Want an Easier Way to Plan a Memorial Event? Get our FREE guide

“7 Ways to Create an Amazing Celebration of Life”

Get the Ebook

SevenPonds / Songs About Mortality & Terminal Illness

Songs About Mortality & Terminal Illness

When facing life’s end, music can provide comfort and understanding. These songs explore the reality of terminal illness with honesty, hope, and the healing power of melody during difficult times.

wind beneath my wings

“Wind Beneath My Wings”

By Bette Midler

“Wind Beneath My Wings,” recorded by Bette Midler in 1988, was a short-lived number one hit. This ballad serves as the s…

Read our magazine review

"Wayfaring Stranger"

By the Hayde Bluegrass Orchestra

While the Johnny Cash tune “Wayfaring Stranger” has been covered by everyone from Jack White to Emmylou Harris, few have…

Read our magazine review

“Green Grass”

By Tom Waits

Tom Waits is a genre all his own. He’s a theatrical storyteller, often humorous, sometimes absurd, and always as origina…

Read our magazine review

"Live Like You Were Dying"

By Tim McGraw

In 2004, Craig Wiseman and Tim Nichols were talking about a 40-year-old friend who had gotten an alarming diagnosis. He …

Read our magazine review

"Dust in the Wind"

By Kansas

As songs from the late 1970s go, Kansas’ “Dust in the Wind” is a distinct departure from the norm. Released in 1977, the…

Read our magazine review

Dark Side of The Moon

"Great Gig in the Sky"

By Pink Floyd

“Great Gig in the Sky” is the fifth track off Pink Floyd’s groundbreaking concept album “The Dark Side of the Moon,” a 4…

Read our magazine review

"You Must Love Me"

By Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber

“You Must Love Me” is a song written by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber for the film adaptation of “Evita.” “Evita” tel…

Read our magazine review

"Lullabye (Goodnight My Angel)"

By Billy Joel

If you are one of the many people who have tried to explain death to a child, you can understand the difficulty one face…

Read our magazine review

"Der Tod und das Mädchen"

By Franz Schubert

“Der Tod und das Mädchen” (Death and the Maiden) is a gorgeous “lied” composed by Franz Schubert in 1817. The word “lied…

Read our magazine review

"I'm Not Afraid To Die"

By Gillian Welch

The first time I heard Gillian Welch’s achingly lovely neotraditional folk song “I’m Not Afraid To Die”, I heard it sung…

Read our magazine review

"Sometimes It Snows In April"

By Prince

On April 21, 2016, Prince was found dead near his home in  Minneapolis. He was just 57 years old. The legendary singer a…

Read our magazine review

"Like I'm Gonna Lose You"

By Meghan Trainor

Meghan Trainor is a rarity in the world of pop music. An accomplished singer, songwriter and music publisher by the time…

Read our magazine review

"Fruit Tree"

By Nick Drake

Few songs capture the artist’s life as perfectly as Nick Drake’s “Fruit Tree.” Drake’s own life was filled with anguish …

Read our magazine review

"A Satisfied Mind"

By Jeff Buckley

In 1954, Joe “Red” Hayes and Jack Rhodes recorded what would become one of the most covered songs of all time. Everyone …

Read our magazine review

"In the Aeroplane Over the Sea"

By Neutral Milk Hotel

The emotional narrative begins with delight in beauty, which inspires thoughts of beauty’s impermanence. This realizatio…

Read our magazine review

"Videotape"

By Radiohead

For Radiohead’s gorgeous 2007 album In Rainbows, that parting shot is “Videotape.” Unlike the aforementioned tracks, “Vi…

Read our magazine review

Find More in our Healing Library

Books

Music

Sayings

Humor

Films

Poetry