…in New Times Los Angeles.

…in New Times Los Angeles.

“And if a ten ton truck/ kills the both of us/ to die by your side/ the pleasure and the privilege is mine.”
– “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out” by the Smiths

“Heartwarming” isn’t the right word, but there’s a certain triumphant feeling that comes from a really catchy pop tune about death. It takes that tension between happy music and sad text that made stuff like the Supremes not just great but also interesting, and turning it up to 11. We’re not just whistling past the graveyard here, folks. For a moment we’re figuratively staring down that great shadow of mortality that haunts all our days, grinning and flipping him the bird. And in more than a few cases, the songs also have something to say about life, why it’s essential to embrace it.

The morose/poppy thing resonates with me personally because I’ve been troubled by panic attack-level heebie jeebies ever since childhood whenever my mind strays to contemplations of the big nothing for too long. Despite a good Catholic upbringing, I just can’t get my head around the concept of an end to this life we know. And the prospect, revealing probably my lack of faith, that my soul and identity will just come to a screeching halt, oblivion… it’s horrible, and it opens up this awful chasm before me that is beyond my courage.

So I’d like to talk briefly about a few of my favorite pop songs about death of the past few years.

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