The song Debbie Harry wants played at her funeral: “To drive everybody out the party”
Although they were forged in New York’s infernal punk scene of the mid-1970s, Blondie found their identity as proponents of the so-called new wave explosion as the ‘80s dawned. Fronted by the stunning and charismatic frontwoman Debbie Harry, the band joined the likes of Talking Heads, The B-52s and The Cars to add elasticity, durability and colour to a foundational punk sound.
The band’s bold, vivacious boom, defined by Chris Stein’s dynamic guitar work and the late Clem Burke’s virtuosic beat-keeping, struck a particularly resonant chord in 1978 with the arrival of Parallel Lines, Blondie’s third studio album, which included essential hits like ‘Heart of Glass’, ‘Hanging on the Telephone’ and ‘Sunday Girl’. All of which made it clear that the group, proverbially or otherwise, loved to party. Should Harry ever expire, god forbid, she’d like her end to be just that.
No doubt, it will be an eclectic celebration, too. Towards the end of the ’70s, Blondie showed their unwillingness to conform to musical convention as they blended new wave with the budding hip-hop genre. This defining phase for the band would be highlighted by 1980’s Autoamerican and its hit single, ‘Rapture’.
Harry discussed this period for Blondie back in a 2014 interview with The Guardian while picking out ‘That’s the Joint’ by Funky 4 + 1 as the song that triggered the hip-hop epiphany. “In the late 70s, when everything started happening with Blondie, hip-hop was a real eye-opener,” she said. “My biggest epiphany came when me and Chris [Stein] went to an event in the South Bronx, and there were DJs scratching and people rapping live. Believe it or not, this was put on by the police department in a gymnasium! It was a very local, neighbourhoody kind of thing, and just fantastic.”
She was deeply inspired and kept her ear firmly to the street for anything fresh. “I also remember meeting Nile Rodgers around then, before we made KooKoo [Harry’s 1981 solo album], and how his music with Chic was sampled so much through hip-hop,” she added. “I always thought there was something very jazz-like in Nile’s playing – those chord changes and the jittery rhythms. I like that idea that hip-hop partly came from jazz blues.”
Over the past four decades, Blondie has kept its finger on the pulse through several line-up shuffles and reunions. In 2014, the band embraced influences in electro to bring us Ghosts of Download before joining Johnny Marr in 2017 to release the more traditional guitar-driven Pollinator. The latter album featured collaborations with several contemporary stars, including Sia, Charli XCX and Nick Valensi from The Stroke—proving how poignant and relevant the group have always remained.
While sitting down with the NME in 2017 for the publication’s ‘Soundtrack Of My Life’ series, Blondie guitarist Chris Stein and Harry opened up about their current tastes. When asked what song they wished they had written, Harry replied: “Something from Muse, I guess. They have a marvellous sound that’s so distinctive and beautiful songs.”
Meanwhile, Stein revealed his adoration for the masterful singer-songwriter and father of Leonard Cohen’s granddaughter, Rufus Wainwright. “I was just in my room playing ‘Going To A Town’ by Rufus Wainwright about five times in a row,” Stein said, picking out one of his favourites. “It’s an amazing and moving piece of music.”
But when we all inevitably expire, the question is which moving piece of music will we go out to. Needless to stay, Harry has her wits about her on this front. Later in the conversation, Harry was asked what song she’d like to have played at her funeral when the day comes. “The one that we used to put on to drive everybody out of the party,” she said, urging her bandmate and former partner to assist.
“Oh, the Queen song, what is that… ‘Who Wants to Live Forever’,” Stein replied. “We would play that at the end of the gig to make sure the audience left [laughs].” Given the fact that Harry has lived her life as the leader of punk’s party wing, it would only be fitting for her to depart with an anthem that calls for the quiet reflection of a comedown.
