On the topic of death...

Claire recently pointed out that it is essential to have a funeral play list on your ipod just in case you leave this mortal coil unexpectedly. As she points out ‘you can’t trust you friends’ to pick good music for you and I believe that.

I can totally imagine someone saying “Jon really hated Coldplay so whenever I hear Yellow it reminds me of him. We should definitely play that.” Or even worse, “I remember Jon loved ‘80’s metal. I think he loved that song Rock you like a Hurricane by the Scorpions. We should definitely play that.” There would no doubt be some perversion of my love for music and as an eternal spirit I would have to endure watching my body being committed to earth or fire to the strains of Pearl Jam or some shit. And my friends, trust me, if Pearl Jam gets played at my funeral, I will be back to haunt you.

I have been thinking long and hard on this and it is actually quite hard to pick songs for this kind of playlist. Not because it’s morbid (because I’m a morbid person by nature) but by the nature of the music I love. When you love a lot of punk and rock, it doesn’t always lend itself to such a solemn occasion unless you’re an arch ironist who gets buried to Bootylicious or want to be cremated to Metallica’s Blackened, finding the right song is actually difficult. Somehow, I don’t think playing Run, Pig, Run by Queens is going to fit the bill.

I guess there’s always post-rock for atmosphere but the one song I would absolutely want to be played is New Morning by Nick Cave (although the version from Live Seeds above, not the one off Tender Prey). Three reasons for this: great lyrics, great sound and at the end Nick gets a little bit Elvis and says “Thank you. Thank you and goodnight.” And if that’s not a fitting way to go out, I don’t know what is.

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