Oh Death - Dock Boggs
3:23
single, 1963
Attributed to Lloyd Chandler
Attributed to Lloyd Chandler
With stark guitar work and a deep, croaking voice that seems to come from the depths of the grave itself, Boggs engages in a peroration with death personified, in which he begs for a reprieve: "Oh, death, please consider my age / Please don't take me at this stage / My wealth is all at your command / If you will move your icy hand." The song has an ancient, almost medieval tone. Boggs was in the 60s (having been "rediscovered" by white people) when he recorded this, and his sometimes tremulous voice adds a gravity and realism to this tête-à-tête with mortality.
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