- published: 04 Dec 2009
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"(Don't Fear) The Reaper" is a song by the rock band Blue Öyster Cult from their 1976 album, Agents of Fortune. It was written and sung by the band's lead guitarist, Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser and was produced by David Lucas, Murray Krugman, and Sandy Pearlman. It is built around Dharma's guitar riff that opens the song and repeats throughout. The edited single version was Blue Öyster Cult's biggest US hit, reaching No. 12 on the American charts in November 1976, and is listed at No. 397 on the Rolling Stone list of the top 500 songs of all time. The song's popularity has proven to be long-lasting; as of 2010 it had sold approximately 922,000 digital copies in the United States. It reached No. 16 on the UK pop chart in 1978. It is a perennial favorite on classic rock radio stations and is a concert staple for the band.
Lyrics such as "Romeo and Juliet are together in eternity" have led many listeners to interpret the song to be about a murder-suicide pact, but Dharma says the song is about eternal love, not suicide: