3 of the Last Songs by Members of the 27 Club

Rock music’s 27 Club is not a membership you want to earn. It’s an indication something went very wrong. Indeed, members of the club were famous, beautiful, and at the top of their game. They also died at age 27. For some reason that year is the one that takes so many of our greatest artists. It’s sad but somehow beyond a coincidence at this point.

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Below, we wanted to explore three songs from members of the 27 Club. In fact, they are the final songs that each of the three members recorded. If only there could have been more… These are three of the last songs by members of rock music’s 27 Club.

“You Know You’re Right” by Nirvana from ‘Nirvana’ (2002)

Hearing this song, how can you not miss Kurt Cobain? What started as a quick run to the studio resulted in the band’s final recording. As Nirvana was in between tours, they booked days at Robert Lang Studio in Seattle for January 28-30, 1994. While lead vocalist Cobain was a no-show on the first two days, he appeared on the third day and the band tracked this song. They’d been working on it loosely during soundchecks for their tour but on the fly, the band arranged it and cut it. Shortly after, Cobain wrote lyrics and added the plucking intro. And a month or two later, he was gone at 27. The band released it on a greatest hits album in 2002 and it now serves to remind just how much great music Nirvana could have released had Cobain not died.

“Belly Button Window” by Jimi Hendrix from ‘The Cry Of Love’ (1971)

We move from one Seattle icon to another. Jimi Hendrix’ semi-autobiographical song “Belly Button Window” is about his difficult childhood. Released as the final track on his first posthumous album in 1971, the tune is about being born and takes the vantage point of a fetus, looking out at its unhappy parents from the belly button. Hendrix worked on the tune in the summer of 1970 shortly before he passed away at the age of 27. The blues song remains an interesting look into what Hendrix’s new music may have sounded like.

“Mercedes Benz” by Janis Joplin from ‘Pearl’ (1971)

Inspired by poetry, crafted in a bar, and recorded in a moment of technical difficulties, this nearly two-minute song was the final track the great rock singer Janis Joplin ever recorded. It’s a joke song about materialism. Buying is the way to happiness, after all? But when sung by Joplin, the song instantly becomes one of the greatest blues songs ever created. Her voice is a superhero that could crumble with emotion at any time. The track ends with a little laugh from Joplin, who says, “That’s it!” And it was. She died not long after at 27 years old.

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