The Best (And Most Devastating) Uses Of Songs In TV And Film Deaths
We're still not over John Barton.
Some songs can’t be separated from the movie scenes they soundtrack.
Chuck Berry’s ‘Never Can Tell’ immediately conjures Uma Thurman and John Travolta cutting shapes in Pulp Fiction. ‘Tiny Dancer’ by Elton John will always remind me of the bus scene in Almost Famous. And thanks to Fight Club, ‘Where Is My Mind’ by The Pixies is the sound of capitalism finally crumbling.
But what about the music choices that are a little darker? Some of the most memorable music scenes from TV and movies have come as a character took their final breath.
Some are funny, most are traumatic: from The O.C. to the Australian movie scene that continues to fuck us up, here are the best death scene songs.
‘Breathe Me’ — Six Feet Under
Sia didn’t just soundtrack one pivotal death in Six Feet Under… she soundtracked all of them. In the final scene of the final episode of one of the best shows ever, ‘Breathe Me’ plays as we see how the cast’s main characters eventually meet their end: one shot on the job, one of a heart attack a cruise ship, most just of expiring from old age in a nursing home or hospital.
It’s a beautiful, fitting end for a show about the inevitability of death. Grab yer tissues.
‘Mad World’ — Donnie Darko
Admittedly, I haven’t watched this movie since I was 13 and did not understand anything that happened (something about a rabbit?) but I know Jake Gyllenhaal dies in the end and this song plays. Choon.
‘Alice Practice’ — Skins
Technically we don’t hear ‘Alice Practice’ during an actual death scene, but it absolutely still counts. Sid finds his dad dead in the lounge room, goes to school in a daze, hits the club for a Crystal Castles show and breaks down.
Watching his knees buckle as he finds Tony in the crowd, cries and tells him what happened is heart wrenching. Read about some more traumatic Skins deaths here. (There are lots.) (Ugh, this show.)
‘Chasing Cars’ — Grey’s Anatomy
I have not seen Grey’s Anatomy but I’ve been assured that this song played after the death of a character called “Denny” and it was very upsetting.
Admittedly, I choked up watching this clip.
‘Hide and Seek’ — The O.C.
Ryan’s brother Trey tries to rape Marissa Cooper, Ryan finds out and confronts him, Marissa breaks up their fight by shooting Trey.
He doesn’t actually die in this infamous The O.C. scene — just goes into a coma then wakes up to be blackmailed by Julie Cooper — but the shooting was so overwrought it inspired the whole ‘Mmm watcha say’ meme and this parody.
Of course, it wasn’t the only iconic death scene song in The O.C….
‘Hallelujah’ — The O.C.
It might be tempting to cast the loss of Marissa Cooper in some rose-coloured retrospective glow. But I lived through the noughties and let me remind you: by the time Marissa finally died, we were all so sick to death of her shit that no one even really cared.
Also, Mischa Barton totally spoiled the show by revealing her character was gonna die in an interview ahead of time. But still, like everything in The O.C., this was a good use of music.
‘It’s Hip To Be Square’ — American Psycho
Not all death scene songs are sad! Some are kind of funny. RIP, Paul.
‘With or Without You’ — Looking for Alibrandi
This song is responsible for traumatising a generation of Australians. When I hear the opening bars of ‘With or Without You’ — covered here by Hamish Cowan, because presumably the U2 version was a bit too exxy for our local film industry — I feel John Barton’s death in my bones.
It still hurts.
Katie Cunningham is the co-host of the money podcast Frugal Forever and a freelance writer based in Sydney. She is on Twitter.