The Trooper by Iron Maiden is a good example.
“Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door”
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.
Found a Peanut.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Mercy Seat
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]”
I think “Gallows Pole” would qualify.
“Where to Now St. Peter?” - Elton John
The Bee Gees - I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You.
“Stan” by Eminem
“Breathing” by Kate Bush
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.
"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"
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.
:p:p:p I just did a spit take
“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
<Snip>
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?
Wow, good one.
In David Gray’s The One I Love the singer is dying on a battlefield.