And Vinyly

As I was checking my email today, a friend of mine sent me a link to a company in Great Britain called "And Vinyly."  This rather interesting, and slightly morbid, company takes people's ashes and presses them into vinyl records to be left behind for their loved ones.  The site advertises that you can create a vinyl with about 24 minutes of recordable time.  Some people put music on them, others put personal messages or wills, and some just leave them blank with the only sounds being the popping and white noise of a blank album.

While reading the article about this company, I felt compelled, for reasons I can probably readily describe but I'm not really in the mood to do, to begin thinking of what I would want on such a record.  Certainly I would want to leave a final message to my loved ones.  A final goodbye, from me to them, in my own voice would definitely start my album.  But I can't see that taking all 24 minutes of available time.  Granted, I'm not sure my family would really care for the music I would choose, but, then again, I haven't finalized it yet (and when I'm gone, it'll be too late for them to complain, mwuahahahaha).

So, what would I want on my final album.  That's a tough question.  Do I go with the music I enjoyed the most in life?   Do I go with those songs that I would want to define my final moments?  Do I select music that my friends and family would want to remember me by (i.e. songs they think of when they think of me)?  Decisions, decisions.

For the first two categories, I find myself almost readily able to choose a few, based on as close as I can get to 18 minutes (minus 6 minutes for my final message - which will have For Whom the Bell Tolls by Metallica playing underneath it).

Regardless of who I make it for, one song that is going on there is Sleeping Sun by Nightwish.  Ohne Dich by Rammstein is another song that I think would work well.  Then I think the last song would have to be dictated by how I died.  If it was a peaceful death, I would probably want something soothing to go out on.  Dance with Life is a good choice, I think.  Really, that's the only type of death I would really like to consider.  Although, if it were a long fight, against something nasty, The Warrior Code by the Dropkick Murphys sounds appropriate to me.

Now, I'm not an especially morbid individual.  But I suspect that everyone has some fascination with what it is we leave behind for those who come after us.  I know that there's a lot of debate on the existence, or non-existence, of a hereafter, but I feel that what we leave behind for those we care about; those cherished memories, are more important than any physical or material remains.  These final vinyls, they offer some of both.