Whilst browsing the internet for ’odd lists’ today I stumbled across a very odd list of ‘Musicians Who Predicted Their Own Death in Song’ on various websites, and just had to share the incredible creepy findings with you!
John Denver - “Leaving On A Jet Plane”
“Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane. Don't know when I'll be back again!
Perhaps the most worrying predicable song lyric has to come from poor old John Denver, who warbled on about leaving on a jet plane and not knowing when he’d be back again.
Well obviously, never was the answer John was looking for bless him, because on October 12, 1997, John Denver, the popular folk singer and amateur pilot, at the controls of a newly-purchased experimental aircraft, died after crashing into Monterey Bay, in California.
Spooky!
Richie Rich feat. Tupac - "Niggas Done Changed"
"I been shot and murdered, can tell you how it happened word for word,But best believe niggas gon' get what they deserve."
Right, so we know you haven’t got a clue who this Richie Rich bloke is, but that’s not the point here… whilst he’s still prancing around being all rich, or working in his local diner… we don’t really know. It’s the real star on this track, Tupac Shakur who get’s our attention.
It’s Tupac’s verse on "Niggas Done Changed" that will set the conspiracy theorists’ pants on fire when they realise the line’s that Tupac belted out for his mate Rich were bob on, well unless you take the bit; “niggas gon' get what they deserve." Because we don’t think he deserved to die. Not really.
Anyway, for the point of the article, we’re not justifying his death, but Mr Shakur was shot and murdered, just like he said. And as for ‘can tell you how it happened word for word’, we’re pretty sure he could (if he wasn’t six feet under) as noone else can because he was shot at night and not many people were around, so nobody saw the shooter and the case still remains unsolved. Well unless you live in the Westside, then you obviously reckon it was one of those reprobates from the Eastside… innit.
Then again, some folk reckon Tupac faked his own death after publicly admitting he was a fan of Italian philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli, who is well known for banging on about faking one's own death. Either way, by the time "Niggas Done Changed" hit the shelves, two months after Tupc’s death, the "Pac's Still Alive" movement was off and running, and it hasn't let up since.
Jimi Hendrix - "The Ballad of Jimi"
"Many things he would try, For he knew soon he'd die. Now Jimi's gone, he's not alone. His memory still lives on. Five years, this he said. He's not gone, he's just dead."
Back in 1965 when no one really knew who Jimi Hendrix was, he decided it was time to make a quick buck, and wandered into a recording studio to lay down a track about an unfortunate named Jimi who was going to be dead in five years.
"The Ballad of Jimi" opens with Hendrix telling the listener that the song is dedicated to his beat friend, who, conveniently is a guitar player named Jimi… however, the line; "that is my story" is the final nail in the *ahem* coffin as he did in fact die almost exactly five years after recording this song!
John Lennon - "Borrowed Time"
"Living on borrowed time, without a thought for tomorrow"
We all know John Lennon was good at what he did back in the day, but it seems that none of us realised he could actually see the future until four years after his death when “Borrowed Time” was posthumously released.
The single itself was inspired by a near-death experience John Lennon had during a sailing trip in Bermuda when his little vessel was attacked by an intense storm… however, John wasn’t going to let a bit of rain stop him making some dosh for his beloved Yoko…
Okay, so we appreciate that John wasn’t brilliant about practising what he preached, what with singing about imaging no possessions whilst shacked up in a million dollar apartment.
Anyway, John’s hypocrisy didn’t seem to bother his uber-fan Mark David Chapman, who showed his love for the ex Beatle by showering him in bullets six months after the song was penned… Hopefully, Lennon practiced what he preached this time around considering he sang about not having a "thought for tomorrow," and unless that thought was "be dead," he was guaranteed to be pretty disappointed.
Hank Williams - "I'll Never Get Out of this World Alive"
"No matter how I struggle and strive. I'll never get out of this world alive."
Okay, so this might not shock you as a particularly scary lyric, because unless you’re an astronaut, you probably don’t have a chance of getting off this world alive, and it’s a given that we’re all going to pop our clogs at some point or another.
The bizarre thing about this song though, was that the track, which was released in 1952 was the last single Hank Williams released in his lifetime, and after a lot of, erm, struggling and striving, Hank hardly made it out of the rest of the year alive and on the first day of 1953, just months after the song was released, he was pronounced dead at the Oak Hill Hospital emergency room.
Jeff Buckley - "Dream Brother"
"The dark angel he is shuffling in. Don't be like the one who left behind his name. Asleep in the sand with the ocean washing over."
Whilst we all love Jeff Buckley and wish he was still singing his little songs for us, it’s his track, “Dream Brother” that has really caught our attention.
Despite claiming that the track was about a friend who was about to leave his girlfriend and child and that it would reap loads of sadness on the family, just like his father, Tim Buckley had done when Jeff was a nipper… and died of an accidental heroin overdose years later.
