With the possible exceptions of love, sex, and slaying mythical beasts, no topic has commanded the attention of song-writers throughout history more than death. From Metallica's "Enter Sandman" to The Shangri-La's "Leader of the Pack" and even as far back as Beethoven's "Deathstomp 9 in D minor", the great beyond has been the inspiration for some of the most compelling songs ever written.
If you think I'm making up the title of that Beethoven number, by all means, go ahead and Google it, I'll wait. Did you do it? Wow, you are a gullible one, aren't you?
Adam Brown is a freelance writer. He blogs at Scenic Anemia.
Anyway, while songs about death come in all styles and genres, there is one thing most of them have in common...listening to them will bum you right the hell out.
And why not? The songs are about dying. That's rarely cause for celebration. But there are exceptions. Today, we celebrate seven songs about death that are guaranteed to liven up any party. Even if they don't mean to.
7. Elton John - "I Think I'm Gonna Kill Myself"
This Elton John classic from 1972's Honky Chateau album certainly doesn't go to any great lengths to hide its dark subject matter. The title pretty much tells you everything you need to know. But give the song a listen and you're sure to be asking yourself one question. What the hell is he so happy about?
It's not just that it's one of the Rocket Man's happier tunes. It's more that it's quite possibly the most chipper he's ever sounded on record. The song is so breezy and lighthearted it makes "Philadelphia Freedom" sound like a Slayer tune. The major key chord sequence and catchy-as-all-hell melody would be more than enough to qualify the song for inclusion on this list, but right about the time that you think things can't possibly get any more sunshiny sounding, you find yourself staring down the business end of a tap dancing interlude. Tap dancing. On a song about suicide.
Because it was released in 1972, an actual music video for the song wasn't available. While there were better quality video clips out there, I settled on the one below because of the overwhelming enthusiasm displayed by the tambourine player accompanying Elton on stage. While most people treat playing the tambourine like an afterthought, this guy treats it like a mission from God. It adds a nice extra bit of "what the hell?!?!" to the performance. Unfortunately, the tap dancing solo isn't included, but fret not, Mr. Tambourine Man brought along a xylophone.
6. Bright Eyes - "Four Winds"
Nothing says "hoedown" quite like an opening fiddle riff. And the fiddle solo that opens Bright Eyes' "Four Winds" is a doozy. This is the type of swinging tune that rednecks have been line dancing to for decades. But it's highly unlikely that any Texas two stepping has ever gone down to a song that can't even make it a full five lines before breaking out the lyrics about "people always dying" and "bodies decomposing in containers." And it just gets better from there.
"Four Winds" isn't so much just about death as it is full-on apocalypse. Later verses feature happy-go-lucky lines like "the Bible's blind, the Torah's deaf, the Koran is mute. If you burn them all together you'd get close to the truth." Note to Muslim extremists: he said it, not me. By the time the lines about genocide in South Dakota roll around, most people would probably find themselves a little down in the dumps if not for the fact that they're probably too busy whistling along to notice. If you've never heard this song, make sure to give it a listen. I can all but guarantee that it will be a long time before you hear "when great Satan's gone, the whore of Babylon" sung with such funtastic enthusiasm.
The video for "Four Winds" raises a number of questions itself, not the least of which is "why did the audience bring so much garbage to the show?" Pay special attention around the 2:34 mark when someone hurls a pair of fuzzy dice on stage. Awwww.
5. Smashing Pumpkins - "Today"
Today? It's the greatest day you've ever known? Wow, that's great Billy! How come? Oh? Oh. Oh my.
To call anything by the Smashing Pumpkins "upbeat" may seem like a stretch, but on "Today" Billy Corgan's half singing, half caterwauling whine sounded deceptively positive. As promising as "the greatest day I've ever known" may sound, it's really anything but. You see, the reason today is such a great day is because tomorrow ain't coming. Things have gotten so bad that the song's protagonist is planning to kill himself. Today is the greatest day ever, because he knows things will never be as bad as they have been ever again. Cheers, everybody!
The video for "Today" doesn't give a whole lot of insight as to why the subject of the song wants to kill himself, unless it's distress over what has become of his beloved ice-cream truck. It does feature Pumpkins guitarist James Iha in a dress though. If that's not enough to make a person want to kill themselves, I don't know what is.
