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Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid · 1973

Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

Written for a death scene in the film, it was a US top-20 single in 1973.

death

The words

A dying lawman asks to lay down his badge and guns as the end closes in.

A dying lawman speaks to his mother, asking her to take away the badge and the guns he no longer has any use for. He describes the light failing around him and the sense that his time is over. The song is short, just two verses, each followed by a repeated refrain in which he says he is at the threshold of heaven. Gentle backing voices and a slow, steady rhythm give it the feel of a hymn sung at a deathbed.

Lyrics on bobdylan.com ↗

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The words

A dying lawman asks to lay down his badge and guns as the end closes in.

A dying lawman speaks to his mother, asking her to take away the badge and the guns he no longer has any use for. He describes the light failing around him and the sense that his time is over. The song is short, just two verses, each followed by a repeated refrain in which he says he is at the threshold of heaven. Gentle backing voices and a slow, steady rhythm give it the feel of a hymn sung at a deathbed.

Lyrics on bobdylan.com ↗

Connections

Covered byKnockin’ on Heaven’s DoorEric Clapton · 1975Eric Clapton released a reggae-flavoured single of the song two years after the original.Covered byKnockin’ on Heaven’s DoorWarren Zevon · 2003Warren Zevon sang it on his final album, recorded as he faced his own death.Same theme asTryin' to Get to Heaven1997Both face death through the image of reaching heaven, twenty-four years apart.Same theme asNot Dark Yet1997Both are slow songs about a man sensing his life is ending.Covered byKnockin’ on Heaven’s DoorGuns N' Roses · 1991Guns N' Roses recorded it for Use Your Illusion II in 1991 and it became a big hit in Britain.
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The same year · 1973

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