Today, I interviewed two women who are organisers of the South Australian Death Festival, for The Adelaide Show Podcast – SA Death Festival Is The Key To Living Well. This is a free, public event dedicated to opening up conversations about death, dying, grief, and what it means to live well, in a way that is warm, engaging and very human.
In preparing for the interview, I took time to reflect on the various aspects of death. As it happens, the social media algorithms presented me with Andrew Scott’s poignant performance of Hamlet’s “to be or not to be” soliloquy and that set the scene for this song.
I read the soliloquy more fully and picked out some terms I had previously missed. For example, Shakespeare refers to the after life as the “undiscovered country”, and has Hamlet argue that our fear of such an unknown place from which nobody has returned, cowers us into putting up with our current plights rather than be bold and try something new.
I’m also reading Dante’s Divine Comedy while consuming much history, so the reference to Nero bubbled up from my subconscious curiosity about what makes someone worthy of being noted in our history books, and why does this not include the millions who have been fodder to these “hereoes'” schemes? As my guests noted, we don’t need to be seconded by a Nero or Napolean to suffer in life, we can get a diagnosis out of the blue, and suddenly our world can change dramatically. And on top of all this, I was still reflecting on whether the whole notion of discussing these questions about being historically relevant or otherwise is what Ecclesiastes would denouce as a vanity of vanities?
Something else that arose from our conversation is the noting that even if we decide not to ever think or talk about death, it is always there in our subconscious, and it is impacting decisions and behaviours all the time, often not for the best. Hence, the argument is to seek out such gatherings as a Death Festival to start learning how to become death literate.
As it happens, while writing this song, my daughter opened our back door to let a moth outside. She came in to say that her happiness in watching it fly away was shortlived because within moments a bird had swooped and eaten it. It seemed a fitting illustration of life and death and the cycles on this planet.
Finally, the title is drawn from Shakespeare’s words, spoken by Hamlet:
Who would Fardels bear, [carry burdens]
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have,
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all
I’ve collapsed this together to claim, fear of death makes cowards of us all. And that, is sad, when we consider it is possibly to go gently if we prepare.
Cowards Of Us All Lyrics
[Verse 1]
I don’t have a need for a Nero
My Rome is already burning down
A blinding diagnosis that I didn’t see coming
You’re speaking, but I do not hear a sound
[Pre-chorus]
Hamlet now makes sense to me
Asking to be or not to be?
Is it better to stay here and fight outrageous pain
Or do I go to sleep and hope I one day live again?
[Chorus]
We’re all heading to the undiscovered country
That place, where the slings and arrows fall
We can fight the troubles, or go gently
Coz fearing death, makes cowards of us all
[Verse 2]
I imagined life with more tomorrows
Now I find my world was built on shifting sand
I’ve worked all my days, and toiled in the sun
Now it’s going down and fate has shown its hand
[Pre-chorus]
Hamlet now makes sense to me
Asking to be or not to be?
Is it better to stay here and fight outrageous pain
Or do I go to sleep and hope I one day live again?
[Chorus]
We’re all heading to the undiscovered country
That place, where the slings and arrows fall
We can fight the troubles, or go gently
Coz fearing death, makes cowards of us all
[Verse 3]
I thought I could read my way to wisdom
But instead the authors disagreed
Whatever gets you through the night, seems to me, as right
As the Buddha’s words on suffering and greed
[Bridge]
Today I helped a moth, at the door, go outside
I smiled as I watched it fly
Then I saw a bird, swoop down, from on high
And complete, another circle of life
[Pre-chorus]
Hamlet now makes sense to me
Asking to be or not to be?
Is it better to stay here and fight outrageous pain
Or do I go to sleep and hope I one day live again?
[Final Chorus]
We’re all heading to the undiscovered country
That place, where the slings and arrows fall
We can fight the troubles, or go gently
Coz fearing death, makes cowards of us all
[Outro]
I will fight the troubles, or go gently
Coz fearing death, makes cowards of us all
Listen to Cowards Of Us All
Cowards Of Us All Scratchings
These are the various scratchings I made as I was writing this song, by hand, as usual. Some tweaks were made in the studio, as I heard the lyrics sung.
