Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me. Quite likely this poem, as full of metaphor and alliteration as it is, would be listed in the top five for most of us when asked for our favorite poem, or quote, regarding death. It is conceivable this assumption is incorrect, but not likely.
This poem came up while reading Chicken Scratches Thursday Thirteen — where Christine posted thirteen of her favorite quotes on death. I decided this would be a nice quiet way to end “peaceful posting” week here at Wonderland or Not, posting about death. At the very least the end result of death must be peace.
I won’t be doing poems, I’ll be doing song lyrics — only five. The thought that misfortune could mark me, for choosing thirteen, looms slightly just out of my line of reasoning, yet it’s still visible on the periphery. Safety dictates my list of five.
You may share your favorites or those which come to mind soonest, even if they are not your favorites.
Don’t Fear the Reaper
Admittedly, for me anyway, this is probably more about the guitar hook than about the reaper.
All our times have come
Here but now they’re gone
Seasons don’t fear the reaper
Nor do the wind, the sun or the rain
We can be like they are
Suicide is Painless — Manic Street Preachers Version
The game of life is hard to play
I’m gonna lose it anyway
The losing card I’ll someday lay
so this is all I have to say.
That suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
and I can take or leave it if I please.
A brave man once requested me
to answer questions that are key
’is it to be or not to be’
and I replied ‘oh why ask me?‘
—
That suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
and I can take or leave it if I please.
At this point in time this is the song to play at my funeral party.
This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end
Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
Ill never look into your eyes…again
The Lights Will Stay On — I posted this vid last week sometime with the lyrics but it’s probably my favorite.
And of course
The famous tenor aria from the final act of Puccini’s Turandot. Turandot is the beautiful cold-hearted femme fatale princess who lures love-struck princes to their death. Anyone who wants to marry her is asked three riddles: If he answers them right he gets to marry her, but if he doesn’t he is beheaded.
Addendum: I should point out this is the final act of this opera, and because it is full of Italian poetry and metaphor it’s hard to translate literally. Please take my word on this. Someone is going down. 
Cooper: I hadn’t thought about which song will be played at my wake — though I do intend to have one! I hadn’t thought about the Doors song — lovely, haunting choice. Have you heard Ofra Haza’s Kaddish? I would include that in the mix. Am beginning to feel somewhat normal again — planning my mom’s memorial service gave me permisson to grieve — and so I did.
Thanks for the shout out. Have a great weekend, XINE
Cooper sick as I am I did plan my memorial party – my best friend insists on playing Tom Waits “Waltzing Matilda” and “My piano has been drinking” – every other song as one year I drove people crazy playing those songs
You chose some of my more approriate choices Warren Zevon inspired me through his incredible graceful dying days and these are some of my favorite lyrics “Please Stay” from the CD “The Wind“
Will you stay with me to the end?
When there’s nothing left
But you and me and the wind
We’ll never know till we try
To find the other side of goodbye
There’s a reason David Letterman had his first solo show for Zevon and people from Hunter S to Dave Barry participated
This was one of your more magnificent posts – but I have a CD of teenage death songs that played every day from my birthday to 9/11 seven weeks later.
And my father wanted me to take a course on death and dying with him given by Eliizabeth Kubler Ross. I thought not
“Kaddish” The Ginsberg poem is one of my favorites. The original almost makes a believer out of me. Almost
I know you love Ben Harper — you forget this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3yu3lvuTS0
Waiting on an angel
one to carry me home
hope you come to see me soon
cause I don’t want to go alone
I don’t wanna go alone
Now angel won’t you come by me
angel hear my plea
take my hand lift me up
so that I can fly with thee
so that I can fly with thee
“The End” is perfect.
Don’t Fear the Reaper is one of my huzbink’s favorite songs. I on the other hand can’t think of Suicide is Painless without thinking of MASH. I do like the Dickenson poem…
I am persuaded that the end result of death is not peace but conflict. The conflict of a new consciousness — entirely unconnected to the previous one, he hastens to add; I am not a reincarnationist — striving for self-definition vs. the hostile world in which it finds itself.
