The one tender song Nick Cave wants played at his funeral: “With heaven and all its angels listening”
As the writer of some of the most funerary music of all time, it is no surprise to learn that Nick Cave has given his funeral a fair amount of thought. Part of that is because of his natural disposition for the darker sides of life, and the other part is because, beyond anything else, Cave is a music lover.
Never far away from dropping the needle on new and old music, Cave’s position as a truly authentic lover of music means he had likely had the conversation about what might be his final swansong either with himself or friends multiple times. We all have.
So when, in an interaction on his Red Hand Files website, the ‘Into My Arms’ singer was asked about the song he wants to be played on that day of days, he was ready with a pretty succinct answer.
Cave has been using The Red Hand Files as an alternative to traditional social media platforms for some years now. The website sees the musician respond to fan letters and e-mails, many of which end up being deeply personal.
One such letter was sent from a fan who had recently lost his father and decided to give him an Elvis-themed funeral. In his message, the fan clarified: “No, we didn’t dress up in white jumpsuits, but his coffin had Elvis pictures and lyrics, and Elvis songs were played for him,” The sendee then went on to ponder: “I don’t know if anyone has asked you this before in The Red Hand Files, but what songs would you like played at your own funeral?”
In reply, Cave wrote: “I was very moved by your letter. I’m sure your dad would have been very happy with his Elvis-themed funeral. Thinking about it, I would be very happy with one too — to be ushered into the next world by the voice of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll singer of them all. ‘Kentucky Rain’, that’s what I’d like, ‘Kentucky Rain’ and ‘How Great Thou Art’ — Elvis singing gospel, with heaven and all its angels listening. It was a lovely thing to do for your dad. Sounds like you did a great job.”
Written by Eddie Rabbitt and Dick Heard, ‘Kentucky Rain’ tells the story of a man going out on a cold and rainy night to find the woman who has just left him grasping at an empty space in his bed. The track was recorded during Presley’s two-week session at American Sound Studio in Memphis, a stint that provided The King with enough material for two hit albums in 1969: From Elvis In Memphis and From Memphis to Vegas / From Vegas to Memphis.
Although ‘Kentucky Rain’ wasn’t included on either album, it peaked at number 16 on the Billboard Bot 100, reaching number three on the Adult Contemporary tally. It was eventually added to the re-release of From Elvis to Memphis in 2000 after first appearing on the 1970 compilation album Worldwide 50 Gold Award Hits Vol. 1.
In 1978, the year of Presley’s death, Rabbitt released his own version of ‘Kentucky Rain’ on his solo album Variations. He originally wrote the track while working at Hill and Range publishers and very nearly landed a record deal of his own when a major record producer heard the song and gave him the chance to record a demo in the studio.
This caught the attention of Lamar Fike, a good friend of Presley’s, who took the song to Elvis, suggesting that he record it as the A-side of his new single. After debating if he wanted to let somebody else reap the rewards of all his work, Rabbitt decided that if the song was going to be given to anyone, it might as well be “the greatest rock ‘n’ roll singer of all them all,” as Cave put it.
Picking a funeral song might seem like a dark thing to do, but it has a habit of empowering you. Death is the ultimate loss of control, and for most people, that can be an extremely uneasy thing to process. Having music, something which has likely soundtracked one’s life, means even a small part of the uncontrollable is now in your hands. And that isn’t dark at all.
