This one always feels macabre to think about, what would you want played at your funeral. It’s interesting because I think everyone has a song or a playlist in mind. For me, I think the idea of holding a funeral for me is silly enough.

I don’t know what form I’d want my post death remembrance to take. I wouldn’t want a crowd nor would I warrant one. I’d like to think that my immediately family would gather from whatever corners of the world they were to grieve together (assuming I’m worth grieving to them), and beyond that, I consider options.

Option 1: That has always seemed like a dream is that somehow my ashes are sent into space. This assumes I haven’t been to space in my lifetime already. My hope is that space tourism will eventually become accessible and I don’t need to go this route, but if not, blasting my ashes into space has a huge appeal to me. Let me live one of my biggest dreams in death.

In the event that is the way I go, Starman by David Bowie is easily the song I want playing. (My biggest issue would be that my family would assume that I meant Space Oddity, which is also a great song, but not the one I meant.)

The cover of Across the Universe by Fiona Apple holds a certain appeal too, but we did also use it for my sister. Since it seems like a Beatles related tune will likely be used at the funerals of my parents as well (my Mom has already confirmed as much), maybe Magical Mystery Tour works for me in this situation.

Option 2: There is an appeal of dumping my ashes in a bottle and throwing it in the ocean. Let me travel the world as it has always been my favourite thing to do. In this case:

There is going to be a lot of The Weakerthans in my playlist, and this is my gateway song to them. There is also something poignant about the name Our Retired Explorer, and the opening line, “Just one more drink and then I should be on my way home.”

Option 3: When you are relatively young you can have grandiose visions for what will be done when you die but practically, I’ll be cremated and I’ll leave it to my family to decide what is done with them. Maybe there isn’t even a funeral or celebration of life, or ceremonious pouring of the ashes into the wind or burial. All of that is fine. A funeral isn’t for the person who is dead, it’s for the ones living and what works for them. Still, I’d like to leave them with a song to remember me to.

When I was younger I thought the song that made sense was My Way by Sid Vicious. That is probably about as cliched as using My Way by Frank Sinatra is for the current olds. It’s still a banger of a song though and 70s punk at its finest.

It doesn’t work and its use at the end of Goodfellas makes it feel exhausted and impersonal.

I often consider Groove is in the Heart by Dee Lite as an option. It’s by no means a funeral song and doesn’t have anything to say about me, but it is what I like best about me. It’s a little crazy, it’s random, it’s unexpected. It’s likeable.

Not for a lack of better options but as things sit right now, Groove in the Heart is what I’d want played. There would be enough serious shit going on at that time, posthumously forcing the people I care about to spend five minutes listening to early 90s techno would put a smile on my face wherever I wind up.