O Death is a traditional Appalachian folk song in which a mortal pleads with personified death for mercy and a little more time, famously delivered by Ralph Stanley as a stark, haunting a cappella dirge meditating on mortality and judgment.
Won't you spare me over til another year
Well what is this that I can't see
With ice cold hands takin' hold of me
Well I am death, none can excel
I'll open the door to heaven or hell
Whoa, death someone would pray
Could you wait to call me another day
The children prayed, the preacher preached
Time and mercy is out of your reach
I'll fix your feet til you cant walk
I'll lock your jaw til you cant talk
I'll close your eyes so you can't see
This very hour, come and go with me
I'm death I come to take the soul