Do you know a good song or poem marking the end of something?

https://youtu.be/bpZuAtwDfag This one for me. Not going into the details though.

Golf Girl by Caravan.
A true sweet story about a young man who met his future wife named Pat on a golf course.

(They later got divorced but at the time it was sweet)

https://youtu.be/cfAxWtcfDUk This on too. Always liked it but kind of a bummer song for Christmas time.

https://allpoetry.com/Funeral-Blues

https://youtu.be/X29hPMgKUyM

Thanks for all suggestions and citations so far.

If you don’t mind, please quote a line or two of the songs so I can get an idea of the contents before I click the link. My computer is lagging badly these days, so it’s a long wait for a YouTube link to come up.

First one: I can think of days when living for my life, was everything man could want to do, we could never see tomorrow, and no one said a word about the sorrow.

Second one can’t remember it right now. Think it’s “I ran into my old love in a grocery store, it was Christmas Eve”... Something like that.

Die Ärzte – Das finde ich gut
A song about welcoming death.

Translation:
“Take my hand and be happy
Because finite is finally infinite
Back there is the light
I steer the ferry through the void

All your sins are forgiven
Because here, no one know what sin is
Leave all your fears behind
And you will never hate again
And miss nothing
You may forget everything
There is nothing good or important
There is no wrong and no right
No wishes remain unfulfilled
because there is nothing to hope for

Take my hand and be happy
Because finite is finally infinite
You will see no face
No final judgement
You feel no weight
Just step into the light”

“Well Done” by The Afters

What will it be like when my pain is gone
And all the worries of this world just fade away?
What will it be like when You call my name
And that moment when I see You face to face?
I’m waiting my whole life to hear You say
Well done, well done

Standing on a golf course, dressed in PVC
I chanced upon a golf girl selling cups of tea
She asked me did I want one, asked me with a grin
For thruppence you can buy one, full right to the brim
So, of course I had to have one, in fact I ordered three
So I could watch the golf girl, could see she fancied me
And later on the golf course after drinking tea
It started raining golf balls, she protected me

[Chorus]
Her name was Pat, and we sat
Under a tree, she kissed me
We go for walks in fine weather
All together on the golf course, we talk in morse

[Verse]
Standing on a golf course, dressed in PVC
I chanced upon a golf girl selling cups of tea
She asked me did I want one, asked me with a grin
For thruppence you can buy one, full right to the brim
So of course I had to have one, in fact I ordered three
So I could watch the golf girl could see she fancied me
And later on the golf course after drinking tea
It started raining golf balls, she protected me

[Chorus]
Her name was Pat, and we sat
Under a tree, she kissed me

“Ain’t no sunshine,” Bill Withers.

“Can’t get high,” WSP.

“Tears in Heaven,” Eric Clapton. (Have tissue. He wrote the song about his dead child.)...

“What it takes,” Aerosmith.

“Back to Black,” Amy Whinehouse.

“Over Now,” Alice in Chains (“Unplugged” version.)

“One More Light,” Official music video. * This song, paired with the performance manages to plunge to indescribable depths.
It is widely viewed as Chester Bennington’s fairwell. His final attempt at thanking his fans, as he just couldn’t hold on any longer. RIP Chester….

Der Graf

A song about Dracula at the end of his life.

“The Count, is no longer who he once was
Yes, the Count now seems weird and bizarre
Yes, the Count lives off of blood packs, rats, and vermin
Yes, the Count is not a punk rocker, he is a vampire.

The Count no longer scares little children
Yes, the Count feels useless, old and empty
Yes, the Count knows nothing of the ozone hole or nuclear energy
Yes, the Count is past, blood and nostalgia

But back then!
Yes, back then he was feared by all, evil personified
but despite that, he was desired by women
they exposed their necks as a reward
But those times are long gone.

Yes, the Count is now lonely and alone
Yes, the Count never wanted to be an anachronism
Yes, the Count craves the blood of his virgins
But the Count is afraid, afraid of HIV.

But back then!
Yes, back then he was the mightiest creature between time and space
Yes, back then he was a beautiful, forbidden dream of immortality
sexy in his grandeur

The Count sits on a hill and cries
Yes, the Count waits for the sun to rise.”

Don’t recall where I read this, but I always liked it. And since your Q is about endings this could be about the End of Days if you believe in such things. Anyway: “I’d not give way to an Emperor, I’ll hold my road ‘gainst a king. To the Triple Crown I’ll not bow down, but this is a different thing! I’ll not fight ‘gainst the powers of the air, Sentry! Pass Him thru. Drawbridge let fall He’s the Lord of us all, the Dreamer whose dream came true!”

https://youtu.be/gBzJGckMYO4

That’s All, folks.

