Blue Oyster Cult: Don't Fear the Reaper Meaning

Song Released: 1976

Don't Fear the Reaper Lyrics

All our times have come
Here but now they’re gone
Seasons don’t fear the reaper
Nor do the wind, the sun or the rain.. we can be like they are
Come on baby... don’t fear the reaper
Baby take my hand... don’t fear the reaper
We’ll be able to...

1. Renegade

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   Jan 13th 2011 !⃝

   Around 1975, the lead guitarist for Blue Oyster Cult (Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser) was suffering from an abnormal heart rhythm that would cause him to pass out. He was referred to a cardiologist and had to undergo a surgical procedure on his heart to restore his heart to a normal rhythm.
   
   Although it was not a "life-threatening" heart condition, this situation affected him tremendously with a feeling of fragility and human vulnerability. He wrote the song as he was facing heart surgery and an uncertain fate.
2. anonymous

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   Dec 30th 2010 !⃝

   Don't let the fear of death or the passing of time erode the beauty and joy of the present. Celebrate your life every day and be safe in the knowledge that love really does transcend all.
3. anonymous

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   Dec 13th 2010 !⃝

   I think that this song pertains to Adolph Hitler's death. He was attempting to persuade his girlfriend to commit suicide along with him.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
4. anonymous

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   Sep 20th 2010 !⃝

   Sorry it is about an old lover that came back into her life and she feels he is the devil--and finds out that he was always to be part of her life as of his
5. anonymous

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   Aug 17th 2010 !⃝

   It's about how they are all going to die together one day
6. annwrjiii

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   Jul 27th 2010 !⃝

   Omg! the song is about the vietnamn war
   40,000 men and woman every day.
7. anonymous

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   Jun 9th 2010 !⃝

   I think it's about a man to his daughter. His daughter is five, scared of the world, and afraid of death because she's just realizing it. He tells her not to worry, that death is even better than life.
8. connifer

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   Jun 11th 2009 !⃝

   This song is about life, and how life inevitably leads to death. In meantioning Romeo and Juliet, they are stating that life and love though limited, are timeless. BOC is saying you should live and not be afraid to die, for it is something that comes cretain as "the changing of the seasons" It states that life starts and ends every day without society batting an eye, and we are no different. Lost in orbit, so we should live the way we want to live, love the way we want to live, and take advantage of every day because our days are limited, and when the time draws near, keep living until we do no more.
9. anonymous

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   Apr 10th 2009 !⃝

   I think that this song is about 2 things- 1. Death is part of life and we shouldn't be afraid 2.(the more important in my view) 2 hippie kids were madly in love and tripping on acid, so that they never have to b apart they commit suicide together (hence the reference to Rome and Juliete)
10. Spinner

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    Jan 21st 2009 !⃝

    I think this about a girl taking the plunge into love and losing her virginity.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
11. anonymous

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    Oct 9th 2008 !⃝

    I always thought of “don’t fear the reaper” as a vampire seduction song.
    The vampire and his coven sings an interweaving melody to the vampires lover whose only fear is crossing that last barrier, that mortal coil and stepping past the reaper. He tells her there is nothing to fear. He promises her that their love will live forever like the story of Romeo and Juliet lives eternally. He promises her that she can fly. And eventually she submits to his seduction and she becomes like they are and the vampire lovers’ fly off together.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
12. anonymous

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    Aug 6th 2008 !⃝

    I tend to agree with Donald Roeser's own interpretation (if you can't trust the guy who wrote the song, who CAN you trust??) Moreover, I'd argue that the song, far from having anything to do with - let alone endorsing - suicide - is really about learning to accept death as a natural, indeed essential, part of life, in addition to celebrating the kind of love that transcends death. Reread the first verse. Roeser is saying, in essence, if nature doesn't fear death, why should humans?
13. canfield727

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    Jun 21st 2008 !⃝

    I like to think this song is about an elderly woman whose passed husband comes to get her. She is dying of natural causes and he comes back to her in dreams appearing the way he did in his younger years. Typically, in life, the man dies before the woman and she is left alone. Its the cycle of life; just like the seasons.
14. anonymous

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    Mar 29th 2008 !⃝

    I personally think this song is about death coming into this ladies life and telling her not to be afraid of it. It is natural like the sun the wind and the rain.
    
    "Come on baby... Don't fear the Reaper
    Baby take my hand... Don't fear the Reaper
    We'll be able to fly... Don't fear the Reaper
    Baby I'm your man..."
    
    I believe this is death talking to her and telling her to come with him. maybe this lady..maybe her lover died and death was coming to get her and telling her it was o.k and this was the last day she had to suffer.
15. anonymous

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    Mar 10th 2008 !⃝

    This song has nothing to do with the Jonestown mass suicide/murder as the song was released in 1976 and the massacre in 1978. If anything Jim Jones has taken the line out of the song!

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