Five and Alive

I think drowning might be one of the most terrible ways to die because you are just struggling to breathe and all you get is water and you don't die right away. You flail and gulp and seize until your body fills with water causing your brain to shutdown for lack of oxygen. And like that...you're gone.

That being said, I hope I never experience drowning, but by some chance I do, here are the top 5 songs that I would want playing as I'll ever hear; my curtain call. Better make it good. Drown. Morbid? Yes. Beautiful? Maybe. If we could all pick our death song it might make crossing over just a little bit more peaceful, don't ya think? This is the last thing.

1. Pink Floyd - "The Great Gig in the Sky" - The woman wailing in the background sounds like she has just lost everything she has ever loved and by the end of the song she comes to a peaceful place of acceptance; freedom. You can't appreciate anything until you've lost everything. Frankly, it just sounds like the kind of thing you'd hear while dying. The piano lulling you into the afterlife. If she is singing to me, she is saying "it's okay to let go".

2. Radiohead - "Everything in it's Right Place" - The sounds of the keys/synth alone sounds so full and all encompassing. It makes me think of being in water. The vocal effects sound like he's underwater. Also a feeling of acceptance of death in the title lyric.

3. Nine Inch Nails - "The Day the World Went Away" - The darker side of death, the struggle, the fight for life song. While the previous 2 songs have a sense of acceptance this one is of not wanting to give in. Holding your breath, keeping still, trying to find a way out until your chest literally collapses. But you tried, you fought.

4. Metallica - "Orion" - My favorite Metallica song. It just sounds like staring death in the face and saying fuck you, bring it on. Enough said.

5. Jeff Buckley - "Hallelujah" - Jeff Buckley met his early demise by drowning. When I listen to this song, I've never believed someone's voice more than when he sings this beautiful version of a Leonard Cohen classic. There are some great artists we lose too soon and he was definitely one of them. In some eerie way, he sounds like he knew he'd never make it, this was it, make it count.

If any artists or industry persons are interested in participating in the weeks to come, you can contact me with your topic and picks at adam.pfleider@absolutepunk.net.

very interesting topic.

i think i would pick something by minus the bear. after that, no idea.

Boxcar Racer - Letters To God
This is the one song I still get chills to every time I listen to it. It's so weird, and would not have fit anywhere on a Blink album, so I'm glad they went for a side project for this. It's a perfectly fitting song for this topic because it's a song about someone begging God for their life - "...Can't you wait!? Maybe I don't want to go!"

Gary Jules - Mad World
This was the first song that came to my head when I read the topic. Just beautiful, and serene, makes you think of floating in water, even if it's becasue you drowned in it.

The Shins - New Slang
Inevitably, drowning, and being lost for days in heartbreak seem like they would have similar feelings, especially after having felt the latter. This would be the song to tell the side of the story of the love that got left behind.

The Wonder Years - All My Friends are in Bar Bands
Instead of the love I left behind, this would be the song for the friends I left behind, and the life. The paycheck-to-paycheck bullshit of living that me and all of my friends do, and the life that happens in between bills and being broke. I can think of no other band writing today that captures that feeling more essentially than the Wonder Years.

Parkway Drive - Carrion
Because underneath all of this, I like heavy music, and this just has that crazy mellow intro with the fill, and then BAM. The verses might be a little fast, but the choruses for this song just scream "being overwhelmed."



Those are the 5 that came to mind first. They may not be the best, but they work for me. This is an awesome topic Adam!

very good choices Brian. i would add in Dredg "The Canyon Behind Her"

Originally Posted by icynova

Boxcar Racer - Letters To God
This is the one song I still get chills to every time I listen to it. It's so weird, and would not have fit anywhere on a Blink album, so I'm glad they went for a side project for this. It's a perfectly fitting song for this topic because it's a song about someone begging God for their life - "...Can't you wait!? Maybe I don't want to go!"

Such a great song and choice for this, so much emotion.

Neat. Some great choices too.

I love this topic. And I only have one song.

Bruce Springsteen - "Thunder Road"
Because it's the best song ever written.

Contribution made.

This is a pretty boring topic, because of that stand up comic who did a brilliant routine about getting a new iPod and being terrified of putting his whole iTunes account on it, because if he got hit by a bus he might catch his last breaths while some stupid pop song someone sent over aim blares in his ears.

I like funeral music more, because its a bit deeper and has a few more levels to it seeing as the song will essentially be your last communique to your closest friends and family.

But are we talking a track to drown or die to? I dont think you could hear anything if you were struggling as much as youd do under water. Its not like its a slow death where youre laying there waiting.. A close friend of mine passed away a few months ago and when he got the call that he only had 48 hours left to live - he spread the word around for people to make mixtapes and our last time seeing him was sitting around his hospital bed, listening to each cd and just hanging out for a last time. Since it was a friend from my highschool days, I put alot of the stuff we were listening to back then and it was an incredible way to end it because the songs each person put on their tape revealed so much about each individual relationship we had.

I think Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah is the best choice.

Naked As We Came by Iron and Wine. Beautiful way to go out.

"Song in the Air" and then "Voices" both by Elliott when I was hitting that last breath. "The Whaler" by Thrice would be good too.

salty grave- life in your way

Originally Posted by Thomas Nassiff

I love this topic. And I only have one song.

Bruce Springsteen - "Thunder Road"
Because it's the best song ever written.

Contribution made.

Nice!

Blind Pilot - 3 Rounds and A Sound

That song is just so serene