nixsight

I had to ask Girl One about this one – because as I get older, my memory goes on certain things, and sometimes it’s quicker to just ask her. I had thought I always went on about “When The Man Comes Around” by Johnny Cash, for my main funeral song, but apparently, I went for something even more literal than that.

I want “On The Radio” by Regina Spektor, to be played at my funeral.

I could claim that it’s the purely reflective aspect of the song – how it picks out tiny, lovely, poignant details out of a life, and presents them as the memorable, heartwarming moments that they actually are – as worth remembering.

Or I could suggest that the peculiar and satisfying blend of traditionally beautiful and classical voice, with idiosyncratic delivery and contemporary lyrics, that Spektor represents is something that I want played to add those elements to the service where people are supposed to remember me, as if those things will somehow rub off on their memories of me.

But actually, I think it’s the reference to the hearse being driven through the screaming crowd. It’s a retarded combination of really, painfully obvious and literal – it’s a hearse, you see? You see? – and joyfully macabre that I think would be surreally amusing played at a funeral, and I don’t know anybody else who’d be willing to have the song played at theirs, so I guess I have to have it. Even if it means I only get my kicks on this score from beyond the grave.