Best RIP song

Whiskey Lullaby, Paisley/Krauss
Little Bonnie, DBT
Danko/Manuel, DBT
Dress Blues, Jason Isbell
Tecumseh Valley, Townes Van Zandt
Needle & The Damage Done, Neil Young
Tonight's The Night, Neil Young
Under The Bridge, RHCP
Keep Me In Your Heart, Warren Zevon (this is a song he did write about himself, shortly before he died of cancer)

 

Norman Greenbaum - Spirit in the Sky

 

"Love is Strong than Death" - The The
"Death is Not the End" - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, via Bob Dylan

 

"Borrowed Time," John Lennon
"Walking On Thin Ice," Yoko Ono
"Here Today," Paul McCartney
"All Those Years Ago," George Harrison (w. McCartney and Ringo Starr)
"Free as a Bird"/"Real Love," the Beatles (1995)

"Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)," Elton John
"Edge of Seventeen," Stevie Nicks (based partially on Ono's "Thin Ice")

"The Late Great Johnny Ace," Paul Simon

 

"Time of Your Life" by Green Day, though I don't think it was written with death in mind.

 

Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own-U2 (written about Bono's late father)
Running for Home, Matthew Good Band

 

"Some Fantastic Place" - Squeeze (Difford wrote it about the death of Tilbrook's former girlfriend)
"She Goes On" - Crowded House (And much of their last album "Time On Earth" deals with the suicide of drummer Paul Hester, including "Pour Le Monde" and "She Called Up")
"Long May You Run" - Neil Young (K, technically I think this is about a car, but I listened to it when my dog was dying of cancer and pretty well lost it)
"Diamond Smiles" - The Boomtown Rats
"Late" - Ben Folds (about Elliott Smith)
"Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife" - Drive-by Truckers
"Marie Provost" - Nick Lowe (She was the winner that became the doggy's dinner...")

 

Yeah, I really like that one.

I'll contribute the Grateful Dead covering Rev. Gary Davis' "Death Don't Have No Mercy." Two of the vocalists on this clip (Jerry Garcia and Brent Mydland) are dead now. Hot Tuna also covered the song (acoustic on its first album) and I saw that band perform a blistering electric version, dedicated to Jerry Garcia, very shortly after his death.

Hot Tuna's guitarist, Jorma Kaukonen, covers another Davis tune about death, "Banks of the River," on a solo album in the 1990s, "Land of Heroes." His version is bouncier and more upbeat than the original, and he tweaked the lyrics, too (improved them, IMO). The gist of the original and the cover version is the singer's saying he's going to a better place where there's no sickness and he gets to see family that's gone before him. Can't find a clip of the Kaukonen version, but I have the CD and told my wife years ago that's the song I want played at my funeral.

 

Seconded on Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife. That's one of my favorite songs period. Also Shine On by Jet, written after the death of the lead singer's dad.

 

I left "Two Daughters" off my list because is seems anything but peaceful. Great song, but it gives me a different feeling than many of the RIP/death songs I listen to.

 

Great song, MM.

 

Good pick.

I've often said I want "Ripple" played at my wake.