4. Norman Greenbaum - "Spirit In the Sky"
How happy sounding is this tune? There's a version of it on YouTube that features the cast of The Lion King. And I don't mean the play. It, literally, features Simba and all those other animated jungle beasts frolicking around while singing the line "when I die" as much as lionly possible.
It's rumored that Greenbaum wrote this song not because he's overly religious and can't wait to die, but instead because he was looking to appeal to a wider audience and thought a song about going to see Jesus was the way to go. Judging from the lyrics, I'm going to have to assume that is true. For someone so fired up about Jesus, he's a little bit light on religious philosophy. What this song boils down to is a guy telling you that when he dies, he's going to see Jesus. This is after he dies. And did I mention this is going to happen after he dies? Because, that's when he's going, after he dies. Seriously, he says so right in the song...about seventy five times. He's going to see Jesus. Just as soon as he can die. Which should happen right around the time someone finds him. Dead.
Against all odds, there is an actual video for this song, even though it was released sometime in the late 1940's (give or take a few decades). So how is Norman Greenbaum going to die when he goes to see Jesus? If the camera work in this video is any indication, probably from ingesting far too many psychedelic drugs.
3. Warren Zevon - Excitable Boy
It's doubtful that the dude responsible for "Werewolves of London" really ever wrote a song that sounded anything but joyous. Keeping things relatively positive sounding while tackling even the most serious of subjects was part of Warren Zevon's charm. "Excitable Boy" takes that juxtaposition of dark subject matter and upbeat melodies to dizzying new heights.
The song couples "ooooh wahhh ooooh" background vocals and 150% of the USDA recommended amount of saxophone with lyrics about a kid whose disturbing behavior is shrugged off with eventual disastrous results. When he's rubbing pot roast on his chest at dinner, he's just an excitable boy. When he bites the usher's leg at a movie theater, he's just an excitable boy. When he rapes and murders his prom date, well, that's just pretty messed up. When he's let out of the mental institution ten years later, digs up the the prom date and makes a cage out of her bones, you start to wonder just what the hell is going on in Zevon's head. Songs like this are supposed to be sung either while strumming an acoustic guitar all melancholy like or in a cookie monster voice while playing an electric guitar tuned to drop C. But Warren Z. could never be bothered with bumming people out. The world is a much lesser place without him.
An actual video for "Excitable Boy" was nowhere to be found. But trust me when I say that this video, which appears to have been made using nothing other than 'The Sims 2' turns the overall creepiness of this song to well past eleven.
2. Celine Dion - "My Heart Will Go On (Club Mix)"
In its original ballad version, this song makes perfect sense. The lyrics, while depressing as all hell, are mildly hopeful and probably provided loads of comfort to plenty of people who lost loved ones and had terrible taste in music. But, inexplicably, Celine went the extra mile and commissioned a club remix of the song. Because, when you're mourning lost love, what better to do than hit the club?
How much better would Titanic have been if, upon learning Leonardo DiCaprio had died, Kate Winslet's character opted not to swim off and find a whistle, but instead stuck a glow stick in her mouth and stood on that wood door and started vogueing? How much more awesome could it get than that? The answer is none. None more awesome.
I couldn't find a video of Celine partying it up to her ode to lost love, but really, it's for the best. What I found instead is far more touching. And by "touching" I mean totally gay. If you're a dude anyway. Otherwise, it's just kind of gay. Apparently, someone with video editing software, too much time on their hands and, presumably, a plethora of emotional problems, decided it would be a good idea to splice together various images from the Disney movie "Spirit" and set them to the clubtacular sounds of "My Heart Will Go On." You know what's more unsettling than the thought of someone making a homemade video for "My Heart Will Go On" using nothing more than clips from a Disney movie? Not a damn thing.
1. Kiss - "Detroit Rock City"
Has Kiss ever cranked out a song that didn't sound like its entire purpose was to get them amped up to head to a party? OK, except "Beth." The fact that "Detroit Rock City" is actually about death borders on unbelievable. Something about that "get up, everybody's gonna move their feet" chorus just doesn't really give one an impending sense of doom. And even if it did, the drummer is wearing kitty cat makeup. What could go wrong?
