What is the last song that you would want to hear before you die?

**markwoll** · 01-13-2019

This is the title of an opinion piece in the Washington Post this morning.
Not something I give much thought about.
Music has ( as We all know ) a lot of power over our thoughts and feelings.
The premise is that hushed tones and quiet around a dying loved one may not serve everyone's last hours.
Often the doctor who wrote the piece hears music coming from patients rooms.
Sometimes it seems to sooth an otherwise unconscious person, other times it gives them cause to interact one last time.
Whats the last song you would want to hear before you die?

I do not have a playlist in mind.
Someday, perhaps.
It sort of brings to mind the Doonsbury strip where the character of Andy Lippencott clings to life until he finally hears a cd of The Beach Boys Pet Sounds.

**progmatist** · 01-13-2019

Always Look On The Bright Side of Life, at the end of Monty Python and the Life of Brian. That song they were singing while hanging on crosses.

**FrippWire** · 01-13-2019

Good question. I've never given it much thought. Frank Zappa's "Watermelon In Easter Hay". Maybe, I dunno. I'd probably pick a different Zappa track like "Muffin Man" tomorrow or "Inca Roads" on another day. Definitely something Zappa though.

**Buddhabreath** · 01-13-2019

I haven’t a clue but I can tell you this: music was one of the most important things in my father’s life. He was a violinist and opera extra and a great lover of classical music. On his deathbed he could not bear to listen to music and repeatedly and forcefully refused when I suggested playing any of his records for him.

**señormoment** · 01-13-2019

Experience has me wondering if the purpose of playing music isn’t more for the consolation of those around the deathbed than for the person who is dying. When my Mom went under hospice care, we thought it would be helpful to play a cd of selections she’d always liked. She told us to turn it off. The fact is, she was ready to go and she didn’t want to hear it.

**Top Cat** · 01-13-2019

I would like to hear a bird singing, I would like to hear the sound of my wife's voice, or the wind blowing gently.

We had mom here in her bedroom during the last several weeks of her life while she was under home hospice care(nurse visited 2 or 3 times a week), we cared for her the rest of the time.
On the day she passed shortly after noon, I was talking with the nurse in the living room before she was to check on mom. Her pet cat Tina was sleeping on her hospital bed with her. Soon I saw her cat come into the dining room and she was looking back at mom's room. I then went in to check on her and she had passed. So I like to think perhaps the last sound she heard was her sweet cat's breathing or purring.

I think most people would rather have loved one's around them.
Myself, I would like peace and quiet and alone time. I've got a lifetime of music stored in my brain I can pull up anytime. I'm sure I'll take it with me, no headphones required.

**Mister Triscuits** · 01-13-2019

A person I loved very much ended her life by assisted suicide this week. She had moved up to Washington to spend her last weeks at her sister's home and took nothing with her. I tried to send her an MP3 player with her favorite music, thinking this would be some comfort or distraction from her pain. But when I asked her what she wanted on it, she wouldn't say. Her sister told me without being asked that there was "some" music played as she passed. So this weekend I listened to her favorite band, the Lovin' Spoonful, and cried.

**Top Cat** · 01-13-2019

Originally Posted by Mister Triscuits

A person I loved very much ended her life by assisted suicide this week. She had moved up to Washington to spend her last weeks at her sister's home and took nothing with her. I tried to send her an MP3 player with her favorite music, thinking this would be some comfort or distraction from her pain. But when I asked her what she wanted on it, she wouldn't say. Her sister told me without being asked that there was "some" music played as she passed. So this weekend I listened to her favorite band, the Lovin' Spoonful, and cried.

I'm so sorry to hear that you lost someone you loved. She definitely had good taste tin music(Lovin Spoonful) and I hope next time you listen to them in memory of her, your memories of her bring a smile to your face.

**Garyhead** · 01-13-2019

I've endured a few Hospital stays over the past 10 years.....The iPod playlist was the only thing that kept me together especially while they were trying to figure out what was wrong with me. With the ear buds in....there were no beeps, bangs....unnecessary employee chatter....I don't want family / friends around.....just the tunes....then, if it's my time, so be it.

Just a caveat....I've never been married....no kids......so I'm used to being alone......when it's my time, I don't want a populated room full of folks....just leave me with my memories.

