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Fun Stuff => BAND => Topic started by: Phrozen on 20 Jan 2005, 16:20

Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: Phrozen on 20 Jan 2005, 16:20
I just bought the Iron&Wine album Our Endless Numbered Days off of iTunes and have been listening to it for the last two or so hours... or at least I would have been if I had gotten past Naked As We Came. that song is effing amazing, never have I felt so good after listening to a song about death, I've had it on repeat for at least an hour now.

So do you have any happy songs about death, or songs about death that make you feel good?
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: muffy on 20 Jan 2005, 16:30
"I had a brother once, he drowned in a bathtub, before he ever learned how to talk..."
Bright Eyes - Padraic my Prince

It makes me smile everytime, but possibly because I find it funny...

Also, and I think many people will suggest this, The Flaming Lips - Do You Realise
which is the loveliest ode to everyone dying around you, ever, and makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

I love morose music.
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: betteroffdead on 20 Jan 2005, 16:30
hmm all i can think is "last caress" by the misfits. makes me dance around!
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: happybirthdaygelatin on 20 Jan 2005, 16:34
awesome points +25 to alex!

the unicorns "who will cut our hair when we're gone" has some songs i find pretty uplifting about dying.

now that's just a weird phrase i like alot, mmm hmm.
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: nickyandthefuture on 20 Jan 2005, 16:36
Cinnamon - "Maybe in the Next Life"
Fatalist orchestral pop rocks my face.
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: betteroffdead on 20 Jan 2005, 16:53
yes! point increase! soon i'll have enough for a free life! mm green mushrooms... o yea i just got that unicorns album! haven't listened to it enough to catch the death theme though...

and i just remembered "don't fear the reaper" by blue oyster cult. it's about death, and it's all danceable... *cough*gottahavemorecowbell*cough*
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: nothingwitty on 20 Jan 2005, 16:56
Sheep Go to Heaven - CAKE

Goodbye Forever - Alkaline Trio

Number Nine - Twilight Singers

Pretty as You Please - Ass Ponys
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: nickyandthefuture on 20 Jan 2005, 16:58
Oh also, "I Nominate My Kitten for the King of the Dead" by the Bonaduces
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: Shaft on 20 Jan 2005, 19:37
Many, many songs by Alkaline trio.
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: nothingwitty on 20 Jan 2005, 23:56
Pretty much all of them, huh?


Boy do I love the Alkaline Trio.



Trouble Breathing is another good one.
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: Keith Decent on 21 Jan 2005, 00:39
I would have to say "We Will All Become Silhouttes"

But who did it first, Shins or Postal Service?  I think it was the Shins, either way, their version is way happier (and better in my opinion).

"The air outside will make our cells divide at an alarming rate,
till our shell simply cannot hold all our insides in and that when
we explode...

and it won't be a pretty sight."
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: Samedi on 21 Jan 2005, 01:04
Dropkick Murphys - Curse of a Fallen Soul
- The punk I was in high school will never really go away
My Morning Jacket - I Will Be There When You Die
- I love the vocals on this song. It gives me warm fuzzies.
Les Miserables - "Javert's Suicide" & "A Little Fall of Rain"
- Not happy songs about death, but they are good and about death so that can count. I nearly cried during A Little Fall of Rain when I first saw it.

And Postal Service came first. The Shins did a cover of it on the Postal Service's Such Great Heights EP.
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: Keith Decent on 21 Jan 2005, 02:16
Quote from: Samedi
And Postal Service came first. The Shins did a cover of it on the Postal Service's Such Great Heights EP.


thanks, never picked it up.
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: rynne on 21 Jan 2005, 05:35
I went to a show by this dude I know (Steve Devil) last week, and he introduced his song “Everyone Dies in Cars� specifically as his happy song about death.
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: Morokrat on 21 Jan 2005, 06:01
"we will all go together when we go"-tom lehrer.
although the basic menaing of this song is that of uplifting thoughts about an atomic holocaust, it still quite hits it.

ooh, and "5000 ways to die" by nerf herder, which is just awesome and makes me want to go wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee(damn, i showed of my nerditude once again...)
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: Beano on 21 Jan 2005, 07:57
One of my friends keeps telling me that Good Riddance (Time of your life) is about death, so I'll put that in order to show her I've acknowledged this.

