Death

[naz]

ya huh, morbid stuff about the end of life ...

like ...

O Death

My name is death and I excel
I can open the gates to Heaven or Hell
Cast aside the flesh of thee
Cast aside and set you free

(chorus, sang 2x each time

Oh-oh Death, Oh-oh-oh Death,
Can't you spare me over till another year

I lock their jaws so they can't talk,
Stiffen their legs so they can't walk
Close their eyes so they can't see
The chill you feel, it comes from me

(chorus)

Oh Ma-ma mama come to my bed
Place a cold rag on my head
My eyes are aching and I cannot see
I feel the sheet pulling over me

(chorus)

[Bronxie]

This Womans Work - Kate Bush

Pray God you can cope.
I stand outside this woman's work,
This woman's world.
Ooh, it's hard on the man,
Now his part is over.
Now starts the craft of the father.

I know you have a little life in you yet.
I know you have a lot of strength left.
I know you have a little life in you yet.
I know you have a lot of strength left.

I should be crying, but I just can't let it show.
I should be hoping, but I can't stop thinking

Of all the things I should've said,
That I never said.
All the things we should've done,
That we never did.
All the things I should've given,
But I didn't.

Oh, darling, make it go,
Make it go away.

Give me these moments back.
Give them back to me.
Give me that little kiss.
Give me your hand.

(I know you have a little life in you yet.
I know you have a lot of strength left.
I know you have a little life in you yet.
I know you have a lot of strength left.)

I should be crying, but I just can't let it show.
I should be hoping, but I can't stop thinking

Of all the things we should've said,
That were never said.
All the things we should've done,
That we never did.
All the things that you needed from me.
All the things that you wanted for me.
All the things that I should've given,
But I didn't.

Oh, darling, make it go away.
Just make it go away now.

[theknife]

Death May Be Your Santa Claus - Mott The Hoople


(Ian Hunter/Verden Allen)

How long 'fore you realise you swing
How long 'fore you realise you sting
From the good to the bad to the ugly change
How long 'fore you start to rearrange
How long how long 'fore you realise that all's strange

How long will it take to turn you around
How long will it take to bend you down
It makes you believe in the [real] exchange
How long will it take for me to rearrange
How long how long 'fore you realise that all's strange

[Ramona_A_Stone]

Uhm, I never really thought the song This Woman's Work was about death per se... a matter of subjective opinion I suppose, it definitely deals with some sort of unspecified and possibly life-threatening struggle... but I do feel a number of other of Kate's songs are. She seems, in fact, a bit obsessed with the concepts of death, loss, seperation, the survival of the personality after death and even reincarnation. Personally, I'd've nominated this Kate song, from The Dreaming, for this thread, and I also think it's one of her most beautiful:

ALL THE LOVE

The first time I died
Was in the arms of good friends of mine
They kissed me with their tears
They hadn't been near me for years
Say, why do it now
When I won't be around?
I'm going out

We needed you
To love us too
We wait for your move

Only tragedy allows the release
Of love and grief never normally seen
I didn't want to let them see me weep
I didn't want to let them see me weak
But I know I have shown
That I stand at the gates alone

I needed you
To love me too
I wait for your move

All the love, all the love
All the love you should have given
All the love, all the love
All the love we could have given
All the love, all the love
All the love

The next time I dedicate
My life's work to the friends I make
I give 'em what they want to hear
They think I'm up to something weird
And up rears the head of fear in me
So now when they ring
I get my machine to let them in

I needed you
To love me too
I wait for your move

All the love, all the love
All the love you should have given
All the love, all the love
All the love we could have given
All the love, all the love
All the love...

<samples from Kate's answering machine:>
"Take care, toodle-oo."
"Bye-bye."
"Bye, so long now."
"Bye!"
"Later."
"Bye-ee!"
"Cheerio."
"Bye!"
"Bye-bye."
"Bye."
"stay healthy."
"Love you!"
"Bye."
"Cheers."
"See ya, luv."
"Bye!"
"Good bye."
"I'll see ya soon."
"Good night."