**Top Cat** · 01-13-2019

Originally Posted by Garyhead

I've endured a few Hospital stays over the past 10 years.....The iPod playlist was the only thing that kept me together especially while they were trying to figure out what was wrong with me. With the ear buds in....there were no beeps, bangs....unnecessary employee chatter....I don't want family / friends around.....just the tunes....then, if it's my time, so be it.

I totally agree about having family and friends around Yikes!! they'd drive me crazy. lol
When I wrote loved one's, I meant a spouse or someone close.(should've written a loved one)..

**Buddhabreath** · 01-13-2019

Originally Posted by Mister Triscuits

A person I loved very much ended her life by assisted suicide this week. She had moved up to Washington to spend her last weeks at her sister's home and took nothing with her. I tried to send her an MP3 player with her favorite music, thinking this would be some comfort or distraction from her pain. But when I asked her what she wanted on it, she wouldn't say. Her sister told me without being asked that there was "some" music played as she passed. So this weekend I listened to her favorite band, the Lovin' Spoonful, and cried.

I’m sorry for your loss but happy she was able to go to a state where they care more about human suffering than religion and she was allowed to die with dignity. My father was not so lucky.

**Zeuhlmate** · 01-13-2019

Pianomusic by Debussy or perhaps
Tōru Takemitsu: Archipelago S. (1994) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I6FZsCfUn0

**Hobo Chang Ba** · 01-14-2019

Cage's As Slow As Possible

**Halmyre** · 01-14-2019

The last thing I want to hear before I die is a woman's shrieks of delight.

**Koreabruce** · 01-14-2019

It depends on how I'm dying. If I'm bedridden, then no music, please. If, on the other hand, it is to be sudden such as a heart attack or stroke, I hope I'm listening to some great piece of standard repertoire orchestral music that I dearly love.

**nycsteve** · 01-14-2019

I'de like to hear "Happy Birthday" to me on the occasion of my 110th birthday.

**Camelogue** · 01-14-2019

Kindness at the End

**Dana5140** · 01-14-2019

I am going to overshare. On October 19, my 13-month-old granddaughter died from acute respiratory distress syndrome. She is an identical twin, whose sister survives her- they were born 3 months premature, spent 110 days in NICU, and little Bea had severe lung problems. The last song she heard the day she died- and I was so thankfully there with my son and daughter-in-law- was Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, sung to her by her extended family in the PICU. I am not sure I can ever hear that song again. I'm tearing up just thinking about that day.

When I die, I want my family around me, I want them to celebrate, listen to Kohntarkosz by Magma with me, which they all know I love, and let me fade away as the song reaches its climax.

**Rarebird** · 01-14-2019

Perhaps 2 songs by Heinz Rudolf Kunze would be fitting:
Abschied muß man üben

and
Im Sarg

**bigbassdrum** · 01-14-2019

"The End" - The Doors
"Late Lament" - Moody Blues

.. but probably "Awaken" - Yes

**Plasmatopia** · 01-14-2019

Wow, some very intense stories shared here. While I get choked up just reading about such things, I have to say I'm more likely to be the type that wouldn't want music. It's just one of those things where (I suspect) the weight of the situation might be such that choosing something to listen to would be impossible....and would quite possibly feel completely trivial.

But who knows? Hopefully I die in a blaze of orgasms.

**Yodelgoat** · 01-14-2019

This smacks of the song "arriving somewhere but not here" by Porcupine Tree.

I had a boss who died at the age of only 42, and they played "the thin ice" - a little dark, - if there is such a thing at his funeral. I'm pretty sure he had something by Floyd playing when he had his stroke. It was about all he listened to. I wont go into how I encountered his ghost the night it happened while I was at work, working late. That was weird. I came into work the next day and was told he had died.... I didn't work late for a while after that.

Me, I want to hear something nice and calming, just please, no rap or house music. I also want to be buried wearing headphones with my entire music collection playing on shuffle. That'll never happen though, more likely I will hear the sound of some little kid screaming in my ear - Just let me die quicker....

I do want to die peacefully, in my sleep like my grandpa, not screaming like the passengers in his car.

Tadum ching! I'm here all week!

(sorry, I started writing this before some of the more touching comments above has been posted, My attempt at humor is quite in-apropos - so sorry to hear about your very real losses)