JJ72 - Brother Sleep is a nice song that appears to be about suicide.
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: Karl on 21 Jan 2005, 08:01
Three Evils by Coheed and Cambria.

Got quite the upbeat tune which makes it sound happy. But with lyrics like Pull the trigger and the nightmare ends... says different.
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: Tinjessla on 21 Jan 2005, 08:40
I looked at the title of this thread and instantly thought of The Flaming Lips - Do you Realise??? Bless yer, Mr. Coyne.
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: blindsuperhero on 21 Jan 2005, 08:42
Girlfriend in a Coma
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: Praeserpium Machinarum on 21 Jan 2005, 11:36
Happy Phantom by Tori Amos maybe, though it is a little hysterical in weird sort of way, the beginning lyrics goes like this:

If I die today/I`ll be the happy phantom/and I`ll go chasing nuns out in the yard
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: mookers on 21 Jan 2005, 21:39
belle & sebastian - if you're feeling sinister
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: SeanBateman on 23 Jan 2005, 09:00
I want to say anny track off of the eels electroshock blues, but it's really just PS You Rock My World that needs the credit
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: KharBevNor on 23 Jan 2005, 09:52
Pretty much everything by Zombina and the Skeletones, especially 'The Grave...and Beyond' and 'Nobody Likes You When You're Dead'.

Way more, but I find lots of dark music to be really enjoyable. Nothing like a good sing-along to Cradle of Filth's hyper-cliched 'Suicide and Other Comforts' (It actually has the line 'I slit my wrists and quickly slip away' in it. Lines like that come up in jokes quite a bit, but scarcely in actual songs.) Then there's peaces of ass-kickery like 'Elegy' by Edge of Sanity (which is basically about dying from excessive drug use, essentially tripping stright into the afterlife) with it's (to me anyway) awesomely catchy chorus:

Next time you see the stars alight,
Like diamonds in the winter night,
Do think of me, remember me...
So reads my elegy.
Next time I see the stars shine bright,
Like white eyes in the darkened light,
I'm free no chains are holding me,
But still I live by your elegy!


Pretty much all music can make you feel good if you're in the right mood.
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: blindsuperhero on 23 Jan 2005, 10:51
Quote from: SeanBateman
I want to say anny track off of the eels electroshock blues, but it's really just PS You Rock My World that needs the credit


Well I wouldn't really say it has any particularly happy songs about death, and PS You Rock My World is really more about life (or not dying). Or at least, that's where the happiness in that song comes from. Incredible album, though
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: unknowner on 23 Jan 2005, 11:06
Josh Joplin Group's one semi-hit, "Camera One."

The sandy-haired son of Hollywood
Lost his faith in all that's good
Closed the curtain
Unplugged the clock
Hung his clothes on the shower rod
But he never got undressed
And no, he never made a mess
It's funny how
Life turns out
The odds of faith
In the face of doubt
Camera one
Closes in
The soundtrack starts
The scene begins
You're playing you now...


It's not their best by any stretch of the imagination, but it's their only one I've heard that actually adresses death.  You can download it at  the band's website. (http://www.joshjoplingroup.com)

I've plugged my fave band yet again... my work here is done!

~U
...AWAY!
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: betteroffdead on 25 Jan 2005, 16:43
o come on nobody gets the cowbell/snl reference? pssh...

"dear everybody" by jamisonparker is pretty damn upbeat for a song about suicide
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: happybirthdaygelatin on 25 Jan 2005, 16:53
I had to have that explained to me awhile back and never saw the skit!
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: betteroffdead on 25 Jan 2005, 17:04
haha one of my FAVOURITE snl sketches... ahh christopher walken you are so awesome. my dad and i quote it like everyday.

