Oxford's oldest student newspaper

Independent since 1920

Death Is A Terrible Curse And There Is No Getting Around It

I remember the first time I realised I was going to die. I was only a child, and wept at the injustice of it, the incomprehensible nothingness that was, and is, at all times approaching me. But my tears and yours are meaningless, and they fade even as they fall, millions and millions, like a blizzard over the ocean.

Here are some songs that sometimes help me forget about that.

1. No Hands – Wacka Flocka Flame ft. Wale & Roscoe Dash

TUNE ALERT. What’s got no thumbs and is a massive tune? This song, that’s what. A towering sixty-story colossus of a tune, that’s what it bloody well is. And when I listen to it, I never stop to think about the four and a half minutes of slender, oh so precious life, that will never return to me. 

2. Live Forever – Oasis

‘Maybe I don’t wanna die / wanna live and don’t wanna die / maybe death terrifies me / (You and I will probably die in great paaaaiiiiiinnnn)’ [Guitar Solo].

3. Bros – Panda Bear

This jubilant anthem of kinship over time treads a wonderful line between on the one hand, the near-ambient, underwater charm of Noah Lennox’ other group, Animal Collective, and on the other, the unknowable truth hidden in the first germ of all life, which is its own demise.

4. Skeng – The Bug ft. Killa P & Flowdan

This is truly intimidating music. The ominous, slow count that gives the track its momentum perfectly counterpointed by the repeated warning ‘you don’t want to see me get evil then’. Strangely enough, fear actually makes us cling to life harder. It’s a simple tactic – present yourself with an immediate threat, and your focus will be on survival, and not on the futility of your actions. #mortalityprotips

5. Family Tree – TV On The Radio

Think of your descendants, your ancestors. Have you considered that you are part of something bigger, and that the magnitude of this sequence of life does not diminish, but constellates you? No, you have not. The void smiles wider and wider, a deafening absence that calls you on.

Also, how much like the beginning of ‘Bound 2’ does that intro sound? Like, crazy similar, right?

Peace.

Check out our other content

Most Popular Articles