57:19Z")
“Please Mr. Custer” ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/63 "2019-05-30T22:28:08Z")
Half of Eminems “Stan” ---
**Author:** ![Onthefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9de053/32.png) [@Onthefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onthefly)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/64 "2019-05-31T00:55:12Z")
John Prine, “Please Don’t Bury Me” Woke up this morning, put on my slippers, walked in the kitchen and died. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Prize](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d2c977/32.png) [@Sir\_Prize](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Prize)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/65 "2019-05-31T03:32:26Z")
[Mama Look Sharp](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0lEnp7Bef0) ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/66 "2019-05-31T12:01:25Z")
> [@Kimble](#): > > 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.” “Yankee Bayonet” is another one. It’s a duet between a pregnant woman and her husband who was killed in the Civil War. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/67 "2019-05-31T15:54:13Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > “Yankee Bayonet” is another one. It’s a duet between a pregnant woman and her husband who was killed in the Civil War. “Eli the Barrow Boy” is also partially narrated by the deceased protagonist. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/68 "2019-05-31T16:11:46Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > “Please Mr. Custer” An ancient, long unused, neuron in a far back region of my brain just went “ding”. ---
**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:** [May 31, 2019, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/69 "2019-05-31T16:43:12Z")
“Forward, ho!” ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/70 "2019-05-31T16:56:04Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > _[The Mariner’s Revenge Song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Sw61oITuts)_ The narrator isn’t dead at the end of the song, he is just about to kill his nemesis. Sometime after the song they will both be whale poop. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/71 "2019-05-31T17:42:08Z")
Would “Renegade” by Styx count? “Hangman is coming down from the gallows and I don’t have very long.” ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/72 "2019-05-31T17:59:33Z")
Long Black Vail She walks these hills in a long black veil She visits my grave when the night winds wail Nobody knows, nobody sees Nobody knows but me ---
**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 31, 2019, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/73 "2019-05-31T18:07:36Z")
In one of the Harry Potter books, the ghost Nearly Headless Nick sings a song\* that tells the story of his crime and botched execution. I’ve not seen all of the movies, I don’t know if it was filmed. - or maybe recited a poem. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/74 "2019-05-31T20:18:04Z")
[The Highwayman](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFkcAH-m9W0) describes several deaths in the first person, presumably all reincarnated versions of the same highwayman. There’s also a lesser-known song by the Charlie Daniels Band called [Caballo Diablo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guPG4DWXnRM), about the narrator’s obsession with taming the “half-horse, half-devil.” Spoiler alert: It doesn’t end well for either of them. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/75 "2019-05-31T20:25:18Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > The end of Marty Robbin’s song _El Paso_ always seemed a little odd to me. > > - > > I see the white puff of smoke from the rifle, > I feel the bullet go deep in my chest. > From out of nowhere, Felina has found me, > Kissing my cheek as she kneels by my side. > Cradled by two loving arms that I’ll die for, > One little kiss and Felina good-bye. > \* > > Are there other songs where a first person narrator describes their own death? I guess we’re counting inevitable death, in which case you missed the on-the nose “They’re Hanging Me Tonight” from the same album. More Nick Cave - half of “Where the Wild Roses Grow” Half of Magnetic Fields - Yeah! Oh, Yeah! ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/76 "2019-05-31T22:17:49Z")
Hey, did I miss a mention of **“Jeannie Needs A Shooter”** or **“Indiana Wants Me”** in the previous posts? I guess one could argue that we don’t know if the narrator is simply seriously wounded… ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/77 "2019-05-31T22:19:42Z")
_Sonora’s Death Row_ Edit: Nevermind, he’s waiting to be hung, but not dead yet. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/78 "2019-05-31T22:29:56Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > I guess we’re counting inevitable death, in which case you missed the on-the nose “They’re Hanging Me Tonight” from the same album. No, see #43. I’m interested in songs where the narrator is already dead; where it’s logically impossible for them to be singing this song. Sorry that wasn’t clearer in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2019, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/79 "2019-06-01T00:28:45Z")
How about _The Highwayman_? One of the few country songs about reincarnation. Narrator keeps living and dying and living and dying and living and… Sung by Willie, Waylon, Kris, and Johnny. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2019, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748/80 "2019-06-01T00:30:31Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > [The Highwayman](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFkcAH-m9W0) describes several deaths in the first person, presumably all reincarnated versions of the same highwayman. > > . Dammit, dammit, DAMMIT!!! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-where-narrator-dies/834748.md?page=5)