“And when I die…”

“I'm not scared of dying
and I don't really care…” Laura Nyro

I saw this movie on a Saturday evening some time ago—not a great one, but there was something in it that got me thinking. The movie stars James Brolin and Cybill Shepherd “find” each other. The movie’s themes include getting older, loving, one’s children, dying… you know—the usual. James Brolin’s character is pretty cool. He seems comfortable in his own skin and seems to know what he wants and isn’t afraid to go after it. In one scene, he asks Cybill Shepherd, “You know why when people retire they buy those recreational vehicles and drive around?”

Pause. Why do you think so? I always thought it is because as they get older, they don’t want to fly, they want to visit the places on their bucket lists, it’s an economical way to travel, they have their “own home” wherever they go. Also, I think they have pets, and want them to travel with them. And I know that even I perk up when I see an Air Stream or other fully modernized yet retro RV.

James Brolin continues, “It’s because they are afraid of dying. They think they won’t die while they’re driving around.” WOW, I never thought of that. And of course, I cannot recall ever, even reading about a retired person or couple dropping dead while traveling the country in their spiffy RV.

Hmm.

With thoughts of the RV as an immortality device rattling around, I was not surprised to have Laura Nyro’s song And When I Die on loop in my head.

“If it's peace you find in dying,
when dying time is here,
Just bundle up my coffin cause
it's cold way down there,

I hear that's it's cold way down there,
yeah, crazy cold way down there
And when I die and when I'm gone,
There'll be one child born and
a world to carry on, to carry on.

My troubles are many, they’re as deep as a well
I can swear there ain’t no heaven but I pray there ain’t no hell
Swear there ain’t no heaven and pray there ain’t no hell,
But I’ll never know by living, only my dying will tell,
Only my dying will tell, yeah, only my dying will tell

And when I die and when I’m gone,
There’ll be one child born and
a world to carry on, to carry on.

Give me my freedom for as long as I be
All I ask of living is to have no chains on me
All I ask of living is to have no chains on me,
And all I ask of dying is to go naturally, only want to go naturally

Don’t want to go by the devil
Don’t want to go by the demon
Don’t want to go by Satan
Don’t want to die uneasy
Just let me go naturally

And when I die and when I’m gone,
There’ll be one child born and
a world to carry on, to carry on.”

Definitely food for thought. As a side note, Laura Nyro wrote these lyrics when she was just 17 years old. It was her first song and was recorded by Peter, Paul, and Mary. And When I Die ultimately became a hit when recorded by Blood, Sweat, & Tears in 1969.