According to The Music Afficionado, “And When I Die” was written by Laura Nyro at the age of 16 and released on her debut album in January 1967. When interviewed in 1989 about why she decided to write a song about the eternal cycle of life at such a young age, she said: “I think that teenagers are in touch with a very primal truth in life. Sometimes someone will say you were so young to write a song like that, yet I think that there is a folk wisdom in the song that a lot of teenagers have.”
Lyrics
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
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,
and the dying time is here,
Just bundle up my coffin cause
it’s cold way down there,
and the dying time is here,
Just bundle up my coffin cause
it’s cold way down there,
I hear that’s 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
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
My 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 pray there ain’t no hell,
But I’ll never know by living, only my dying will tell.
I can swear there ain’t no heaven but I pray there ain’t no hell
Swear there ain’t no heaven and I pray there ain’t no hell,
But I’ll never know by living, only my dying will tell.
Yes only my dying will tell, yeah, only my dying 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
And when I die and when I’m gone,
There’ll be one child born in this world to carry on, to carry on