"fellas, i have a disease. and the only cure for it, is more cowbell"

ahahahha
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: karma monger on 25 Jan 2005, 19:34
Aeroplane over the sea? Neutral Milk hotel?
Geez people.
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: Naya on 27 Jan 2005, 18:19
I think that the happiest song about death is a song from a chilean group called
"javiera y los imposibles" ("javiera and the impposible ones")

it's called "te amo tanto" ("i love you so much"). It's about a gir who finds her boyfriend dead, completly mutilated.

It's funny. sounds really happy.
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: Suburban Post-Modernist on 27 Jan 2005, 22:08
Exquisite Dead Guy by TMBG...maybe not the best happiest, but one of the funniest.

Do you Realize by The Flaming Lips, deserves another mention.
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: Pigeon on 05 Feb 2005, 23:03
Maxwell's Silver Hammer by the Beatles
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: devils_daughter on 06 Feb 2005, 04:39
My girlfriend's dead (haven't got a clue who it's by though)

Eva Cassidy - Somewhere over the Rainbow, I always thought this could be interpreted to be about suicide. Maybe not exactly upbeat but reassuring.
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: AndSheeWas on 06 Feb 2005, 09:11
Quote from: blindsuperhero
Girlfriend in a Coma[/quote

I love that song.

And I can't believe no one mentioned "Dead" by They Might Be Giants!


I will never say the word "procrastinate" again.
I will never see myself in the mirror with my eyes closed.
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: FfaMat on 06 Feb 2005, 09:50
get me away from here i'm dying -belle and sebastian and i will be there when you die- my morning jacket would be my two songs about death.  the former is really only the happy song so... uh... yeah
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: Morokrat on 06 Feb 2005, 10:10
@devil's daughter:
"my girlfriend's dead" is, i think, by the vandals...a shame i forgot to pick that one.
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: blindsuperhero on 06 Feb 2005, 10:17
Yep, The Vandals
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: AnonymousPosterChild on 06 Feb 2005, 22:06
I'm going to have to go with Record Body Count by the Rheostatics. Its not exactly happy, but at first glance it isnt exactly depressing.
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: blackmage on 07 Feb 2005, 16:01
I'll have to say 'Everyone I love is dead', by Type O Negative. Most of their songs are really grim, but humourous.
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: Conatonc on 07 Feb 2005, 20:54
3-4 songs off of each and every They Might Be Giants Album, including-

"Youth Culture Killed My Dog"
"Dead"
"Turn Around"
"The End of the Tour"
"Hopeless Bleak Despair"
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: ColdSteelRain on 09 Mar 2005, 18:30
Don't fear the Reaper- Blue Oyster Cult

Great song
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: Inlander on 09 Mar 2005, 18:48
"Powderfinger" by Neil Young.  Perhaps not happy, per se, but definitely hard-rockin' and custom-made for dancing around the room like an idiot, smashing your air-guitar to imaginary pieces on your air-amp at the end of it all.
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: Freezey on 09 Mar 2005, 21:32
I'll second the Vandals "My Girlfriends Dead" and several Alkaline Trio songs. Nothing like morbid lyrics with happy, upbeat music.
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: jeph on 09 Mar 2005, 22:36
Man fuck ALL of this shit.

"Feeling Yourself Disintegrate" by the Flaming Lips.

YOU ALL LOSE FOR NOT MENTIONING THIS BEFORE ME.
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: Argonath on 10 Mar 2005, 03:57
Ben Folds Five-Whatever and Ever Amen-Fair

I guess she made her way
Through the mob too late to hear him say
That he'd gotten all he'd wanted
A crowd to watch him bear the pain

Phantom planet- Is missing- Dont Get down

wanna live on the moon,
Never see a human again,
And as the earth explodes,
I'll light a candle for my dead best friends
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: KharBevNor on 10 Mar 2005, 04:00
Carpathian Forest-He's Turning Blue

Extremely fun and rocking track about suicide

"He's turning blue!
He's turning blue!
He's turning bluuuuuuueee...
And nobody cares!"
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: seakerthehamster on 10 Mar 2005, 09:17
Eleanor Rigby-The Beatles.