For the unfortunate fan that this song was written about, the answer is "a whole hell of a lot." The song begins with a news report that talks about, among other things, a fatal car accident. As it turns out, Paul Stanley wrote "Detroit Rock City" about a fan who was killed while traveling to a Kiss concert. Hell, he even found some time to mention the car accident somewhere near the end of the song, ending with the line "I know I'm gonna die, why?". But by that time, who the hell is listening to what Paul has to say? Anyone with a shred of metal in them should have been rocking out on the air guitar and swinging their mullet in circles well before that point.
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“Last Kiss” by Pearl Jam (among many others)
Gotta be up there on the list. Extremely catchy, great singalong song. Any idiot can play it on guitar and light up the atmosphere in the room.
Downright depressing lyrics when you take the music away.
We’ll be publishing one post per week that is just a really entertaining post about music. This doesn’t mean we’ll be posting less tutorials. It’s important to mix things up a bit, and I assume we’re all music lovers here!
Great post. Plus I’m really stoked to the Smashing Pumpkins on the list. They don’t make many lists these days. They’re an all time favorite band of mine. It’s interesting in interviews hearing Billy Corgan talk about why he wrote the song and what it meant.
A stark contrast to music of this new generation where lyrics seem to be no more complex than a 3rd level story of the cat jumped over the fence.
Oh… and I forgot to mention “Spirit in the Sky” one of my all time favorites as well! I’ve been “dying” to request this song on the local radio station but haven’t had the chance yet.
great article - I totally forgot about that Elton John song…
I can’t believe I know this, but I need to make a correction - this dance version of My Heart Will go on was not sung by Celine Dion. It’s a sound-alike as it was really quite common if you were in gay bars in the 90’s to hear dance cover versions of popular songs done by sound-alikes. Pretty much any song that was in the top-40 would end up danci-fied; I recall there were several very upbeat dance versions of Smells Like Teen Spirit…
Klaatu’s song off their first album is the most cheerful ditty about California slipping off into the ocean after an earthquake…:
California Jam
(John Woloschuk / Dino Tome)
Hodad made the scene toting a six-pack of cold cola
A stogie smoking in hand
A groovin’ in his sandals
California’s on my mind
Surf and sand setting in the sun
California’s on my mind
One day you’re gonna be a place in our memory
Na na na na na na na
When Woody hit the dunes flying foxtails and Old Glory
(Glory)
Rubber ripped the sand
He gunned a souped-down Stingray
Hey hey
Ah, California
She’s in mythical Malibu
Sitting on the ocean
Goodbye mythical Malibu
The San Andreas Misfortune
Will claim the lives of sons and wives
The headlines will fill page after page
California’s on my mind
Surf and sand setting in the sun
In the sun in the sun in the sun
In the setting sun
Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba
One day you’re gonna be one sweet memory
Oh yeah
California
Swingin’ on the beach
To the sounds of their time
Yeah yeah yeah
I’m not a music snob sharknip126, but Pearl Jam didn’t write “last kiss,” Pearl Jam just covered it (Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers did) and I would hardly consider that song upbeat.
Man, you totally forgot “People Who Died” by poet/writer/musician Jim Carroll from the Basketball Diaries soundtrack. I actually thought that might be No. 1. It was the first song I thought of when I saw the title of the list.
I ran across a song from the 1970s that blows all of these away. It is the most uplifting song about dying. Not only in the lyrics but the music has a special bounciness to it that is just….uplifting. It’s by Blood Sweat & Tears & it’s called “AND WHEN i DIE”. This is the song I want in my mind on my deathbed. Check it out. Get Blood Sweat & Tears greatest hits, you’ll also get “Spinning Wheel”, “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy”.
While I don’t really listen to every track these 3 tracks have a certain positive feel & one is about death.
Let me know if I am off base but this one should be the #1 best song about death.
The swedish band “Pain of salvation” has a song called “rope ends”. It’s about a woman trying to hang herself. after the first attempt with one of her husbands buisness ties fails she tries again
“this time she picks a stronger tie, with winnie the pooh and friends”
how amazing is that!? Winnie the pooh mentioned in a song about suicide.
