10 Songs That Predicted the Tragic Fate of Their Singers in Real Life
advertisement
VOICE OVER: Rebecca Brayton
WRITTEN BY: Don Ekama
Music can be a powerful premonition. Join us as we explore spine-chilling songs that eerily foreshadowed the tragic fates of their legendary singers, revealing an uncanny connection between art and destiny that will send chills down your spine. Our countdown includes haunting tracks by iconic artists like John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, and Tupac Shakur, each with lyrics that seem to predict their untimely and heartbreaking ends. Which of these do you find the most chilling or surprising? Share in the comments.
10 Songs That Predicted the Tragic Fate of Their Singers in Real Life
Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’ll be looking at the most spine-chilling songs that, strangely enough, seemed to foreshadow the artists’ untimely deaths.
After rising to fame as a member of Billy Ward and His Dominoes, Jackie Wilson launched his solo career in 1957, scoring a hit the following year with “Lonely Teardrops.” Renowned for his electrifying stage presence, Wilson always raised the bar with his performances. But in 1975, while singing “Lonely Teardrops” at Dick Clark's Good Ol' Rock and Roll Revue, life delivered a cruel twist. As he hit the lyric “My heart is crying,” Wilson suffered a heart attack and collapsed on stage. Initially, the audience mistook it for part of his act and cheered him on. The truth soon became clear and he was rushed to the hospital. Sadly, Wilson remained in a semi-comatose state for nearly nine years before passing away in 1984.
T.Rex frontman and founder Marc Bolan never learned to drive out of fear that he’d die in a car accident. Ironically, he wasn’t entirely wrong. Though he never got behind the wheel, Bolan tragically died in 1977 after a vehicle driven by his girlfriend, Gloria Jones, crashed into a tree. As if that wasn’t spooky enough, Bolan himself may have unwittingly foreshadowed his fate in T.Rex’s 1972 song “Solid Gold Easy Action.” The track begins with the lines “Life is the same and it always will be / Easy as picking foxes from a tree.” At first glance, it seems innocuous, until you realize that the car that collided with the tree bore the license plate FOX 661L.
Warren Zevon’s 1987 track “The Factory” tells the tale of a man who takes over his father’s grueling job at a factory. The song lays bare the toll of working such a job, closing with the lines, “Kickin' asbestos in the factory / Punchin' out Chryslers in the factory / Breathin' that plastic in the factory.” Strangely enough, this seemed to hint at Zevon’s eventual fate. Although he never worked in a factory, in 2002, the singer was diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma, a lung cancer typically caused by exposure to asbestos. Choosing not to undergo treatment, Zevon immediately set to work on what would be his final album, “The Wind,” which was released just weeks before he died in September 2003.
Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain often channeled his experience with mental health issues and substance use disorder into his songs. The band’s 1993 track “Pennyroyal Tea” revolves around someone grappling with severe depression, which by all accounts, mirrored Cobain’s own state of mind when he wrote it. With haunting lyrics like “Give me a Leonard Cohen afterworld, so I can sigh eternally” and “Sit and drink pennyroyal tea, distill the life that's inside of me,” the track reads like a cry of anguish from Cobain himself. “Pennyroyal Tea” appeared on Nirvana’s third and final album “In Utero,” and was scheduled to be released as a single. However, shortly before that could happen, Cobain took his own life at his Seattle home.
While he was still a struggling musician, John Denver wrote a song during a layover at the airport titled “Babe I Hate to Go.” In the tune, which was eventually retitled “Leaving on a Jet Plane,” the singer bids farewell to his loved one shortly before he boards a plane, stating that he hates to leave and is unsure of when he will be back. Nearly 30 years later, those bittersweet lyrics took on a haunting new meaning. In October 1997, Denver, who was a licensed pilot with years of flying experience, died when his private plane malfunctioned mid-air and crashed into the Monterey Bay in California. He was the sole occupant.
This song appeared on “Street Survivors,” the fifth album by rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, which gained infamy shortly after its release. The original album cover depicted the band members surrounded by flames. This was a rather ominous choice given that just three days after its debut, the band was involved in a devastating plane crash that claimed the lives of frontman Ronnie Van Zant and others. Even more ominous, “That Smell,” co-written by Van Zant, contained lyrics like “tomorrow might not be here for you” and “the smell of death surrounds you.” While Van Zant intended the song as a warning against his bandmates’ excessive drinking and drug use, it has since been viewed as an unsettling foreshadowing of his own tragic end.
