As I lay dying....

I occasionally wonder what will be going on around me when I am finally drifting off into the dream-like state the precedes death. From those who I have witnessed die, I can say for sure that the atmosphere is often less than majestic. Kind of like the end of The World According to Garp, I envision that there will be a number of emotionless medical professionals walking in and out of my room while my family is hovering above me, both terrible sad but resigned and talking to me as if I'm an infant. The aspect that really interests me is what song will be in the back of my mind as I finally hit that dream stage, the last song I ever hear, ever sing. You'd think it would be something like Mozart's Requiem or Oh Danny Boy performed by bagpipes; however, my guess is that it'll be something more like "King of the Road." I think it's this type of irony that makes the end of Reservoir Dogs so effective: just as we learn of the tragic death of the only two noble characters, a very superficial, meaningless throwaway song from the 70's comes on the radio, thus reminding us that there will in fact be nothing special about our own individual deaths. Life will go on and it will be going on as usual, even as we experience our last moments.