Anyway, back to the song, so we’ve never thought a "dark angel shuffling in," is the best way to convince a friend that a relationship isn’t on the right track - unless he’s been sleeping with the lass next door - so how that fits into a man leaving his girlfriend we don’t really know… but we can see how the second on fits with the ret of the story.
The weird line is the; "Asleep in the sand with the ocean washing over," now, it might sound alright to you and me, but when you remember that Jeff Buckley died by drowning it does give you the heebie jeebies.
Lynyrd Skynyrd - "That Smell"
"Say you'll be alright come tomorrow, but tomorrow might not be here for you. Angel of darkness upon you. The smell of death surrounds you."
You know when you get dead mad at someone and write stuff on Facebook like; “I hope you’re head falls off” and you don’t really mean it literally? (okay, so maybe a little bit), well this song is kinda like that in music form.
The track was originally penned to vent singer Ronnie Van Zant's disappointment with the lifestyle his fellow band member, Gary Rossington was leading, as his drug and alcohol problems began to tear the band apart, but after a verse which made fun of an alcohol-fuelled car accident Rossington had, Van Zant then steps into rather nasty territory. (see naughty lyrics above)
However, unfortunately forVan Zant, it was Rossington who had the last laugh, metaphorically speaking of course, as on October 20, 1977, three days after the release of the now unfortunately titled Street Survivors, the plane Lynyrd Skynyrd was travelling in crashed in a forest near Gillsburg, Mississippi.
So, Van Zant was made to eat his words as the line "the smell of death surrounds you" took on a whole new meaning after Rossington survived but three band mates, including Van Zant, were all killed.
And as if these lyrics weren’t enough of a kick in the stomach, the album title and cover art were probably the most ironic ever as Street Survivors featured a picture of the band on fire… get it, fire, plane crash, death?
FemaleFirst - Ruth Harrison
Whilst browsing the internet for ’odd lists’ today I stumbled across a very odd list of ‘Musicians Who Predicted Their Own Death in Song’ on various websites, and just had to share the incredible creepy findings with you!
John Denver - “Leaving On A Jet Plane”
“Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane. Don't know when I'll be back again!
Perhaps the most worrying predicable song lyric has to come from poor old John Denver, who warbled on about leaving on a jet plane and not knowing when he’d be back again.
Well obviously, never was the answer John was looking for bless him, because on October 12, 1997, John Denver, the popular folk singer and amateur pilot, at the controls of a newly-purchased experimental aircraft, died after crashing into Monterey Bay, in California.
Spooky!
Richie Rich feat. Tupac - "Niggas Done Changed"
"I been shot and murdered, can tell you how it happened word for word,But best believe niggas gon' get what they deserve."
Right, so we know you haven’t got a clue who this Richie Rich bloke is, but that’s not the point here… whilst he’s still prancing around being all rich, or working in his local diner… we don’t really know. It’s the real star on this track, Tupac Shakur who get’s our attention.
It’s Tupac’s verse on "Niggas Done Changed" that will set the conspiracy theorists’ pants on fire when they realise the line’s that Tupac belted out for his mate Rich were bob on, well unless you take the bit; “niggas gon' get what they deserve." Because we don’t think he deserved to die. Not really.
Anyway, for the point of the article, we’re not justifying his death, but Mr Shakur was shot and murdered, just like he said. And as for ‘can tell you how it happened word for word’, we’re pretty sure he could (if he wasn’t six feet under) as noone else can because he was shot at night and not many people were around, so nobody saw the shooter and the case still remains unsolved. Well unless you live in the Westside, then you obviously reckon it was one of those reprobates from the Eastside… innit.
Then again, some folk reckon Tupac faked his own death after publicly admitting he was a fan of Italian philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli, who is well known for banging on about faking one's own death. Either way, by the time "Niggas Done Changed" hit the shelves, two months after Tupc’s death, the "Pac's Still Alive" movement was off and running, and it hasn't let up since.
Jimi Hendrix - "The Ballad of Jimi"
"Many things he would try, For he knew soon he'd die. Now Jimi's gone, he's not alone. His memory still lives on. Five years, this he said. He's not gone, he's just dead."
Back in 1965 when no one really knew who Jimi Hendrix was, he decided it was time to make a quick buck, and wandered into a recording studio to lay down a track about an unfortunate named Jimi who was going to be dead in five years.
"The Ballad of Jimi" opens with Hendrix telling the listener that the song is dedicated to his beat friend, who, conveniently is a guitar player named Jimi… however, the line; "that is my story" is the final nail in the *ahem* coffin as he did in fact die almost exactly five years after recording this song!
John Lennon - "Borrowed Time"
"Living on borrowed time, without a thought for tomorrow"
We all know John Lennon was good at what he did back in the day, but it seems that none of us realised he could actually see the future until four years after his death when “Borrowed Time” was posthumously released.
Tagged in Tupac Shakur