Joe Blow: The reason I included Celine Dion is because she actually released an official club version of the song with her vocals on it as a single. After giving it a listen again, I think you may be right that this is not her singing. But there is, in fact, an official club mix that she sings on. Oh how I wish I didn’t know that.
Whilst I can agree with the Zevon choice, I’d almost be more inclined to go with his “Your Shit’s Fucked Up.” Nothing more uplifting that hearing a brilliant artist relate his oncologist’s report…
The tambourine player with Elton John is Ray Cooper, one of the best percussionists ever. His style and showmanship are incomparable. Back in 1995, when Elton sung at Rio de Janeiro/Brazil, Ray had a solo moment in the middle of Elton’s show, and the crowd sung-along with his congas for ten minutes!
This video is from the duo’s tour at USSR, in the late 70’s. There’s a DVD of this tour available at the stores, called “To Russia… with Elton”.
There are way more upbeat songs about death, then THAT. For example: Try, Andrew W.K “Ready to Die”. Honestly. A list of 7 songs, is not enough to cover the best. Do some more research.
‘Someone Great’ by LCD Soundsystem is a funny one, ‘cos it lures you in thinking that it’s a nice, upbeat electro-y song for the first couple of listens, but then when you actually start to listen to the lyrics, they’re heart-wrenching! Sneaky.
Thanks, great list - I forgot how much i love ‘Spirit in the Sky’!
No M*A*S*H theme song? In the movie someone sings the lyrics (I don’t even know the song’s name) and the chorus begins “Cause suicide is painless…” Also it’s got a nice guitar part. Not REALLY a “rock” song but so much about death, pretty much every line is unambiguous on this.
The MASH theme song is simply titled “Suicide is Painless.”
My vote for peppiest, most upbeat song about death would be Jethro Tull’s “Lick Your Fingers Clean.” It’s a ridiculously upbeat song in general, that it’s about death makes it even more fun.
I just went through and listened to everything on here that looked like it might possibly fit on the “Happy Death” playlist I’m putting together. Found some really great songs, and I have a few unmentioned ones to contribute as well:
I Can’t Decide — by The Scissor Sisters
When You’re Evil — by Voltaire
A Gorey Demise — by Creature Feature
Lovely, Lovely — by Dearestazazel
Nowhere to Run — by Stegosaurus Rex (It sounds neat and techno- just look up the lyrics. You’ll be VERY surprised)
Tie the Rope — by The Format
Re: Your Brains — by Jonathon Coulton (Catchy chorus)
Slaughter Your World — by Looking For Group
yall forgot to mention riders on the storm by the doors also a remix for need for speed featured snoop dog with the doors.
both had a relaxing upbeat that made it sound really nice to have a killer off your whole family
The Doors: ….sweet family will die….riders on the storm
snoop(remix): yeah yea, alright , right
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User Comments
( ADD YOURS )Listener August 21st
How is this a tutorial? What have we learned?
( )sharknip126 August 21st
“Last Kiss” by Pearl Jam (among many others)
( )Gotta be up there on the list. Extremely catchy, great singalong song. Any idiot can play it on guitar and light up the atmosphere in the room.
Downright depressing lyrics when you take the music away.
Justin August 21st
Oh, I don’t mind that it’s not a tutorial. Thematic exploration is fun, too.
You missed a really good one, though:
Dress Sexy At My Funeral, by Smog - a dead man asks his wife to remember all the good times they had, banging each other silly on the beach.
( )Angus August 21st
Ha, what a great idea. Very funny, nicely written.
( )Bilbo August 21st
this is not a tutorial, you moron!
( )it’s a web roundup, it’s supposed to augment our repertory
Joel Falconer August 21st
Listener: Since this site launched we’ve been publishing articles as well as tutorials. Relax.
( )Michael Peaarson August 21st
Sloan - The Lines You Amend. An upbeat song about a suicide note.
I was going to suggest some Smiths / Cure songs, too, but it’s a bit too obvious.
