It only makes sense that some of the greatest musicians of our time wanted their own lyrics etched into their gravestones when their time on this earth came to an end. For some musicians, the choice to etch their famous songs into their gravestones was the choice of the bereaved. Others opted to include song lyrics that weren’t their own, either. Let’s look at just a few famous examples.
Whitney Houston
Whitney Houston, one of the greatest voices of her generation, passed away in 2012. She was best known for her incredible rendition of the Dolly Parton-penned classic, “I Will Always Love You”. She recorded her version for the 1992 film The Bodyguard, and since then, her song has enormously surpassed the popularity of the film itself.
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Naturally, Houston’s family opted to include the title lyrics, “I will always love you,” to her gravestone underneath a very apt label: “The Voice.”
Dee Dee Ramone
Dee Dee Ramone was a founding member of the famous rock band The Ramones. Sadly, he passed away in 2002 and was subsequently buried in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. His gravestone is quite an ode to the band, complete with The Ramones’ famous seal.
This gravestone features two separate lyrics. “I feel so safe flying on a ray on the highest trails above” is featured on the stone, which comes from the song “Highest Trails Above” from The Ramones’ 1983 album Subterranean Jungle. The line “OK…I gotta go now” is also featured on the stone, likely a reference to The Ramones’ biggest song, “Blitzkrieg Bop”.
Frank Sinatra
Famed American crooner Frank Sinatra passed away in 1998, and his gravestone displays lyrics that won’t surprise anyone.
Sinatra was best known for a number of classic songs. However, one of his most famous tunes is “The Best Is Yet To Come” from 1964. Those lyrics are etched onto the very top of his gravestone, and it also happens to be the last song that Sinatra performed before his death.
Nick Drake
Nick Drake’s untimely death was tragic. The lyrics his family chose to engrave on his gravestone in 1974 are similarly heartbreaking. The line “Now we rise / And we are everywhere” is engraved on his stone and is taken from “From The Morning”, Drake’s last song on his final album, Pink Moon.
Kris Kristofferson
Fans are still mourning the loss of Kris Kristofferson, and this entry on our list of lyrics marked on famous gravestones is particularly heartbreaking. Krisofferson requested these lyrics for his gravestone himself before his death. Apparently, he was a fan of the Leonard Cohen classic “Bird On A Wire”. The lyrics “Like a bird on the wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir, I have tried in my way to be free” are engraved on Kristofferson’s gravestone.
Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images
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