We needed you
To love us too
We wait for your move

As an interesting note, the very next song on the album, Houdini, about the relationship between famous magician Harry Houdini and his wife, is also in keeping with the death theme. For anyone who might not be familiar with the story, they spent a great deal of time and energy researching the possibility of afterdeath survival, consulting all the famous mediums of the time and exposing all whom they could verify as frauds. While Harry was alive, he made a pact with his wife that which ever of them should die first would do everything in their power to communicate with the other. Of course, he died first, of an appendicitis attack while performing his famous underwater straight-jacket escape. His wife tirelessly consulted mediums for many years afterward to no avail. She had worked as her husband's stage assistant for many years and they had developed an extremely elaborate and complicated code, known only to themselves, whereby they could, while seemingly making idle stage prattle, spell out words and phrases to one another while performing. Finally, Mrs. Houdini met with a medium, who, without having conscious knowledge of what he was doing, delivered her a complex set of messages which, using their private code, spelled out the words "Rosabelle, believe," which was the message they had agreed upon before Harry died...

HOUDINI

I wait at the table
And hold hands with weeping strangers
Wait for you
To join the group

The tambourine jingle-jangles
The medium roams and rambles
Not taken in
I break the circle

I want this man
To go away now

With a kiss
I'd pass the key
And feel your tongue
Teasing and receiving

With your spit
Still on my lip
You'd hit the water

Him and I in the room
To prove you are with us too
He's using code that only you and I know
This is no trick of his
This is your magic
I'd catch the cues
Watching you
Hoping you'd do something wrong

Everybody thinks you'll never make it
But every time
You escape

"Rosabelle believe"

Not even eternity
Can hold Houdini

"Rosabelle believe"

Through the glass
I'd watch you breathe
Bound and drowned
And paler than you've ever been

With your life
The only thing in my mind
We pull you from the water

"Houdini"

You
And I
And Rosabelle believe

[Wenchie]

I Am Stretched On Your Grave- Sinead O'Connor

I am stretched on your grave
And will lie there forever
If your hands were in mine
I'd be sure we'd not sever
My apple tree my brightness
It's time we were together
For I smell of the earth
And am worn by the weather

When my family thinks
That I'm safe in my bed
From night until morning
I am stretched at your head
Calling out to the air
With tears hot and wild
My grief for the girl
That I loved as a child



Do you remember
The night we were lost
In the shade of the blackthorn
And the chill of the frost
Thanks be to Jesus
We did what was right
And your maiden head still
Is your pillar of light

The priests and the friars
Approach me in dread
Because I still love you
My love and you're dead
I still would be your shelter
Through rain and through storm
And with you in your cold grave
I cannot sleep warm

So I'm stretched on your grave
And will lie there forever
If you hands were in mine
I'd be sure we'd not sever
My apple tree my brightness
It's time we were together
For I smell of the earth
And am worn by the weather


Yeats Grave - Cranberries

Silenced by death in the grave
W B Yeats couldn't save
Why did you stand there
'Where you sickened in time
But I know by now
Why did you sit here?
In the GRAVE
W.B. Yeats "Second"

Why should I blame her
That she filled my days
With misery or that she would of late
Have taught to ignorant men violent ways
Or hurled the little street upon the great
Had they but courage
Equals to desire

Sad that Maud Gonne Couldn't stay
But she had Mac Bride anyway
And you sit here with me
On the isle Inisfree

And you writing down everything
But i know by now
Why did you sit here
In the grave...

Why should I blame her
Had they but courage equals to desire


The Icicle Melts- Cranberries

When
When will the icicle melt,
And when
When will the picture show end
I should not have read the papers today
'Cause a child,child he was taken away
There's a place for the baby that died
And there's a time for the mother who cried
And she will hold him in her arms sometimes
'Cause nine months is too long

How could you hurt a child
Now does this make you satisfied
I don't know what's
happening to people today
When a child, he was taken away

There's a place for the baby that died
There's a time for the mother that cried
And she will hold him in
her arms sometimes
'Cause nine months is too long

There's a place for the baby that died
And there's a time for the mother that cried
And you will hold him in
your arms sometimes
'Cause nine months is too long

[Ramona_A_Stone]

[Mr. Burns]Excellleeeeent[/Mr. Burns]

The creepiest version of Sinead's song of course as sung by Brendon Perry, from Toward The Within.