Oh, hey - Timbuk3 - The Future’s So Bright. A very upbeat song… about a nuclear apocalypse.
( )Adam Brown August 21st
Michael: I cannot BELIEVE I forgot the Timbuk3 song. Good call.
( )Skellie August 21st
We’ll be publishing one post per week that is just a really entertaining post about music. This doesn’t mean we’ll be posting less tutorials. It’s important to mix things up a bit, and I assume we’re all music lovers here!
( )Crystal August 21st
Great article Adam!!!
( )Bugsy August 22nd
Great post. Plus I’m really stoked to the Smashing Pumpkins on the list. They don’t make many lists these days. They’re an all time favorite band of mine. It’s interesting in interviews hearing Billy Corgan talk about why he wrote the song and what it meant.
A stark contrast to music of this new generation where lyrics seem to be no more complex than a 3rd level story of the cat jumped over the fence.
Well done.
( )Bugsy August 22nd
Oh… and I forgot to mention “Spirit in the Sky” one of my all time favorites as well! I’ve been “dying” to request this song on the local radio station but haven’t had the chance yet.
( )JP August 22nd
any idiot knows that Billy Corgan was coming out of a depressed funk when we wrote today. dorks.
( )Paul August 22nd
Hey, where’s “next to you” by the police? That’s just downright creepy when you listen to the lyrics, but upbeat as hell.
( )ME August 22nd
the best song isn’t even on the list.
And when I Die………Blood, Sweat & Tears
check that one out kiddies.
( )box August 22nd
I can’t pass up the opportunity to list one of the best songs ever written:
There Is A Light That Never Goes Out by The Smiths
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EK_YXVTULLE
( )Vincent Colombo August 22nd
I’d also include “I Can’t Wait to Meetchu” by Macy Gray
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/macygray/icantwaittomeetchu.html
( )Kim August 22nd
I’d like to add a great song called “The Princess and the Pony” by Sean Na Na:
“How many of you will be
Left to make a scene
At my funeral party…
How many of you be will be
Left to drink whiskey
At my funeral party
Remember to bring your flask
And pour a shot for
Your dead homie
Shake your ass around my casket
( )And bring your beach blankets
Volleyball, wine coolers
Spin your favorite records.”
Matt August 22nd
What about “DEAD” by They Might Be Giants? A perfect example.
( )Elwood Herring August 22nd
Ashes are Burning by Renaissance.
Trust me. It’s the best.
( )Mike August 22nd
Blink 182 - Adam’s Song
IMO
( )Homey T Clown August 22nd
You forgot “Do You Realize” by the Flaming Lips
( )Ammy August 22nd
Good Charlotte- Day that I die
Sentenced - Excuse me while i kill myself
( )Dustismo August 22nd
I think ‘Those are People Who Died’ by Jim Carroll belongs on this list. Otherwise good selections.
( )djk August 22nd
How about Malcolm Middleton’s “We’re all going to die”? Upbeat in the music, certainly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbL9Vsobx8I
( )Frank August 22nd
Wait what about Ready to die by Andrew W.K
( )Vin August 22nd
No “99 Red Balloons”?
( )joe Bloe August 22nd
great article - I totally forgot about that Elton John song…
I can’t believe I know this, but I need to make a correction - this dance version of My Heart Will go on was not sung by Celine Dion. It’s a sound-alike as it was really quite common if you were in gay bars in the 90’s to hear dance cover versions of popular songs done by sound-alikes. Pretty much any song that was in the top-40 would end up danci-fied; I recall there were several very upbeat dance versions of Smells Like Teen Spirit…
( )Farrell McGovern August 22nd
Klaatu’s song off their first album is the most cheerful ditty about California slipping off into the ocean after an earthquake…:
California Jam
(John Woloschuk / Dino Tome)
Hodad made the scene toting a six-pack of cold cola
A stogie smoking in hand
A groovin’ in his sandals
California’s on my mind
Surf and sand setting in the sun
California’s on my mind
One day you’re gonna be a place in our memory
Na na na na na na na
When Woody hit the dunes flying foxtails and Old Glory
(Glory)
Rubber ripped the sand
He gunned a souped-down Stingray
Hey hey
Ah, California
She’s in mythical Malibu
Sitting on the ocean
Goodbye mythical Malibu
The San Andreas Misfortune
Will claim the lives of sons and wives
The headlines will fill page after page
California’s on my mind
Surf and sand setting in the sun
In the sun in the sun in the sun
In the setting sun
Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba
One day you’re gonna be one sweet memory
Oh yeah
California
Swingin’ on the beach
( )To the sounds of their time
Yeah yeah yeah
Dan August 22nd
What about DMB’s Lie In Our Graves?
