If you were to die tomorrow, how would you spend your final day on Earth?
Facing his mortality this month, the Fatboy dance maestro, Norman Cook.
Where would you wake up?
I could only wake up at home in my own bed in Brighton. Nowhere else would interest me on my last day.
Who do you wake up next to?
With my wife and my son in bed with me. For our free days on the weekend we start off with a family cuddle, when Woody gets in bed and we watch Soccer AM or whatever else is on.
What have you still to achieve on your last great day on Earth?
Jeez, I’d be running around like a mad man. I’d probably be on the phone all day talking to family and friends. There were times in my life when I had issues with members of my family but I think I’ve resolved them now. I don’t need to make my peace with people but I’d tell them I love them.
Who do you invite for your final dinner?
I’d probably just invite [my wife] Zoe and Woody because otherwise it would get too complicated. When you invite all your family and friends to events, like when I played at Hyde Park, you don’t get the chance to talk to them all. I’d keep it as intimate as possible so I’d just have Zoe and Woody.
What will you be eating at this supper?
Oh, everything! Really fattening stuff. I’m weight conscious so I would’t think of that and I’d go for tons of red meat and I wouldn’t be scared of anything. If I had time I’d go to Nobu but I don’t want to waste an hour and a half going to London. Hopefully by the time I die they would have opened a Nobu in Brighton and I’ll go there.
If any artist could play at your last supper who would it be and why?
Ha, I’m not a fan of being serenaded so he’d just have to play in the background. But it would be Al Green. He’s my favourite singer in the whole world; he’s got the sweetest voice and he’s also quite spiritual. He’d give me some sense of redemption before I popped my clogs
What albums will you take to the grave?
I guess I would have ‘Innervisions’ by Stevie Wonder, ‘What’s Going On’ by Marvin Gaye and [a single of] Iggy Pop’s ‘The Passenger’.
Who is the last person you would kiss?
My wife of course. I wouldn’t want to go to my grave with her on my back because I’d snogged some fantasy like Cameron Diaz so it’d be my wife.
How would you like to snuff it?
I’d like to be remembered for it rather than choking to death on your own vomit, so it has to be a comedy death. I’ve got a book of comedy deaths and there was a bloke who had a pot-bellied pig fall out of a window onto his head. So death by pig. Or better yet, death by monkey, like in Toy Story. A monkey falling out of an apartment two stories up that I never saw coming. I’d die happy when people look back on my life they say, ‘That Norman Cook, he had a good music career and got killed by a plummeting monkey, who would have though it?’
What would your final words be?
‘What the fuck? Is that a flying…’
What song would play at your funeral?
The Beatles’ ‘In My Life’. It’s in my will so that will be played at my funeral.
What threads will you be wearing?
A bad Hawaiian shirt knowing me. Hawaiian shirt with shirts and no shoes. I wear shoes as little as possible. I never ever wear them when I’m DJing or on holiday and that’s when I’m happiest, so I’d take that style to the grave.
Any message for your headstone?
I’d leave that up to Zoe and my family. Whatever they want but I’d hope it would be something tongue in cheek. like ‘I told you I was ill’, or ‘He came, he saw, he went’. I don’t want it to be self-indulgent at all.
Who would welcome you at the pearly gates?
It depends who’s dead. If my mum was dead by then it would be her. Out of people already dead it would be my mate Chesh. He was a very dear friend, a godfather to Woody, and he’s up there probably laughing at me. He’d show me the ropes.
How would you like to be remembered?
I’d be happy to just be remembered. And remembered fondly hopefully.
