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in: Final Destination, Final Destination 2, Final Destination 3,
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Song of Death

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A Song of Death is a musical composition, usually an existing pop culture song, used throughout each film or novel of the Final Destination series to foreshadow Death. Death would manipulate an object to trigger another object such as a radio to play the song.

Songs of Death are also a recurring theme throughout the movie. Sometimes the song doesn't make it past the script stages, but still holds the same purpose, albeit not as much. There is always a reason that the song is chosen as it typically alludes to the nature of the opening accident in each film. For example, the Route 23 Pileup has "Highway to Hell" referring to the disastrous ordeal everyone went through, and Flight 180 has John Denver's "Rocky Mountain High" vaguely referring to Denver's death via plane crash.

Films

Final Destination (2000)

In Final Destination, "Rocky Mountain High" by John Denver, is played shortly before someone dies in various scenes, and was also heard by Alex Browning, when he went to the bathroom before boarding Flight 180. As Alex noted; John Denver died on a plane, which is why this song became synonymous with Death in this movie (ironically John also sang "Leaving on a Jet Plane" which may have been more fitting). At the end of the movie, a street performer sings the French translation of the song (the remaining survivors were in Paris at the time), thus alerting Alex that they were still on Death's list.

Songs of Death:

Clues/Connections from "Rocky Mountain High":

  • The artist of this song, John Denver, died in a plane crash, respectably. This refers to the fate of most of the Flight 180 passengers.
  • The line "You might say he was born again" may refer to only of the ways to cheat death: dying and being resurrected. This line might also be referring the child of Alex and Clear Rivers, Alexander Chance Browning, another way to cheat death, new life.
  • The line "When he first came to the mountains his life was far away" may refer to how the Flight 180 survivors are often too late to save their lives when they notice Death's clues.
  • The line "But the string's already broken, and he doesn't really care" may refer to the fact that the Flight 180 survivors cheated Death's original list/design and that Death just created a new design for them.
  • The line "It keeps changin' fast, and it don't last for long" may be referring to how fast the Death is taking the survivors out. It can be also referring to Flight 180 survivors no longer being safe from Death.
  • The line "I've seen it rainin' fire in the sky" is referring to the Flight 180 explosion and the fiery wreckage falling from it "in the sky".
  • The line "The shadow from the starlight" may be referring to Death's appearance as a shadow.
  • The line "And he lost a friend but kept his memory" may be referring to Alex losing Tod Waggener, his best friend, to Death.
  • The lines "Now he walks in quiet solitude" and "The forests and the streams" may be referring to Alex's journey to save Clear after realizing that she is next.
  • The line " Seeking grace in every step he takes" may be referring to the near-death experiences that Alex had while trying to save Clear. Due to Alex not being the target on Death's list yet, he is able to avoid and survive these experiences.
  • The lines "His sight has turned inside" and "Himself to try and understand" may refer to Alex trying to understand his premonition and hallucinations of clues that he got.
  • The lines "Now his life is full of wonder", "But his heart still knows some fear", and "Of a simple thing, he cannot comprehend" may be referring to the extend amount of time that Alex, along with the other Flight 180 survivors, got from being able to avoid death. But, later on in Paris, Alex still fears Death as he doesn't know if the list had ended.

Final Destination 2 (2003)

In Final Destination 2," Highway to Hell" by AC/DC was supposed to carry on the tradition that "Rocky Mountain High" started. However, the idea was semi scrapped, and the only time the song is used is during the actual Highway crash - originally, it was going to also be heard on Evan's answer machine (in the script it was a friend who phoned from work, rather than his two exes) as muzak in the elevator that killed Nora Carpenter, and a few other locations. Rocky Mountain High is also heard in this movie - it is played as muzak when Tim Carpenter is at the dentist.

Songs of Death:

Clues/Connections from "Highway to Hell":

  • The line "Season ticket on a one-way ride" may refer to the Route 23 pile-up as a "one way" destination to Death.
  • The lines "Goin' down", "Party time", and "My friends are gonna be there too, yeah" may be referring to Kimberly and her friends going down to Florida for spring break.
  • Any of lines containing the words "Highway to hell" are referring to the hellish environment produced by the pile-up.
  • The lines "No stop signs", "Speed limit", and "Nobody's gonna slow me down" may be referring to the pile-up still happened even after Kimberly tried to stop it. It may be also ironically referring to the fact that nobody was able to stop their vehicles in time during the pile-up.

Final Destination 3 (2006)

In Final Destination 3, Death's Song is "Turn Around, Look at Me" covered by The Lettermen (the credits mention the original writers by mistake), and is played thrice in the movie. It doesn't really relate to the premonition at all, but it is still relevant for various reasons. The first time it is used, the lyrics that should be noticed are "turn around" this is because Wendy and Kevin had to turn around to see the truck rolling towards them and also (as evidenced by the Choose Your Fate version) they needed to make Frankie turn around, so that they'd know to save him.  The second time, the important lyrics were "there is someone, walking behind you" because it was alerting Wendy to the fact that she was being followed. In addition to these, the song is also important because Death is basically "walking behind" Wendy throughout the movie, and "Turn Around" can also be called a 180. At the end of the movie, a subway performer sings this song with some slight lyric changes ("who really loves you"/who really needs you")

Songs of Death:

The Final Destination (2009)

Judging from the official script, it can be inferred that various characters were supposed to have their own Death Songs, but aside from Carter dying to the sounds of "Why Can't We Be Friends?" by War ("Ball and Chain" by Social Distortion in the script) this was sadly not used. Because of this, aside from "Devour" by ShineDown (which contains lyrics which could actually describe the opening disaster) Death did not have an official "Song of Death" in this movie. However, some fans have theorized that "Rocky Mountain High" was considered for the first time the survivors are seen in the cafe, as the song matches perfectly when attempted.

Songs of Death:

Final Destination 5 (2011)

In Final Destination 5, Death's song is "Dust in the Wind" by Kansas. The song alludes to how the North Bay Bridge Collapse was caused by "high winds". It first plays on Bus 1282 during Sam's premonition and after. It also plays when Sam is on Flight 180 alerting him that something bad is going to happen.

It could also allude to the fact that after the plane exploded, Sam would be quite literally, dust in the wind.

Song of Death:

Novels

Sometimes, the Final Destination book series also takes advantage of the "Song of Death" composition. In Dead Reckoning, music by Aerosmith is used to accompany two of the deaths (which is apparently something one character, Charlie Delgado, makes note of). In End of the Line, "Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osbourne is heard before the train collision. In Dead Man's Hand, "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" by The Animals is played throughout the novel.

Final Destination: Dead Reckoning

Songs of Death:

Final Destination: End of the Line

Songs of Death:

Final Destination: Dead Man's Hand

Songs of Death:

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