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Which song contains the famous lyric "We sang dirges in the dark"?

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dirge

American  

[durj] / dɜrdʒ /

noun

• dirges
  plural

1. 

   a funeral song or tune, or one expressing mourning in commemoration of the dead.

2. any composition resembling such a song or tune in character, as a poem of lament for the dead or solemn, mournful music.

   Tennyson's dirge for the Duke of Wellington.

3. a mournful sound resembling a dirge.

   The autumn wind sang the dirge of summer.

4. Ecclesiastical. the office of the dead, or the funeral service as sung.

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dirge British  

/ dɜːdʒ /

noun

1. a chant of lamentation for the dead

2. the funeral service in its solemn or sung forms

3. any mourning song or melody

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• dirgeful
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• dirges
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of dirge

1175–1225; Middle English dir ( i ) ge < Latin: direct, syncopated variant of dīrige (imperative of dīrigere ), first word of the antiphon sung in the Latin office of the dead (Psalm V, 8)

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Explanation

A dirge is a song of mourning, performed as a memorial to someone who’s died. As you might imagine, a dirge is usually quite sad. Another word with a similar meaning that you might know is “requiem.” The noun dirge comes from the Latin dirige, which means “direct,” and is the beginning of a prayer that translates as “Direct my way in your sight, O Lord my God.” Dirge can still have a religious meaning, but it can also be any sad and mournful song, poem, or hymn composed or performed in memory of someone who has died. You can also say that something mournful sounds like a dirge, using the word in a more poetic sense.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dirge dirges

She sings “Deportee” like the dirge it is — and then goes further.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

With Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” as a piano dirge.

From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026

Its internal speaker plays a rumbling soundtrack that sends the drumsticks attached to the instrument flittering, giving the sense of a ghostly presence tapping out a brooding dirge.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026

Instead, they foundered in the breeze, squeezing out whatever bitter juice was left in a dirge that would prove to drag on for at least another week.

From Slate ● Feb. 23, 2026

I dropped my eyes to the floor and heard the slow music of the dirge, louder for a moment, then soft again.

From "Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution" by Ji-li Jiang

Orthodox Christian priests led a vigil in Brovary on Thursday, chanting dirges and burning incense as residents placed flowers and cuddly toys at a makeshift memorial near the nursery.

From Reuters ● Jan. 19, 2023

Boleros from the borderlands, civil rights gospel anthems and Dust Bowl dirges.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 11, 2022

As the cortege passed through Horse Guards Parade, the crowds began applauding, their joyful expressions of affection contrasting with the funeral dirges being played by the queen’s band.

From New York Times ● Sep. 14, 2022

And when you experienced Jason Molina’s languid lyricism, you might’ve felt deep kinship through his beautifully somber dirges — but you were too busy crying to think, “I should write songs like this!”

From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2019

At first she played “Yori Yori” and “Obi Mu O” endlessly and then she stopped, because the songs brought to her memories a finality, as though they were dirges.

From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

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Related Words

• elegy
• hymn

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