I trust that it’s the studio version of The End that you desire at your funeral party. Not the one on Absolutely Live. Unless you’re planning on sitting up in your casket and shouting “Shut up!!!” if the party’s too loud when you think they need to be quiet.
lots of beautiful words to choose from…
favourites would be .…the Doors.….Nessun Dorma.…
Tom Waits singing Waltzing Matilda brings me to tears .…as well as Danny Boy…
My choice of music for my funeral .…The Dying Swan and Meditation.….
I loved the guitar in Blue Oyster Cult’s Don’t Fear the Reaper like hell when I was 17. I remember playing the record with a gramophone, AKA a record player or a phonograph. G you took me such a long way back you can not even imagine
There will come a time when even death must pass away– Lovecraft
The lacrimosa from Mozart’s Requiem is another goodie. And Bobby McFerrin’s Don’t Worry, Be Happy, of course.
I never realized how many songs about death, or pointing to death in some way or another, there are out there until I read this and started to look them up.
“The End:” is tight for the clear winner.
Marilyn Manson has the lead on death songs.
Here’s one I forgot about.
Thoughts of a Dying Atheist
know the moment’s near
and there’s nothing we can do
look through a faithless eye
are you afraid to die?
It scares the hell out of me
and the end is all I can see
and it scares the hell out of me
and the end is all I can see
Haven’t thought too much about funeral songs, I’m going to start working on it.
I thought I was the only one with a soft spot for “Don’t Fear The Reaper”!
As for funeral music, I’d pick “Dirt Floor” by Chris Whitley and Jeff Buckley’s version of “Hallelujah”…it sounds so sad and haunting, but if you listen to the words it’s really about love and sex and all that good stuff.
Poems are much harder, too many come to mind, but one I really like is “A Man in HIs LIfe” by Yehuda Amichai.
SNL has forever warped my perception of Don’t Fear the Reaper. Now when listen to it, I cannot stop focusing on the cow bell..!
Don’t Fear the Reaper was long my psych-up song for big races. I recall one indoor meet at the old armory track at Boston University where a friend brought a boombox. I put on the tape, cranked up the volume and stood there staring at the wall. One of the Nat’l Guardmen doing weekend duty at the armory gave me a black shirt that had on it a white skull surrounded by the words “Kill ‘em all, let God sort them out.”
Both became steadfast companions at races after that. It freaked some people out. Which was the intended or desired affect.
But that’s not the song I want played at my funeral. Clash, perhaps.
somebody
got mur urdered
somebodie’s
dead fore eh eh ver
Or, Lost in a Supermarket (where everyone can shop happily).
I want a party, not a dirge.
Doesn’t change the fact that anyone who listens to BOC is way, way cool.
“Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glint on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you wake in the morning hush,
I am the swift, uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight.
I am the soft starlight at night.
Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep.
Do not stand at my grave and cry.
I am not there, I did not die!”
Mary Frye (1932)
Songs about death:
“Last Kiss “Pearl Jam version.
GF chose it .
“In My Time Of Dying,“
Led Zeppelin-y version,
for the after party,
“Amazing Grace,” of course.
I like to say, And on that cheery note.…
We’ll miss Pavarotti.
Great alternative on choosing song lyrics! I concur with your summation that, “At the very least the end result of death must be peace.”
Probably my favorite song about death and not living in fear of it has to be “Rain” by The Blake Babies.
RAIN
by The Blake Babies
You’re lost beneath the sea
And you didn’t wait for me.
You left me here, left me hangin’ on.
When I knew you’d drowned,
Did you think I’d wait around?
When I woke up, you were already gone.
You could waste your life feeling lonely
Or you could waste your life feeling pain.
When you carry the weight of one too many yesterdays,
You won’t know to come in from the rain.
