The two songs Giorgio Moroder wants played at his funeral
Giorgio Moroder has had one hell of a life. The Italian dance pioneer is one of his generation’s most influential producers, songwriters and DJs and remains a key player in EDM culture. Over the course of his long and varied career, Moroder has worked with everyone from Elton John and David Bowie to Cher and Janet Jackson.
His 1977 Donna Summer collaboration ‘I Feel Love’ is widely regarded as the blueprint for the electronic music explosion of the 1980s, and his film scores for movies like Top Gun, Flashdance and Midnight Express still sound like they were made tomorrow. Here the disco king himself shares the single he wants to be played at his funeral.
When people are asked to name their funeral song, they tend to fall into one of two camps. You’ve got the people who want something energetic and bubbly to counteract the inevitable melancholy. Then you’ve got those who want to emphasise that melancholy as much as is humanly possible. Considering Moroder spent his career making people dance, you’d think he’d fall into the former, but you’d be wrong. Moroder actually wants Frédéric Chopin’s ‘Funeral March’.
Explaining this maudlin choice, the composer and producer said: “Nice, very solemn, very bleak.” Clearly, he didn’t take the question that seriously – not all that surprising given that Moroder’s life has been one long party. Perhaps recognising that Chopin’s ‘Funeral March’ might be a little too much, he picked an alternative: “Or then something happening like [sings ‘What A Feeling’ by Irene Cara] that will work too,” he told NME, chuckling at the thought.
‘What A Feeling’ appeared on Moroder’s 1983 score for Flashdance. The singer, Irene Cara, penned the lyrics with songwriter Keith Forsey, while Moroder provided the music and produced the track. It was by no means the only hit Moroder and Forsey wrote for ’80s movies. For Top Gun, Giorgio composed ‘Danger Zone’ and ‘Take My Breath Away,’ while Forsey penned ‘Shakedown’ from Beverly Hills Cop II and ‘Don’t You Forget About Me’ for The Breakfast Club.
Chopin’s Funeral March, meanwhile, was completed while the composer was living at the manor of his lover George Sand in 1840. The instantly-recognisable melody comes from the third movement of his Piano Sonata No.2, which was hugely popular with the public but less so with critics and contemporaries. Fellow composer Robert Schumann, for example, argued that Chopin demonstrated little control over the sonata form. Today, the Funeral March is one of the most famous pieces of classical music of all time. Who’s laughing now, Robert?