It's not exactly happy, but it make you feel sad in a happy way...
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: Apathy on 10 Mar 2005, 09:26
Probably already mentioned countless times but The Smiths would be the band I'd give this title to.
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: mysceneiscooler on 10 Mar 2005, 11:03
Quote from: muffy

Also, and I think many people will suggest this, The Flaming Lips - Do You Realise
which is the loveliest ode to everyone dying around you, ever, and makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

I love morose music.


I was about to name that one. I already told my mother and some friends that when I die, this song is to be played at my funeral.
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: fwiffo on 10 Mar 2005, 11:07
Quote from: Conatonc
3-4 songs off of each and every They Might Be Giants Album...


Ah, so many songs about death, aging, corpses, decapitated heads, skulls, murder, presidents...  All wrapped up in such a bubbly, boyant package.

Exquisite dead guy
Rotating in his display case
Exquisite dead guy
Swear I saw his mouth move
Exquisite dead guy
Outside my high rise apartment
Exquisite dead guy
Hanging from a skyhook

...Or...

You're older than you've ever been
And now you're even older
And now you're even older
And now you're even older
You're older than you've ever been
And now you're even older
And now you're older still
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: j7 on 15 Mar 2005, 09:17
it's more about necrophelia than death, really, but code blue by tsol is fairly happy. i guess, if you're into screwing dead people.
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: ASturge on 15 Mar 2005, 09:23
The Aquabats - chemical bomb

"chemical bomb
chemical bomb
eyes melt
skin explodes
everybodys dead

it wont be long
it wont be long
everyones runnin about losin their heads
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: Arcen dawn on 16 Mar 2005, 09:20
I'm pretty sure there are a couple of songs by The Faint that are strictly about either death or murder.  but ofcourse while listening to them you cannot help but dance, dance the dance of life.
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: KharBevNor on 16 Mar 2005, 10:37
Skyclad-Helium

The song is about a banker committing suicide. A section:


[Chorus:]
I'm lighter than air - I haven't a care!
Still gravity pulls me under,
Credibility gapes - gullability fills -
They were bringing me down (no wonder)
Square pegs, round holes, last dregs, own goals
Monkey puzzle my fist won't fit inside
Every day nothing new, black and white deja-vu,
Makes me feel I wanna spread my wings and glide!

Should I look - should I leap from this unfairy story?
My life and my filofax flashing before me...
Fly like a rock from the roof to the basement,
The last thing to go through my mind was the pavement!

This is all backed by cheery fiddle jigs. And sung so happily!
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: AstroLad on 03 Feb 2006, 00:58
Hello, I realize this is a big bump but I stumbled upon this thread as I'm currently in the process of making a mix CD with this general theme and found many of the suggestions here quite useful and good (in fact, about four or five I already had on there before viewing the thread).  

So I would love to heard any more suggestions anyone might have.

Here are some of the songs I've included that haven't been listed here yet:

The Handsome Family, "So Long"
Heavenly, "Escort Crash on Marston Street"
The Microphones, "Ocean 1, 2, 3"
Modest Mouse, "Thinklong"
Smog, "Dress Sexy at My Funeral"
Mirah, "While We Have the Sun"
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: almost thursday on 03 Feb 2006, 07:40
gg allin - anal cunt
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: wigfried on 03 Feb 2006, 12:17
so theres smiths talk but no mention of There is a Light...

good lord.
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: wigfried on 03 Feb 2006, 12:17
zeni geva - skullfuck
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: surgerydrugsnrocknroll on 03 Feb 2006, 12:43
ghoul - what a wonderfull world,
done in the melody of the origonal byu louis armstrong

Quote from: Ghoul
I see towers of flame, and corpses too
I see the doom, of me and you
And I think to myself.... what a wonderful world.
I see skies obscured, I see no light
Dark freezing days, dark sleepless nights
And I think to myself .....what a wonderful world.
The clouds of radiation are so pretty in the sky
Tumours on the faces of the people who survived
I see friends in the past kill each other for food
They're really starving......So will you.
I see babies die, I watch them decompose
They'll hurt much more, than I'll never know
And I think to myself .....what a wonderful world
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: Valrus on 03 Feb 2006, 12:47
R.E.M. - Try Not To Breathe
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: AstroLad on 03 Feb 2006, 14:48
Quote from: wigfried
so theres smiths talk but no mention of There is a Light...

good lord.