WE ARE THE DEAD

Something kind of hit me today
I looked at you and wondered if you saw things my way
People will hold us to blame
It hit me today, it hit me today

We're taking it hard all the time
Why don't we pass it by?
Just reply, you've changed your mind
We're fighting with the eyes of the blind
Taking it hard, taking it hard

Yet now
We feel that we are paper, choking on you nightly
They tell me "Son, we want you, be elusive, but don't walk far"
For we're breaking in the new boys, deceive your next of kin
For you're dancing where the dogs decay, defecating ecstasy
You're just an ally of the leecher
Locator for the virgin King, but I love you in your fuck-me pumps
And your nimble dress that trails
Oh, dress yourself, my urchin one, for I hear them on the rails
Because of all we've seen, because of all we've said

We are the dead

One thing kind of touched me today
I looked at you and counted all the times we had laid
Pressing our love through the night
Knowing it's right, knowing it's right

Now I'm hoping some one will care
Living on the breath of a hope to be shared
Trusting on the sons of our love
That someone will care, someone will care

But now
We're today's scrambled creatures, locked in tomorrow's double feature
Heaven's on the pillow, its silence competes with hell
It's a twenty-four hour service, guaranteed to make you tell
And the streets are full of press men
Bent on getting hung and buried
And the legendary curtains
Are drawn 'round Baby Bankrupt
Who sucks you while you're sleeping
It's the theater of financiers
Count them, fifty 'round a table
White and dressed to kill

Oh caress yourself, my juicy
For my hands have all but withered
Oh dress yourself my urchin one, for I hear them on the stairs
Because of all we've seen, because of all we've said

We are the dead
We are the dead
We are the dead

Bowie, Diamond Dogs

[Wenchie]

You just reminded me of another.........
Dead Are Dancing- Toni Childs

I see a graveyard's past
the revolution's taken back
whatever happened to the sons
no more sunshine here
only darkness here
there's no-one living in this town

cause the dead are dancing
the dead are dancing
the dead are dancing
in the town

mother mary comes to me
in this graveyard of hypocricy
but father renta says I'll have to pay
in the dead are buried lies
a sinful phantom cries
can't we just rest up on the hill

but the moonlight calls us
the moon, it calls us
up and out into the town
yes, the dead are dancing
the dead are dancing
the dead are dancing
in the town

heaven does it come to me
in the dreaming that my soul's been freed
and the torment of my madness gone away
and though god says he loves
and I, I think of love
i cannot change the way I am

and so the moon, it calls me
the lunatic calls me
up and out into the town
yes, the dead are dancing
the dead are dancing
the dead are dancing
in the town

[Ramona_A_Stone]

EPITAPH

The wall on which the prophets wrote
Is cracking at the seams
Upon the instruments if death
The sunlight brightly gleams
When every man is torn apart
With nightmares and with dreams
Will no one lay the laurel wreath
As silence drowns the screams

Between the iron gates of fate
The seeds of time were sown
And watered by the deeds of those
Who know and who are known
Knowledge is a deadly friend
When no one sets the rules
The fate of all mankind I see
Is in the hands of fools

Confusion will be my epitaph
As I crawl a cracked and broken path
If we make it we can all sit back
and laugh

But I fear tomorrow I'll be crying

Yes, I fear tomorrow I'll be crying

Crying

King Crimson, In The Court of the Crimson King

[Ramona_A_Stone]

HAPPY PHANTOM

And if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go chasin' the nuns out in the yard
And I'll run naked through the streets without my mask on
And I will never need umbrellas in the rain
I'll wake up in strawberry fields every day
And the atrocities of school I can forgive
The happy phantom has no right to bitch

oo-hoo the time is getting closer
oo-hoo the time to be a ghost
oo-hoo every day we're getting closer
The sun is getting dim
Will we pay for who we've been?

