Songs of death - Suitably morbid late night topic.

[santiago]

Just finished a post elsewhere which ended on death. i sometimes allow myself to look at my 38 year old hands looking more and more like i remember Pops, my first greys are through and i have to trim ear hair often now.

38. I know some elders would like to trade with me and some youngers cant imagine being that old but, everynow and again...if its quiet enough i can see a glimpse of it. Realistically i have already lived the greater half of my life and that makes me sad. Its an oldy but seriously....where did my life go. It happened so quick. Its amazing how much time is wasted, how many heart beats left in the countdown of life. Thump thump thump.....the sound of death edging closer and closer. I suppose eventually you come to terms with it. But especially right now, i really dont want to die.

What will be my legacy if any at all. How long will i be remembered for. How will my child survive alone. But hey, its 2am on a thurs and there comes a useful time for melancholy. Its amazing when you come to terms with mortality, you regret the abuses you do to your body. Like overdrinking and neglect. Time completely wasted in the now and not in the least thought of buying 5 more years. I reckon the richest man in the world would spend his whole sum on an extra year if it could be bought. One more year to say goodbye to the house you grew up in, an old long lost friend, swim naked in the ocean, see one more sunrise, cry, laugh and finish your book.

I sometimes ponder the songs to be played. I still well up when i recall my good friend, a kind man, suddenly pass away. I do not recall songs at other funerals but as he was lowered down, i took a last look at him going and for the first time ever my chin quivered. It was so sad that it hurt, but strangely the song which possibly triggered the emotional moment with its melancholy finality, now brings me alot of comfort. It helped and will live on, and when or if it is played my friend will be in my thoughts, and briefly he will be alive again.

So add your two cents on your own mortality if you like. Yes its a negative downer of a subject but i believe its ok to occasionally think along those lines. Especially since facing death is a massive challenge we tend to repress.

And....................all day, which made me think of this thread has been rotating in my head. I see my coffin lowering, and i MUST make people cry. Screw that happy thought crapola, i want tears. I know they will get on with life soon enough as is the way.

So im gonna add my funeral lowering song first and the other pre lowering song second. Dont cry, ok you can cry (sniff sniff)

 

 

[Halcyon Daze]

How about 'tales of a scorched earth' from the punkyumms. That'd go down a treat at my funeral.

 

[CβL]

That's quite a beautiful song (the first 'un).

As I say - "only fear the untimely death."

I entered this planet on borrowed energy - I don't own the matter and energy I'm composed of any-more than the swathes of bacteria that will resume them after my mortal existence ends. If everyone was selfish, and held onto their matter and energy before me - then I would never exist. Similarly, I can't be selfish and not return my borrowed resources back to the planet - I think of it as a great honour actually. Kind of like being given your dad's old watch - that his dad gave to him, and then one day, after years of protecting it - giving it to your own son, who you hope, will do the same.

Secondly, the thing that makes you, you - is not the atoms, or the individual cells. They're practically the same in everyone. It's the pattern that these cells make, the woven tapestry of neuron connections and synapses - that make you, yourself. So, is there any reason that this pattern, couldn't exist elsewhere (say, as a backup)?
I believe there is not - that your own pattern of neurons and synapses - can exist anywhere, that can create the pattern. How do they get there? Well, you'll need a scanner, and a good sharp knife. <joke>.

I think that by being a kind human - reaching out to people, animals and plants alike - understanding them, listening, sharing - your pattern begins to weave into theirs. That your own pattern is woven from all the people you met and enjoyed life with, your grandfather, your grandmother - their voices softly in your head - you're actually carrying pieces of their pattern with you. You're not a microphone recording their sound waves, but you've actually taken some of their patterns - and as we've established, it only matters that the pattern is there - not which cells are making it. Their patterns (which are your loved ones) live within you. I can only say that I believe this to be profoundly and overwhelmingly true.

If you're a wonderful human being - then you live forever - your pattern being passed down through generation and generation. If you were kind to yourself, and lived in a cave - all alone - then your pattern is snuffed out unceremoniously as your last breaths escape your cool body.
I think when we die, we end our conscious life - but us - our essence - can live forever. Until the last stars grow cold and the fabric of spacetime can't even hold itself together.


Here's the first song I thought of (short and beautiful)

And another (with accompanying translation of the poem it's set to):

 

When streams turn pink in the setting sun,
And a slight shudder rushes through the wheat fields,
A plea for happiness seems to rise out of all things
And it climbs up towards the troubled heart.
A plea to relish the charm of life
While there is youth and the evening is fair,
For we pass away, as the wave passes:
The wave to the sea, we to the grave.

Edited February 14, 2013 by CβL

[Roopey]

 

[Halif]

I quite enjoy Donald Fagen's funky/defiant/melancholy take on death-musings.

This track uses the story of an older dude dating a young beauty to express appreciation of life and the reluctance to let it go...

 

Love the "more light, more light, more light, more liiiiiiigggghhhht" part....

[Scientician]

Here's a couple of songs for a bleeding heart. You did say You wanted tear jerkers......Right?

 

 

[Alice]

 

[theuserformallyknownasd00d]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwnAg2tZKFk&sns=em

[Stillman]

I love this thread, I love sad mournful songs.

[Stillman]

 

[tipz]

Johnny cash's "hurt"

very poignant considering this was the last song he recorded before his death.

 

[Stillman]

This one tipz

 

[Seldom]

that 1 stillman ^

Edited February 15, 2013 by self organising systems