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SevenPonds / Music to Express Love & Loss / Songs About Mortality & Terminal Illness / Page 2

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…

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"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…

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“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…

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"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 …

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"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…

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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…

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"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…

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"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…

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"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…

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"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…

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"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…

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"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…

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"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 …

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"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 …

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"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…

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"Why Does Someone Have to Die"

By Philip Glass

In Philip Glass’ typically haunting style, “Why Does Someone Have to Die,” written for the blockbuster motion picture Th…

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"The End"

By the Doors

The End,” one of the Doors’ most famous, and impenetrable songs, in its final stanzas, reveals itself as a song on death…

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