You dug up your own grave.
You’ve no life left to save.
You’re always saying, saying you can’t go on.
Well, I’ve been beneath the sea
And I couldn’t hardly see.
When I woke up, you were already gone.
I’ve wasted time feeling lonely.
I’ve wasted half my life feeling pain,
But at least I feel the weight upon my shoulder.
At least I know to come in from the rain.
At least I know to come in from the rain.
You won’t know to come in from the rain.
Oh, on a side note, I’d want to pull a Rob Gordon and have “Many Rivers To Cross” be played at my funeral.
OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH.… I love song lyric thingies.…
Candle in the Wind
Elton John
“And it seems to me you lived your life
Like a candle in the wind
Never knowing who to cling to
When the rain set in
And I would have liked to have known you
But I was just a kid
Your candle burned out long before
Your legend ever did”
— — — -
Feed Jake (well kind of a death song, the owner of a dog dies) Sung by: Pirates Of The Mississippi
“Now I lay me down to sleep…
I pray the Lord my soul to keep…
If I die before I wake… feed Jake…
He’s been a good dog…
My best friend right through it all…
If I die before I wake…feed Jake…”
Christine — Thanks for the idea too. I hadn’t until just now and I thank you for pointing me in that direction, it is beautiful.
Pia: Waltzing Matilda is a great choice.
” Kiddish” is also on my list.
G: Good old Ben, I love him. The song however has too many religious tones for me, though it is sung beautifully by him.
Kellypea: I never watched much Mash although I have seen reruns and the original movies.
OC: I am not much of a believer in new consciousness because frankly that would kind of suck. But yet one wonders is life devoid of conflict really life?
I think death should be followed by a great and loud party.
laketrees: The Dying Swan and Meditation — beautiful choice.
gil: No, not a gramophone????
I didn’t think those things had been used since the early forties.
Doug: The “Lacrimosa” makes sense , I’ve never heard that Lovecraft quote, but don’t worry be happy would be a good recessional for a funeral service.
John: There are quite a few , but as death is inevitable it makes sense.
Vanessa: “A Man in HIs LIfe” I’ve never read either, but I’m on my way.
I’m going to check out “Dirt Floor”.
Davidj: I so rarely watch “Saturday Night Live” I remain unaffected.
SK: Clash give some excellent death or funeral lyrics, or lyrics on life for that matter. I actually do not listen to BOC except for the fact that those lyrics and that song was the first thing that came to mind when thinking about “death lyrics”.
Casey: I love the PJ version of “Last Kiss”.
Great poem and good choice– the Zep.
Amazing Grace is so hauntingly sad, and empty feeling.
therapydoc: We will miss him.
Thanks for stopping by. I’ve looked through your blog it is quite wonderful.
MoJo: Both Good Choices. I had never heard the Blake Babies -“Rain” I just viewed some of it on You Tube.
Shayna: Hugs and kisses for being back — hopefully for some time to come.
Great Choice, and the lyrics are spectacular aren’t they. It’s funny as when a song is uber popular one tends to forget to really listen to it.
Doesn’t it seem around this time of the year, we get death on the brain???
I like the choices via the rock songs. I don’t have any particular “death” song, probably just haven’t tried to think too much about that lately…for obvious reasons.
[…] Fear Reaper Jump to Comments The other day, blog buddy Cooper posted some thoughts on death. Now, I could waste precious bandwidth musing on how a vibrant 22-year-old could possibly be […]
oooou marilyn manson does have the lead on death songs and my heart <3
i liked .….. this poem alot .…..
Suicide is Painless — Manic Street Preachers Version
The game of life is hard to play
I’m gonna lose it anyway
The losing card I’ll someday lay
so this is all I have to say.
That suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
and I can take or leave it if I please.
A brave man once requested me
to answer questions that are key
‘is it to be or not to be’
and I replied ‘oh why ask me?’
—
That suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
and I can take or leave it if I please.
who wrote it ?