Hahaha, funny enough that is the very first song on my mix.  I was going to list it, but people had mentioned the band so I passed, but it really is perfect for my mix.  I'm trying to get songs that aren't crazy silly/pure comedy but also that aren't too somber; I would say "So Long" by The Handsome Family is as far as I'll go on the comedy side (and I might even take it out and just put in another Handsome Family song) and "While We Have the Sun" by Mirah is as far as I'll go on the somber side.

Here is a live version of "While We Have the Sun"- http://media.putfile.com/While-We-Have-The-Sun
The album version has some interesting production, but I like both on their own rights.

Another song I have on the current mix from an already-mentioned band- The Unicorns, "I Don't Wanna Die"
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: Kai on 03 Feb 2006, 15:13
Quote from: KharBevNor
Skyclad-Helium

The song is about a banker committing suicide. A section:


[Chorus:]
I'm lighter than air - I haven't a care!
Still gravity pulls me under,
Credibility gapes - gullability fills -
They were bringing me down (no wonder)
Square pegs, round holes, last dregs, own goals
Monkey puzzle my fist won't fit inside
Every day nothing new, black and white deja-vu,
Makes me feel I wanna spread my wings and glide!

Should I look - should I leap from this unfairy story?
My life and my filofax flashing before me...
Fly like a rock from the roof to the basement,
The last thing to go through my mind was the pavement!

This is all backed by cheery fiddle jigs. And sung so happily!


I seriously need to get more Skyclad.
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: nescience on 03 Feb 2006, 15:45
Queen - Don't Try Suicide

"Don't try suicide / 'Cause nobody gives a damn"

-AND-

Phoenix - Funky Squaredance
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: E. Spaceman on 03 Feb 2006, 16:54
Road to Nowhere by Talking Heads (may not be specifically about death but...)
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: vegkitkat on 03 Feb 2006, 18:00
The Faint, oh god how happy I am when I listen to The Faint. I dance like a crazy, crazy girl.

Love and death by The Stills. It's my favorite song by them, and it always makes me smile.

Conrad by Jets to Brazil. It has to be the most upbeat song about suicide I've ever heard. double-edged and super blue/vertically letting the life from you/ casting a new darkness through the room
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: Cartilage Head on 04 Feb 2006, 01:55
How odd..I just recently posted "Our Endless Numbered Days" as the album that would be played at my funeral. It is an indescribably incredible album. It is definitely my favorite album of all time that is not a Broadway musical soundtrack.
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: eternie on 04 Feb 2006, 02:49
K's Choice - I Fall Asleep.

Quote
Asleep, asleep, I fall asleep
And I'm never waking up,
I wish I could accept me but I think I'm giving up,
There's so much love and beauty yet to come
I am aware
But what about the other things
I can no longer bear?


Okay so not that uplifting, but it's beautiful.
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: nescience on 04 Feb 2006, 03:00
Oh shit, I saw Of Montreal tonight and it totally reminded me that this song is very appropriate:

Of Montreal - Chrissie Kiss the Corpse

It's all about how a girl kissed a dead woman at a bus-stop.
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: ImRonBurgundy? on 04 Feb 2006, 03:29
Ben Folds- "The Luckiest" has a part about death in it.
The Aquabats!- "Hello, Goodnight!" is somewhat about death, i think.
Atom & His Package- "Before My Friends Do"
The Vandals- "The Day Farrah Fawcett Died"
Rancid- "Dead Bodies"
Colossal- "I'll Look at You When the Dying Starts"
Oingo Boingo- "Dead Man's Party"
Voodoo Glow Skulls- "Left for Dead"
Weird Al Yankovic- "I'll Be Mellow When I'm Dead"
Title: Happy songs about death
Post by: KharBevNor on 04 Feb 2006, 05:12
If I never mentioned them a year ago, and I probably wouldn't have:

Inkubus Sukkubus - Kiss of Hades
Inkubus Sukkubus - The Leveller
Inkubus Sukkubus - Underworld
Sol Invictus - December Song