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Songs about death or dying...


revonah23

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Songs of death are ironically my favourite!

I'm very sorry of the things you and your wife are going through. My sister has beat cancer three times and as of today, she's healthy as a green-bean plant! Never give up hope because I'm sure y'all will pull through this unfortunate and difficult time.

A song regarding death is one of my favourites and it goes like this . . .

"Life we talk of death

Each breath come closer to out

Of this I'm not afraid

Though I don't know what it's all about

I don't know!

Decisions that we make

The chances that we take

The blindness we can't fake

Thought I knew but now know what it's like

To be alone...!

I know...!

I remember here!

Thought it was a dream!

I never thought I'd come to this!

Living with the fear

Now I know what it means

Never thought it'd end like this!

Falling with no end...

Into what I've only done to me!

With messages to send

Out of what I've only done to me...

Falling with no

Calling with no

Crawling to the end...

I remember here!"

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I really wish your wife will beat her breast cancer... :P

Many years ago I had melanoma and things didn't look good at all. I made a tape with a strange mix, some songs like "Seasons in The Sun" (Terry Jacks) and also "There is A War" (Cohen) or "I Will survive" (Gaynor) plus depressive stuff like Jacques Brel or Carlos Gardel.

I also added songs that would give me hope and strenght.

I was lucky. I only wish your wife can listen to some music that will help her during this hell you're all going through... I send her all my best wishes and hope she'll be lucky too...

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Darryl Worley told me about his song "Second Wind" during our interview Here's what he said about it:

Darryl: Well, “Second Wind†is definitely one of those songs. I wrote it with one of my favorite songwriters in this business, and one of my better friends, Steve Leslie. My mother said it all: She was going through a bout with cancer, and she called me up one day and she said, “This song’s got healing qualities. I listen to this song two or three times a day, every day, because I feel like it’s helping me. I’m not saying that it kills cancer, I’m telling you that it helps put your soul in a place where you want to get better and get past whatever it is you’re going through. It’s designed to give you that second wind.†And my mom’s a really, really spiritual person, and it caught me a little off guard, but I wasn’t gonna argue with her. I wasn’t gonna say, “No, you’ve lost your mind, it must be the chemo.†But I can tell you she doesn’t have cancer anymore. She’s 72 and healthy as a bear. So it’s one of those things that you just go, Wow. It was only a Top 15 single, but if it affected a few people out there that way, then it was worth it.

And Matt Scannell of Vertical Horizon wrote "Forever" about losing someone. Here's what he said in our interview

Matt: "Forever" is an interesting one. It is about losing somebody, and it is about someone passing away. For me, it's actually more about people that have come and gone in my life, not really about one person. But I've had some very close friends pass away, and I remember writing that chorus: I just had the word "forever," and I felt like, You know what? That's what this song wants to be about. For some reason I came up with that "take these roses off of me, let me live, let me be." And I felt like there's a beauty when someone's gone, you feel like you're dying, in a way. And you're not. You just need to mourn it, you need to shoulder it for a while and kind of move through it until you can get back up straight again and move on, or at least not let it go. That's what this song is about, it's about not letting go, but not letting it stop you.

SF: I'll bet you get religious inferences on this, too.

Matt: You know, it's interesting, I don't. I couldn't tell you why, but I don't. I get way more people saying, "I lost my dad, and I listened to that song and it makes me remember something he said to me," or "it makes me think of him. And I love that song." One of my dear friends whose father passed away, she told me that that's her song for her father. And that's the song that she uses to keep him in her life. What an honor. It's a stunning, stunning feeling. I just got chills. I'm so grateful, because that's one of the most amazing things about songs. We were talking about it earlier with "Everything You Want." To me, it's one thing to be in my room late at night when I'm trying to exorcize my demons and get some of the stuff out that I need to get out. But it's another thing entirely when it gets out there in the world and resonates with people, and it can become something that is beneficial, or even just a little whimsy, but something that they can attach to and hold as a positive thing. Generally, I try to write songs that are a little bit more positive than negative. Maybe that's because I'm trying to talk myself up a little bit, but I also know now at this point that they're not just my songs. They're also everybody's songs."