Ever since Tupac Shakur was murdered in September 1996, his death has been a hotbed of conspiracy theories. One of the most infamous claims is that Shakur faked his death and is still alive, a notion that is fueled by the strange way the rapper seemed to have predicted his own demise. Two months earlier, Shakur was featured on a song by fellow rapper Richie Rich, where he rapped the line “I been shot and murdered, can’t tell you how it happened word for word.” True to the lyrics, Shakur was shot on his way to a nightclub in Las Vegas, and he died days later in the hospital. It wasn’t until 2023 that anyone was arrested for the crime.
In 1994, Jeff Buckley wrote “Dream Brother” as a plea to a friend, urging him not to abandon his pregnant girlfriend. This was a familiar scenario for Buckley, whose father left his mother when he was just six months old. However, the song includes some ominous lyrics that seem unrelated to his friend’s situation like “That dark angel he is shuffling in / Watching over them with his black feather wings unfurled / Asleep in the sand with the ocean washing over.” These words became particularly chilling when, just three years later, Buckley tragically drowned while swimming in the Wolf River Harbor. Although the death was ruled accidental, the eerie parallels between the lyrics and his fate have continued to raise eyebrows.
John Lennon recorded this song in 1980, but it never saw the light of day until four years after his death. “Borrowed Time” is a Calypso-tinged reggae tune that was inspired by a turbulent sailing trip during which Lennon’s yacht got caught in a severe storm. Reflecting on the experience, he sang the line “Living on borrowed time without a thought for tomorrow.” Lennon was simply contemplating mortality following the harrowing near-death experience, but little did he know that his words would become strangely prophetic just months later. On December 8th 1980, Lennon was tragically shot and killed by Mark David Chapman in front of his apartment building in New York City.
Jimi Hendrix exploded onto the scene in 1967 with his groundbreaking debut album “Are You Experienced.” But two years earlier, while still struggling to make a name for himself, Hendrix recorded a standalone track titled “The Ballad of Jimi,” with fellow musician Curtis Knight. The song’s protagonist, also named Jimi, was portrayed as a heroic figure who met a tragic end. Eerily prophetic lyrics included lines like “Many things he would try / For he knew soon he'd die” and “Five years, this he said / He's not gone, he's just dead.” Fast forward five years, and Hendrix himself passed away in London at the age of 27, succumbing to asphyxia while he was intoxicated. It’s almost as if he’d written his own epilogue.
Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’ll be looking at the most spine-chilling songs that, strangely enough, seemed to foreshadow the artists’ untimely deaths.
“Lonely Teardrops” (1958)
Jackie WilsonAfter rising to fame as a member of Billy Ward and His Dominoes, Jackie Wilson launched his solo career in 1957, scoring a hit the following year with “Lonely Teardrops.” Renowned for his electrifying stage presence, Wilson always raised the bar with his performances. But in 1975, while singing “Lonely Teardrops” at Dick Clark's Good Ol' Rock and Roll Revue, life delivered a cruel twist. As he hit the lyric “My heart is crying,” Wilson suffered a heart attack and collapsed on stage. Initially, the audience mistook it for part of his act and cheered him on. The truth soon became clear and he was rushed to the hospital. Sadly, Wilson remained in a semi-comatose state for nearly nine years before passing away in 1984.
“Solid Gold Easy Action” (1972)
T.RexT.Rex frontman and founder Marc Bolan never learned to drive out of fear that he’d die in a car accident. Ironically, he wasn’t entirely wrong. Though he never got behind the wheel, Bolan tragically died in 1977 after a vehicle driven by his girlfriend, Gloria Jones, crashed into a tree. As if that wasn’t spooky enough, Bolan himself may have unwittingly foreshadowed his fate in T.Rex’s 1972 song “Solid Gold Easy Action.” The track begins with the lines “Life is the same and it always will be / Easy as picking foxes from a tree.” At first glance, it seems innocuous, until you realize that the car that collided with the tree bore the license plate FOX 661L.
“The Factory” (1987)
Warren ZevonWarren Zevon’s 1987 track “The Factory” tells the tale of a man who takes over his father’s grueling job at a factory. The song lays bare the toll of working such a job, closing with the lines, “Kickin' asbestos in the factory / Punchin' out Chryslers in the factory / Breathin' that plastic in the factory.” Strangely enough, this seemed to hint at Zevon’s eventual fate. Although he never worked in a factory, in 2002, the singer was diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma, a lung cancer typically caused by exposure to asbestos. Choosing not to undergo treatment, Zevon immediately set to work on what would be his final album, “The Wind,” which was released just weeks before he died in September 2003.
