Don't let it end like this. Tell them I said something.

Pancho Villa's last words are probably apocryphal- getting shot multiple times killed him instantly, and no contemporary account records these last words.

But, damn. Those are some perfect last words. Most of the other recorded last words that I know are remembered because they were pretty damned cool. Voltaire's "Now is not the time to be making enemies." Oscar Wilde- "Either these curtains go or I do." They're someone taking their very last chance to make some kind of impression on the world, to be remembered.

And who knows? Maybe Wilde and Voltaire didn't say anything at all- maybe someone who loved their work just made something up to make sure the legacy stayed.

"Don't let it end like this. Tell them I said something." makes a plea to be remembered, to make an impression, even while it squanders that opportunity to make an impression. Aware of his impending death, he stills uses the last thing he can say to ask for another chance to change things, even while he knows he'll never get the chance. It's legacy, and heartbreak, and that horribly human thing we do of knowing that we are screwing up even while we do it.