And Little Big Town wrote "You Can't Have Everything" about the death of one of the band member's husband's, and talked about that with me, also. Here's that snippet from their interview

Songfacts: On the opposite end of that spectrum we have "You Can't Have Everything."

Phillip: That was a song that we had started, I think, the previous album. We were writing for A Place to Land, we had always wanted to do this really classic stone cold country song. And the idea of the song was to have all these beautiful things, but the one thing that really you need to hold it all together, the glue - the love - is missing, it's vacant. So I guess you can't have everything.

And the original lyric was "Oh well, you can't have everything." And it just felt like after you say, "we have the family photograph, the house, the ring, everything, but the one thing missing here is…" saying "oh well" felt kind of trite. But it wasn't. It was more like there was a real deep sadness there; "I guess you can't have everything." So we just switched the words "oh well" to "I guess." Which totally gave that emotion much more impact and depth.

We kind of vicariously lived through Kimberly's emotion of her losing her husband to a heart attack several years back. We let her play the role of the actress, of the loss that you experience in the song. But she really experienced a loss of death in her own marriage. So there was a lot of emotion to dig from in there. But we started writing that in the previous record, and then when we came around to writing for The Reason Why, we dusted it off, and that's when we changed the "oh well" to "I guess." And everything came together, and we were like, "this song feels perfect." It says it.

Songfacts: Was it a difficult one for her to sing?

Phillip: I think she was at the place where she was strong enough to play that emotion out without it overwhelming her. I think she had a few moments where it was emotional, but she was strong enough to step out and come back in. It wasn't like just total breakdown, which it had been in the previous record. That's why we couldn't go there and really make that for A Place to Land. It wasn't ready.

A lot of songs can stick around and then they find their life, they find their home. So to us, we always just try to stay open and we always try to sift through some of the ones that didn't make it from the last one. Very few of those even make it to the next process, because you always want to write the next thing or the new thing or this new idea you're inspired by.

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  • 1 month later...

First let me say I'm so sorry .... but also that I admire the both of you for your strength in getting through this together.

A few years ago my grown son passed away ... here is one of the songs played at his funeral....

Only Time - Enya

Who can say

where the road goes

where the day flows

only time

And who can say

if your love grows

as your heart chose

only time

Who can say

why your heart sighs

as your love flies

only time

And who can say

why your heart cries

when your love lies

only time

Who can say

when the roads meet

that love might be

in your heart

And who can say

when the day sleeps

if the night keeps

all your heart

Night keeps all your heart

Who can say

if your love grows

as your heart chose

only time

And who can say

where the road goes

where the day flows

only time

Who knows - only time

Who knows - only time

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All Things Must Pass- George Harrison

I just went to my dad's funeral last Tuesday.At first the Catholic church said no.But I said something about the song Danny Boy and I guess they just gave up.Death is just rough and so final.

And "In My Life" is also a very good choice.

And I apologize for not saying "I'm very sorry" the loss of a loved one takes time.No words could express the feeling.

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P.S. You Rock My World ~ Eels

I was at a funeral the day i realized

I wanted to spend my life with you

Sitting down on the steps at the old post office

The flag was flying at half mast

And i was thinking 'bout how

Everyone is dying

And maybe it is time to live

I don't know where we're going

I don't know what we'll do

Walked in to the thrif-tee

Saw the man with the hollow eyes

Who didn't give me all my change

But it didn't bother me this time

'cause i know i've only got

This moment

And it's good

I went to the gas station

Old woman honked her horn

Waiting for me to fix her car

I don't know where we're going

I don't know what we'll do

Laying in bed tonight i was thinking

And listening to all the dogs

And the sirens and the shots

And how a careful man tries

To dodge the bullets

While a happy man takes a walk

And maybe it is time to live...

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was thinking about this thread this morning and remembered a poem that I read long ago. Found it on the Internet just now. I realize it's not a song, but songs are poems with music around them, so here goes.

Walk Slowly

By Adelaide Love

If you should go before me, dear, walk slowly

Down the ways of death, well-worn and wide,

For I would want to overtake you quickly

And seek the journey’s ending by your side.

I would be so forlorn not to descry you

Down some shining highroad when I came;

Walk slowly, dear, and often look behind you

And pause to hear if someone calls your name.

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