“Pennyroyal Tea” (1993)
NirvanaNirvana frontman Kurt Cobain often channeled his experience with mental health issues and substance use disorder into his songs. The band’s 1993 track “Pennyroyal Tea” revolves around someone grappling with severe depression, which by all accounts, mirrored Cobain’s own state of mind when he wrote it. With haunting lyrics like “Give me a Leonard Cohen afterworld, so I can sigh eternally” and “Sit and drink pennyroyal tea, distill the life that's inside of me,” the track reads like a cry of anguish from Cobain himself. “Pennyroyal Tea” appeared on Nirvana’s third and final album “In Utero,” and was scheduled to be released as a single. However, shortly before that could happen, Cobain took his own life at his Seattle home.
“Leaving on a Jet Plane” (1969)
John DenverWhile he was still a struggling musician, John Denver wrote a song during a layover at the airport titled “Babe I Hate to Go.” In the tune, which was eventually retitled “Leaving on a Jet Plane,” the singer bids farewell to his loved one shortly before he boards a plane, stating that he hates to leave and is unsure of when he will be back. Nearly 30 years later, those bittersweet lyrics took on a haunting new meaning. In October 1997, Denver, who was a licensed pilot with years of flying experience, died when his private plane malfunctioned mid-air and crashed into the Monterey Bay in California. He was the sole occupant.
“That Smell” (1977)
Lynyrd SkynyrdThis song appeared on “Street Survivors,” the fifth album by rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, which gained infamy shortly after its release. The original album cover depicted the band members surrounded by flames. This was a rather ominous choice given that just three days after its debut, the band was involved in a devastating plane crash that claimed the lives of frontman Ronnie Van Zant and others. Even more ominous, “That Smell,” co-written by Van Zant, contained lyrics like “tomorrow might not be here for you” and “the smell of death surrounds you.” While Van Zant intended the song as a warning against his bandmates’ excessive drinking and drug use, it has since been viewed as an unsettling foreshadowing of his own tragic end.
“N****s Done Changed” (1996)[a]
Richie Rich feat. 2PacEver since Tupac Shakur was murdered in September 1996, his death has been a hotbed of conspiracy theories. One of the most infamous claims is that Shakur faked his death and is still alive, a notion that is fueled by the strange way the rapper seemed to have predicted his own demise. Two months earlier, Shakur was featured on a song by fellow rapper Richie Rich, where he rapped the line “I been shot and murdered, can’t tell you how it happened word for word.” True to the lyrics, Shakur was shot on his way to a nightclub in Las Vegas, and he died days later in the hospital. It wasn’t until 2023 that anyone was arrested for the crime.
“Dream Brother” (1994)
Jeff BuckleyIn 1994, Jeff Buckley wrote “Dream Brother” as a plea to a friend, urging him not to abandon his pregnant girlfriend. This was a familiar scenario for Buckley, whose father left his mother when he was just six months old. However, the song includes some ominous lyrics that seem unrelated to his friend’s situation like “That dark angel he is shuffling in / Watching over them with his black feather wings unfurled / Asleep in the sand with the ocean washing over.” These words became particularly chilling when, just three years later, Buckley tragically drowned while swimming in the Wolf River Harbor. Although the death was ruled accidental, the eerie parallels between the lyrics and his fate have continued to raise eyebrows.
“Borrowed Time” (1984)
John LennonJohn Lennon recorded this song in 1980, but it never saw the light of day until four years after his death. “Borrowed Time” is a Calypso-tinged reggae tune that was inspired by a turbulent sailing trip during which Lennon’s yacht got caught in a severe storm. Reflecting on the experience, he sang the line “Living on borrowed time without a thought for tomorrow.” Lennon was simply contemplating mortality following the harrowing near-death experience, but little did he know that his words would become strangely prophetic just months later. On December 8th 1980, Lennon was tragically shot and killed by Mark David Chapman in front of his apartment building in New York City.
“The Ballad of Jimi” (1965)
Jimi Hendrix & Curtis KnightJimi Hendrix exploded onto the scene in 1967 with his groundbreaking debut album “Are You Experienced.” But two years earlier, while still struggling to make a name for himself, Hendrix recorded a standalone track titled “The Ballad of Jimi,” with fellow musician Curtis Knight. The song’s protagonist, also named Jimi, was portrayed as a heroic figure who met a tragic end. Eerily prophetic lyrics included lines like “Many things he would try / For he knew soon he'd die” and “Five years, this he said / He's not gone, he's just dead.” Fast forward five years, and Hendrix himself passed away in London at the age of 27, succumbing to asphyxia while he was intoxicated. It’s almost as if he’d written his own epilogue.
Did we miss any other singers who predicted their own futures with their music? Let us know in the comments below.
[a]just say "done changed" https://youtu.be/j2MFPfOKZWc?si=e58GhZbZ3jgBprj7&t=6
Sign in
to access this feature