<P> `` If I Die Young '' is a mid-tempo tune accompanied by acoustic guitar , banjo , accordion , mandolin , fiddle , electric bass , and drums . It is in the key of E Major . The song is about the sadness of dying young ( `` The sharp knife of a short life '' ) as the narrator describes how she never really got to experience love and worrying about how her loved ones will miss her and deal with the loss . She recognizes that once someone passes away , others seem to pay more attention to that person 's life : `` And maybe then you 'll hear the words I been singin ' / Funny when you 're dead how people start listenin ' . '' She states that if she dies young , then her family left behind should `` save their tears '' for a time when `` they 're really gon na need them . '' She states that she has had a well - lived life in the line `` Well , I 've had just enough time . '' </P>
<P> `` If I Die Young '' is a mid-tempo tune accompanied by acoustic guitar , banjo , accordion , mandolin , fiddle , electric bass , and drums . It is in the key of E Major . The song is about the sadness of dying young ( `` The sharp knife of a short life '' ) as the narrator describes how she never really got to experience love and worrying about how her loved ones will miss her and deal with the loss . She recognizes that once someone passes away , others seem to pay more attention to that person 's life : `` And maybe then you 'll hear the words I been singin ' / Funny when you 're dead how people start listenin ' . '' She states that if she dies young , then her family left behind should `` save their tears '' for a time when `` they 're really gon na need them . '' She states that she has had a well - lived life in the line `` Well , I 've had just enough time . '' </P>
if i die young what is the song about
if i die young what is the song about
the sadness of dying young
the sadness of dying young