So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
They'll be my ticket to the universal opera
There's Judy Garland taking Buddha by the hand
And then these seven little men got up to dance
They say Confucius does his crossword with a pen
I'm still the angel to the girl who hates to sin

Or will I see you dear and wish I could come back?
You found a girl that you could truly love again
Will you still call for me when she falls asleep
Or do we soon forget the things we cannot see?

oo-hoo the time is getting closer
oo-hoo the time to be a ghost
oo-hoo every day we're getting closer
The sun is getting dim
Will we pay for who we've been?

Tori Amos, Little Earthquakes

[Bronxie]

Originally posted by Ramona_A_Stone
Uhm, I never really thought the song This Woman's Work was about death per se... a matter of subjective opinion I suppose, it definitely deals with some sort of unspecified and possibly life-threatening struggle

I guess that's what great about music. Everyone makes it their own. To me it's about a persons struggle when someone close to them dies. Maxwell has remade the song, and his video kinda suggests the same thing, well atleast to me.

[Wenchie]

Anachie Gordon (traditional)

Harking is bonny and there lives my love
My heart lies on him and will not remove
It will not remove ohh for all that I have done
Ohh I never will forget me love Anachie
For Anachie Gordon he's bonny and he's rough
He'd entice any woman that ever he saw
He'd entice any woman and so he has done me
O I never will forget me love Anachie

Down came her father and he's standing by the door
Saying Jeannie your trying the tricks of a whore
You care nothing for a man who cares so very much for thee
You must marry Lord Sultan and leave Anachie
For Anachie Gordon he's barely but a man
Although he may be pretty but where are his lands
O the Sultan's lands are broad and his towers they are high
You must marry Lord Sultan and leave Anachie

With Anachie Gordon I'd beg for my bread
And before I'll marry Sultan it's gold to my head
With gold to my head and gowns fringed to the knee
And I'll die if I don't get me love Anachie
And you that are my parents to church you may me bring
But unto Lord Sultan I'll never bear a son
To a son or a daughter I'll never bow my knee
And I'll die if I don't get me love Anachie

Jeannie was married and from church she was brought home
And when she and her maidens so merry should have been
When she and her maidens so merry should have been
She went into her chamber, she cried all alone

Come to bed now Jeannie me honey and my sweet
For the style you my mistress it would be so sweet
Being mistress or Jeannie it's all the same to me
But in your bed Lord Sultan I never will lie
And down came her father and he's spoken with reknown
Saying you that are her maidens go loosen off her gowns
But she fell down to the floor so close down by his knee
Saying father look I'm dying for me love Anachie

The day Jeannie married was the day that Jeannie died
And the day that young Anachie came home on the tide
And down came her maidens all wringing of their hands
Saying Lord it's been so long you've spent so long on the sands
Ohh so long on the sands, o so long upon the flood
They have married your Jeannie and now she lies dead.

You that are her maidens come take me by the hand
And take me to the chamber that me love she lies in
And he's kissed her cold lips 'til his heart has turned to stone
And he's died in the chamber that his love she lies in.




(This song usually brings a tear!)

[assorted]

THE LONG BLACK VEIL
(Marijohn Wilkin - Danny Dill)
LEFTY FRIZZELL (COLUMBIA 41384, 1959)

Ten years ago, on a cold dark night
There was someone killed, 'neath the town hall light
There were few at the scene, but they all agreed
That the slayer who ran, looked a lot like me

The judge said son, what is your alibi
If you were somewhere else, then you won't have to die
I spoke not a word, though it meant my life
For I had been in the arms of my best friend's wife

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

The scaffold is high and eternity near
She stood in the crowd and shed not a tear
But some times at night, when the cold wind blows
In a long black veil, she cries over my bones

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
Nobody knows but me
Nobody knows but me
[Fade]

[floydian slip]

The Doors - The End


The killer awoke before dawn
He put his boots on
He took a face from the ancient gallery
And he walked on down the hall

He went into the room where his sister lived
And then he paid a visit to his brother
And then he walked on down the hall
And he came to a door
And he looked inside
Father
Yes son?
I want to kill you
Mother, I want to. . .