( )Adrok August 22nd
I’m not a music snob sharknip126, but Pearl Jam didn’t write “last kiss,” Pearl Jam just covered it (Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers did) and I would hardly consider that song upbeat.
( )Kevin August 22nd
I was sure Lie in our graves by the Dave Matthews Band would have been on this list.
( )Zack Danger August 22nd
I believe “I Hate Mondays” by the Boomtown Rats deserves an honorable mention.
(And +1 for their lyrics being easy to understand… just have to stop and listen)
( )Ethan Lowry August 22nd
What about Girlfriend in a coma?
( )Python Fan August 22nd
Umm…. Always Look on the Bright Side of Life by Monty Python?
( )Nerambit August 22nd
Man, you totally forgot “People Who Died” by poet/writer/musician Jim Carroll from the Basketball Diaries soundtrack. I actually thought that might be No. 1. It was the first song I thought of when I saw the title of the list.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQbzGOKb6xg
( )Bane Croooow August 22nd
Truly inspirational. I went ahead and made a Seeqpod playlist for us all to enjoy these upbeat tunes!
( )http://www.seeqpod.com/search/?plid=ed6fe184bf
cabesadevaca August 22nd
I ran across a song from the 1970s that blows all of these away. It is the most uplifting song about dying. Not only in the lyrics but the music has a special bounciness to it that is just….uplifting. It’s by Blood Sweat & Tears & it’s called “AND WHEN i DIE”. This is the song I want in my mind on my deathbed. Check it out. Get Blood Sweat & Tears greatest hits, you’ll also get “Spinning Wheel”, “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy”.
( )While I don’t really listen to every track these 3 tracks have a certain positive feel & one is about death.
Let me know if I am off base but this one should be the #1 best song about death.
whits August 22nd
You forgot tripping billies by dave matthews band
( )Dan Harper August 22nd
Great article, and congrats on Digg front-page
( )Nathan August 22nd
“Keg on my Coffin” by Chris Trapper!
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=keg+on+my+coffin&search_type=&aq=f
( )Steve August 22nd
OMFG nobody thought of “Always look on the bright side of life” by Monty Python…..that song should be #1 with a bullet.
( )Hans August 22nd
Flaming Lips - Do You Realize
( )bob August 22nd
great article
The swedish band “Pain of salvation” has a song called “rope ends”. It’s about a woman trying to hang herself. after the first attempt with one of her husbands buisness ties fails she tries again
( )“this time she picks a stronger tie, with winnie the pooh and friends”
how amazing is that!? Winnie the pooh mentioned in a song about suicide.
GIEGUE August 22nd
Disappoint by Assemblage 23. A song about you dad commiting suicide that you can dance to. Why is it not on this list?
( )Mark August 22nd
what about saves the day? “At your funeral” and “As your ghost takes flight” come to mind…
( )Adam Brown August 22nd
Joe Blow: The reason I included Celine Dion is because she actually released an official club version of the song with her vocals on it as a single. After giving it a listen again, I think you may be right that this is not her singing. But there is, in fact, an official club mix that she sings on. Oh how I wish I didn’t know that.
( )James August 22nd
Dixie Hummingbirds - “Bedside of a Neighbor”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxDFyFe8UqQ
( )jard August 22nd
Queen’s “Don’t Try Suicide”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAta8Uhzo6s
It is catchy so you will remember that you should not do it.
