The one song Jack White wants played at his funeral
How do you ever begin to choose what songs you’d like to have played at your funeral?
No matter who you’re a fan of, whether it’s The Beatles, Kendrick Lamar or Joni Mitchell, liking a song and that song being a representation of your life are two very different things.
The song that you have at your funeral should be one that represents your life as a whole. This means you want it to be an honest representation of yourself, but also something that will be a nice track that will remind people of you. It’s not an easy choice, but it’s a decision that music lovers will have no doubt pondered over at some point.
Courtney Love had hers ready to go the moment she was asked. While the song wasn’t chosen because it was a reflection of her, she said she felt it was the track that proved the existence of a higher power. “The only vocal, Beach Boys, ‘God Only Knows’,” she said when asked what song she would like to be played at her funeral, “Because that is proof of a higher power, actually.”
Being asked what song you would like to be played at your funeral is already a difficult question, but one interviewer took things a step further with Jack White.
White has always been a musician who champions multiple styles of music, as he plays in a variety of different bands and is always looking for different subsections of rock to champion. It means when you listen to his discography, every style, theme, and narrative under the sun have been somewhat explored. With this in mind, one interviewer asked Jack White if he had to pick one song of his own to have at his funeral, which would it be? White pondered for a second and then had an idea.
“I don’t know. There’s one song I’ve wrote called ‘The Boy You’ve Always Known’ though I don’t know if that song’s really about me,” he said, “It did feel at the time that it was, at least that sentence was about me. I’m the same boy you’ve always known, it sort of encapsulates maybe the idea as an artist always trying to paint like a child paints and always remove yourself from your environment and get back down to the reality of who you really might be inside and how some of us never really feel like we’ve grown up. A lot of us, we feel like we’re all these boys and girls trapped in adult bodies so that might be a good one.”
The song is a good one for White to pick. He has committed his life to making music and has always prided himself on trusting his gut and going in whatever creative direction he thought was right. He was authentic in that sense, and has always remained authentic, but also believes that the music industry pushes too much for forced authenticity sometimes.
“Throughout history, we’ve been sold authenticity over and over. The English press are the kings of it. You’ve got to ask yourself about the White Stripe’s appeal to England had we been from Los Angeles instead of Detroit,” he said.
Adding, “The story of the city of Detroit became our authenticity, that dirty, crumbling town. I don’t see a lot of other artists getting asked about where they live, but I get asked about where I live constantly.”
Having a song that celebrates Jack White as an individual without playing into the authenticity that the music industry pushed on him seems incredibly fitting.