The end of laughter and soft lies
The end of nights we tried to die

This is the end

[Wenchie]

Originally posted by assorted
THE LONG BLACK VEIL
(Marijohn Wilkin - Danny Dill)
LEFTY FRIZZELL (COLUMBIA 41384, 1959)

I love this by The Chieftains w/ Mick Jagger from the album of the same name.

[Wenchie]

1952 Vincent Black Lightning - Jeff Lang


Says Red Molly, to James, "Well that's a fine motorbike.
A girl could feel special on any such like."
Says James, to Red Molly, "My hat's off to you.
It's a Vincent Black Lightning, 1952.
And I've seen you on the corners and cafes, it seems.
Red hair and black leather, my favorite color scheme."
And he pulled her on behind,
And down to Boxhill,
They'd Ride.

Says James, to Red Molly, "Here's a ring for your right hand.
But I'll tell you in earnest I'm a dangerous man;
For I've fought with the law since I was seventeen.
I've robbed many a man to get my Vincent machine.
And now I'm twenty-one years, I might make twenty-two.
And I don't mind dyin' but for the love of you.
But if fate should break my stride, then I'll give you my Vincent, To Ride."

"Come down Red Molly," called Sargent McQuade.
"For they've taken young James Aidee for Armed Robbery.
Shotgun blast hit his chest, left nothing inside.
Oh, come down, Red Molly, to his dying bedside."
When she came to the hospital, there wasn't much left.
He was runnin' out of road. He was runnin' out of breath.
But he smiled, to see her cry.
And said, "I'll give you my Vincent.
To Ride."

Said James, "In my opinion, there's nothing in this world
Beats a '52 Vincent and a Redheaded girl.
Now Nortons and Indians and Greavses won't do.
Oh, they don't have a Soul like a Vincent '52."
Well he reached for her hand and he slipped her the keys.
He said, "I've got no further use...for these.
I see Angels on Ariels in leather and chrome,
Swoopin' down from Heaven to carry me home."
And he gave her one last kiss and died.
And he gave her his Vincent.
To Ride.

[LV15]

Stormtroopers Of Death - Kill Yourself

Can't take it, never could
Time to end it, wish you would
Friends and family, they're all gone
Life for you is just a con
Dig yourself a hole in the ground
Push up daisies six feet down
Take a dirt nap, buy the farm
Inject a bubble in your aim

CHORUS:
Kill yourself, kill yourself!
Why don't you kill yourself?
Don't rely on no one else
End it all just kill yourself!

Life is just a one way ticket
Everyone must go around
Here's bucket go and kick it
Slit your wrists without a sound
When you go don't make a big deal
No dramatics, don't overplay
Cause don't you know that we'll all feel
Better once you're gone away

You're a loser, there's nothing left for you
A worthless loser, at everything you do

Kill yourself, kill yourself!
Why don't you kill yourself?
Don't rely on no one else
End it all just kill yourself....NOW !

[Wenchie]

Lightning Crashes- LIVE

lightning crashes, a new mother cries
her placenta falls to the floor
the angel opens her eyes
the confusion sets in
before the doctor can even close the door

lightning crashes, an old mother dies
her intentions fall to the floor
the angel closes her eyes
the confusion that was hers
belongs now, to the baby down the hall

oh now feel it comin' back again
like a rollin' thunder chasing the wind
forces pullin' from the center of the earth again
I can feel it.

lightning crashes, a new mother cries
this moment she's been waiting for
the angel opens her eyes
pale blue colored iris,
presents the circle
and puts the glory out to hide, hide