Not just a song, but an album. It’s called Everywhere at the end of time. It’s an album documenting a journey into dementia. I’m sorry I can’t quote anything from it because there is no word, but they are basically 1920s-style music playing in jukebox effect that slowly distorts as the mind deteriorate. The album is divided into six stages of dementia.

A few tracks of the album are:

- It’s just a burning memory
– A losing battle is raging
– Mournful cameraderie
– Post Awareness Confusions
– Advanced plaque entanglements
– Place in the World fades away

A Shropshire Lad XL

Into my heart an air that kills
From yon far country blows:
What are those blue remembered hills,
What spires, what farms are those?

That is the land of lost content,
I see it shining plain,
The happy highways where I went
And cannot come again.

AE Housman

( Sorry this is what came up when I tried to write one.
Wrong poem. )

————

I see a tree, its shadow
Tall and thin on the pavement
People and their shadows pass
Walking, gesturing shadows

Now inside the church shadows Swaying, kneeling and praying
Shadows, shadows, ah shadows
You can’t even say thanks for
noticing!

This is the end. My only friend, the end.—-Doors

Have to include the song Yesterday., whose lyrics I assume you are familiar with.
Same Old Song by the Four Tops
Sundays Will Never Be the Same by Spanky & Our Gang

We Just Disagree – Dave Mason

“We were friends, but now it’s the end of our love song
So, let’s leave it alone, ‘cause we can’t see eye to eye
There ain’t no good guy, there ain’t no bad guy
There’s only you and me and we just disagree”

Baby Can I Hold You – Tracy Chapman

“But you can say, “Baby,
baby, can I hold you tonight?
Maybe if I told you the right words
Ooh, at the right time
You’d be mine” ”

Tracy and Pavarotti, 2000 freakin awesome
https://youtube.com/watch?v=kxcC2KXtufs

You’ve Got a Friend – Carole King
This one will always bring back Dallas and Lynette.

“Now ain’t it good to know that you’ve got a friend
When people can be so cold?
They’ll hurt you, yes and desert you
And take your soul if you let them
Oh, but don’t you let them

Winter, spring, summer, or fall
All you have to do is call
And I’ll be there, yes I will
You’ve got a friend”

@ragingloli, love the song about welcoming death.

The Doors – The End
Poem link

This is the end, beautiful friend
This is the end, my only friend
The end of our elaborate plans
The end of everything that stands
The end
No safety or surprise
The end
I’ll never look into your eyes again
.......
It hurts to set you free
But you’ll never follow me
The end of laughter and soft lies
The end of nights we tried to die
This is the end

« Don’t think twice, it’s all right ».

Neil Diamond: I am…I said

This classic:

The Erl-King
Who rides there so late through the night dark and drear?
The father it is, with his infant so dear;
He holdeth the boy tightly clasp’d in his arm,
He holdeth him safely, he keepeth him warm.

“My son, wherefore seek’st thou thy face thus to hide?”
“Look, father, the Erl-King is close by our side!
Dost see not the Erl-King, with crown and with train?”
“My son, ‘tis the mist rising over the plain.”

“Oh, come, thou dear infant! oh come thou with me!
Full many a game I will play there with thee;
On my strand, lovely flowers their blossoms unfold,
My mother shall grace thee with garments of gold.”

“My father, my father, and dost thou not hear
The words that the Erl-King now breathes in mine ear?”
“Be calm, dearest child, ‘tis thy fancy deceives;
‘Tis the sad wind that sighs through the withering leaves.”

“Wilt go, then, dear infant, wilt go with me there?
My daughters shall tend thee with sisterly care
My daughters by night their glad festival keep,
They’ll dance thee, and rock thee, and sing thee to sleep.”

“My father, my father, and dost thou not see,
How the Erl-King his daughters has brought here for me?”
“My darling, my darling, I see it aright,
‘Tis the aged grey willows deceiving thy sight.”

“I love thee, I’m charm’d by thy beauty, dear boy!
And if thou’rt unwilling, then force I’ll employ.”
“My father, my father, he seizes me fast,
Full sorely the Erl-King has hurt me at last.”

The father now gallops, with terror half wild,
He grasps in his arms the poor shuddering child;
He reaches his courtyard with toil and with dread,—
The child in his arms finds he motionless, dead.

https://youtu.be/FHsip5xOenQ

Here’s where the story ends.

Thanks for some great answers! I had no idea what to expect. These recommendations helped me over a difficult passage.