Top ten songs about death

For years the EG ran it's "Top 10 songs about.." series and for some reason I was building a list in my head of the top 10 songs about death. I am aware how lame the whole High Fidelity style lists thing is, but bugger it, it amuses me, and that's pretty much what this blog type thing is for, innit ?

Anyway, to the list. The cheesier the song the better, the absolute pinnacle of the genre being where the chorus turns out to have some ironic or prophetic connection with the death, particularly where it actually turns out to be the dead person's last words.

To wit:

Hello, This is Joanie (The Telephone Answering Machine Song) - Paul Evans

An absolute classic of the genre, where Joanie's answering machine message provides a tragic reminder of the voice of the singer's dead lover. In the last verse he even calls the answering machine again after he finds out that she's dead because "still there was a way to hear her voice". Cree-py ! Enjoy the full lyrics here

Billy Don't Be a Hero - Paper Lace

This has everything - prophetic chorus, whistling solo, marching drums, what else could you want. I was all over this one on the karaoke machine at Kay's 40th, and I must say I think I gave it a pretty good shake. Paper Lace followed this one up with The Night Chicago died, another song involving death, which is probably too much of a good thing, even for me.

Tell Laura I Love Her - Ray Peterson

This one really cranks the cheese factor up to 11, largely as a result of his over the top vocal delivery. It's amazing how many of these death songs are about automotive accidents - let that be a warning to you, kids.

Leader of the Pack - The Shangri Las

"Betty, is that Jimmy's ring you're wearing?". The tragic tale of forbidden love between a bad boy biker and an innocent schoolgirl whose parents are always putting him down (down, down). Look out ! Look out ! Things don't end well.

I Did What I Did for Maria - Tony Christie

This song gives you three deaths for the price of one as Tony looks back unrepentantly on the tragic events leading up to his imminent execution. For some reason I always get Tony Christie mixed up with Tony Orlando, perhaps because of their similar cheesy vocal style.

Delilah - Tom Jones

"I felt the knife in my hand - she laughed no more". Tom Jones' tale of a crime of passion seems just a little politically incorrect today, as I'm reasonably sure it's now frowned upon to respond to being humiliated by your partner by stabbing her with a kitchen knife. Ah, the old days !

Dead Man's Curve - Jan and Dean

The first - and to my knowledge only - instance of the surf/death song hybrid genre. Co-written by Brian Wilson, this song is supposedly written about a real life accident that left Jan in a coma, although snopes.com says this is an urban legend. Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny) apparently did have an accident on the real life version of this bend on Sunset Boulevard.

I Want My Baby Back - Jimmy Cross

Since this is actually a spoof on songs about death it probably doesn't count, but it's still funny. I had this on a Dr Demento album at one stage which seems to have disappeared somewhere, and I particularly like the final chorus with the digging and scratching sound effects.

Teen Angel - Mark Dinning

Again with the car crash. As far as I can tell, the moral of this story seems to be "Running back into a car which is stalled across the railway tracks could be bad for your health". So don't do that, mmmkay ?

Seasons in the Sun - Terry Jacks

OK, I'm really scraping the bottom of the barrel with this one, certainly the sappiest and most mawkish of the songs on this list. Am I the only one thinking "Just die already" by the end ?



When searching through the internet for lyrics and references to these song I'm devastated to have found that this is not as original an idea as I once thought it was, but it does still amuse me.