The song Jennifer Lawrence wants played at her funeral
Let’s get real for a moment: we’ve all fantasised about our own death. If you were anything like me as a child, you probably spent many a morbid hour imagining the mourners, the endless letters of condolence and, of course, the absolute bangers pouring from the stereo. You shouldn’t feel guilty if you did; even Jennifer Lawrence seems to have put a significant amount of thought into the song she’d want to be played at her funeral.
Famed for roles including The Hunger Games’ Katniss Everdeen and American Hustle’s Rosalyn Rosenfeld, Jennifer Lawrence is gold-plated Hollywood dynamite. There are few actors with the level of appeal – not to mention income – as the Winter’s Bone actor, and she shows no signs of fading from view just yet. She can rest assured, however, that if she happens to slip off this mortal coil, she’s got her funeral playlist (if such a thing exists) pretty much sorted.
During a conversation with Spin back in 2012 – one hell of a year for the actor – Lawrence was asked to select the song she wanted to be played on that sad day. Judging from her response, it clearly wasn’t the first time she’d given the subject some thought. “I had an idea, but I can’t do it now because it was in Love Actually,” she began hesitantly. “There’s a funeral and they play [the Bay City Rollers’ version of] ‘Bye Bye Baby’. Hopefully, by the time I die, nobody will remember Love Actually and they’ll be like, ‘Oh my God, what an original idea’.” Can’t you just feel Richard Curtis tightening his fists at the thought?
Of course, there’s a reason Curtis chose the song for that heartbreaking scene in Love Actually: ‘Bye Bye Baby’ is all about being forced to say goodbye, making it perfect funeral material. Originally recorded by The Four Seasons in 1965, the track became a number one hit in Canada the year of its release, peaking at number 12 on the US Billboard chart. It was subsequently covered by The Symbols in 1967, who found less success with the Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio-penned number than their predecessors.
However, it was actually this version of the track that Bay City Rollers guitarist Stuart Wood had in his record collection, not the Four Seasons original. With its wall-of-sound production style, The Bay City Rollers’ rendition would land the group a number one single, staying in the charts for six weeks and selling a million copies. Talk about breathing new life into an old classic.
