And When I Die,  Blood, Sweat and Tears —

Art and the passing troubadours do it again: Existential honesty so often lacking in academic postmodern man.

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“I’m not scared of dying –
And I don’t really care –
If it’s peace you find in dying –
Well then, let the time be near –

If it’s peace you find in dying
Well, then dying time is near
Just bundle up my coffin
‘Cause it’s cold way down there
I hear that 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 in this world
To carry on, to carry on

Now 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 I’ll pray there ain’t no Hell

But I’ll never know by livin’
Only my dyin’ will tell
Yes, only my dyin’ will tell, oh yeah
Only my dyin’ will tell

And when I die, and when I’m gone
There’ll be, one child born in this world
To carry on, to carry on, yeah yeah

Give me my freedom
For as long as I be
All I ask of livin’
Is to have no chains on me

All I ask of livin’
Is to have no chains on me

And all I ask of dyin’ is to
Go naturally
Only wanna go naturally

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

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

Originally by Peter, Paul and Mary

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