(Credits: Far Out / IMDB)
Sat 1 November 2025 12:20, UK
There are few artists in the world as comprehensively gifted at playing their instruments as Rush. With Alex Lifeson on guitar, the late, great Neil Peart on drums and Geddy Lee on bass, the trio would go on to dominate the prog rock world. It’s a scene that is enjoying a brief revival these days, and so it makes Lee’s opinion on the rock world even more vital than before.
One such opinion can be saved for what might constitute the ultimate selection for any music nerd. As musos, we spend the majority of our lives selecting the perfect soundtrack, and that doesn’t stop when it comes to the end of life, too. Picking a funeral track is an equally essential practice.
Most people have considered the song they want to play at their funeral. The very nature of imagining one’s own death is to grasp your mortality and, in doing so, the legacy it leaves behind. For most musos, that legacy is forever entwined with music, and the final track you play as the world says goodbye to you is a notion most have pondered during a day of dreary daydreaming. However, Rush’s Geddy Lee is cut from a different cloth, and until he was asked about the topic, it’s not something he’d ever considered.
Lee’s stance on the subject is fair, if not a little bleak. Considering he won’t be in attendance for the event, his thoughts on what should be the closing number on his life are of little consequence to him. Therefore, the question, when posed to him, has remained largely unanswered in any real sense, with no track selected by the Rush man.
In truth, there aren’t many occasions where he might have to deal with the issue, but Lee was forced to answer his funeral song when Classic Rock interviewed him about ‘The Soundtrack of My Life’. The answer was a fascinating insight into his psyche. Not only did he name the track that he wanted to soundtrack his last hurrah, but he also discussed his favourite guitarists, songwriters and albums.
Interestingly, in the interview, Lee said: “I have many bass heroes, but Jack Bruce was my biggest influence. He was the first bass player I saw on stage that just wailed and was able to fill in the blanks in his three-piece band. I saw Cream in 1969 at Massey Hall in Toronto. That show was magical.” But while Lee has noted his love for a host of bands, including Cream, The Beatles and Led Zeppelin, he wouldn’t turn to those artists to help him soundtrack his funeral service.
When discussing the track he wanted to be played at his funeral, Lee spoke in less fluent terms. He said: “Why would I give a shit about that? They can play whatever the hell they want! Or maybe I’d have them play some Derek And Clive. So the shock and horror of it would be fantastic.”
If you are unfamiliar with Derek and Clive, they were a comedy sketch group in the 1970s famed for their foul mouths and idiosyncratic view of British life. The duo were a cult phenomenon and remain integral to the comedy world today despite their relative obscurity. They recorded three albums during their time together and the 1979 film documentary Derek and Clive Get the Horn.
The duo were created by Dudley Moore and Peter Cook, who first started recording the albums while they were working on Broadway. It began as a private joke between the pair, and they planned to keep it that way. The two men casually swear at each other as they improvise the caustic characters of Derek and Clive dealing with the fragrances of life, delivering a guffawing good time for all those brave enough to listen, which for a long time was just the comics and their friends. However, bootlegs somehow made their way onto the market, and the duo officially decided to release work as Derek and Clive.
There was no tight script for the comedy pairing; instead, it was ad-libbed, which provided Derek and Clive with an unhinged edge that would make them the least befitting soundtrack to a funeral. While none of their work will make those in attendance at the service weep, it’s the way Lee wants to go, and that’s a decision we should commend.
Related Topics