The song Feist wants played at her funeral: “My friends could form a processional choir”
It’s never easy for any artist to stare down their own mortality. As much as it might sound easy to write about the death of a loved one to help get through that type of loss, there’s never a road map to talk about songs that prepare you for that last big trip that you’ll ever have before leaving this Earth. Although Feist has made the kind of music that has people feel alive, she wants her roots in folk music will carry her into the next life on the track ‘Ain’t No Grave’.
When listening to her music, these aren’t the kind of folk songs that were meant to be passed on to generations. They may have the same power as spiritual tracks from decades past. Still, Feist always takes things a bit further, putting lavish orchestration around her to make every one of her pieces feel like getting sucked into a sound tunnel whenever you listen to it.
While it’s easy to hear the seeds of everyone from Joni Mitchell to Sinead O’Connor in Feist’s work, she still thinks that the old tradition of folk songs passed on through generations is the way she wants to be seen out. Since this was the music that was supposed to be played by the people and for the people, it makes sense to have that kind of human touch at a funeral rather than something too angelic.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Feist said that ‘Ain’t No Grave’ is the kind of track that could be perfect for overseeing her burial with the right arrangement, saying, “There’s a guy, Bozie Sturdivant, who sings a song called ‘Ain’t No Grave Can Hold My Body Down’. If my friends could form a processional choir and sing that song in that arrangement, I think that could be it.”
The whole piece may be a little bit spooky, considering we’re listening to a woman talking about not being confined to a grave, but this is not the sound of a Walking Dead scenario coming to life. If anything, it’s an act of defiance against all of our earthly confines, saying that even in the face of death, nothing is going to cross this person’s spirit.
For instance, let’s take a look at someone who did it differently than Sturdivant… country legend Johnny Cash. Included on one of his posthumous American releases overseen by Rick Rubin, Cash approaches ‘Ain’t No Grave’ like a man who knows his time is short and doesn’t seem to care anymore, favouring throwing caution to the wind and letting the chips fall where they may once he finally is put six feet under.
Considering her background with different choir vocals, Feist’s insistence on adding different vocal arrangements would also be very interesting. There is already a smorgasbord of musical genres that she’s covered throughout her career, so hearing that kind of baroque touch to a gutsy blues belter like this is the perfect way of blending the clean and dirty sides of music.
Since music is about uplifting the spirit most of the time, ‘Ain’t No Grave’ is the kind of piece that makes the singer feel far more powerful than any other religious song could have. In a world that’s filled with people worrying about what comes after death, Feist knows that this track isn’t about the fear of death. It’s about the confidence in knowing that people will be talking to you once your body is held down for good.