( )drasimov August 22nd
Whilst I can agree with the Zevon choice, I’d almost be more inclined to go with his “Your Shit’s Fucked Up.” Nothing more uplifting that hearing a brilliant artist relate his oncologist’s report…
( )Mário Marinato August 22nd
The tambourine player with Elton John is Ray Cooper, one of the best percussionists ever. His style and showmanship are incomparable. Back in 1995, when Elton sung at Rio de Janeiro/Brazil, Ray had a solo moment in the middle of Elton’s show, and the crowd sung-along with his congas for ten minutes!
This video is from the duo’s tour at USSR, in the late 70’s. There’s a DVD of this tour available at the stores, called “To Russia… with Elton”.
( )Alice August 22nd
There are way more upbeat songs about death, then THAT. For example: Try, Andrew W.K “Ready to Die”. Honestly. A list of 7 songs, is not enough to cover the best. Do some more research.
( )charlie August 22nd
FYI - The Blood Sweat & Tears:”And when I die”, that’s a cover originally by the late, really great Lauro Nyro
( )Keith August 22nd
you missed william shatner’s song
( )greg August 22nd
“The End of the Tour” - They Might Be Giants
( )Bozo the Clown August 22nd
What about Dead Man’s Party by Oingo Boingo?
( )Rohan August 22nd
Great List!
Anyone that played Full Throttle would’ve had a chuckle at the country song about the apocalypse
“Most folks are disfigured or dead - but sugar i won’t let that get to my head
I thank the loooo-ooo-rd each day - for the apocalypse”
Another great song about death from Snuff Box:
Matt Berry - The Empty Room - A Must Watch:
( )http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fwyj3D13QhA
Pingachoooo August 22nd
What about, “Don’t Fear the Reaper” by B.O.C?
( )Joe | A New Band A Day.com August 22nd
‘Someone Great’ by LCD Soundsystem is a funny one, ‘cos it lures you in thinking that it’s a nice, upbeat electro-y song for the first couple of listens, but then when you actually start to listen to the lyrics, they’re heart-wrenching! Sneaky.
Thanks, great list - I forgot how much i love ‘Spirit in the Sky’!
( )McFlynn August 22nd
You totally need The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven” on there.
( )cabesadevaca August 23rd
Funeral for a Friend - Elton John — Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. ~~~~ Massive!
( )josh August 23rd
Third Eye Blind’s Semi-Charmed Life, anyone?
( )Read the lyrics.
Pers August 23rd
that was awesome :] but i loooove “Gay Boyfriend” by The Hazzards…love that song
( )Daniel August 24th
No M*A*S*H theme song? In the movie someone sings the lyrics (I don’t even know the song’s name) and the chorus begins “Cause suicide is painless…” Also it’s got a nice guitar part. Not REALLY a “rock” song but so much about death, pretty much every line is unambiguous on this.
( )Kracko August 24th
The Crack of Doom - by The Tiger Lillies
( )max August 27th
happy phantom by tori amos - a ragtime piano song about the afterlife.
( )RGR August 29th
amongst all of the others that were overlooked, I’d say “Twisting” by They Might Be Giants is a top contender.
( )Rich August 30th
The MASH theme song is simply titled “Suicide is Painless.”
My vote for peppiest, most upbeat song about death would be Jethro Tull’s “Lick Your Fingers Clean.” It’s a ridiculously upbeat song in general, that it’s about death makes it even more fun.
( )Laura March 11th
I just went through and listened to everything on here that looked like it might possibly fit on the “Happy Death” playlist I’m putting together. Found some really great songs, and I have a few unmentioned ones to contribute as well:
I Can’t Decide — by The Scissor Sisters
( )When You’re Evil — by Voltaire
A Gorey Demise — by Creature Feature
Lovely, Lovely — by Dearestazazel
Nowhere to Run — by Stegosaurus Rex (It sounds neat and techno- just look up the lyrics. You’ll be VERY surprised)
Tie the Rope — by The Format
Re: Your Brains — by Jonathon Coulton (Catchy chorus)
Slaughter Your World — by Looking For Group
jerm April 21st
yall forgot to mention riders on the storm by the doors also a remix for need for speed featured snoop dog with the doors.
both had a relaxing upbeat that made it sound really nice to have a killer off your whole family
The Doors: ….sweet family will die….riders on the storm
snoop(remix): yeah yea, alright , right
found myself wanting this song in gta 4.
( )