If you were to die tomorrow, how would you spend your final day on Earth?
Figuratively knocking on the Pearly Gates this month is Kinks main man and songwriting legend Ray Davies.
Where would you wake up?
Where I fell asleep the night before, I guess. You see, I don’t sleep too good. If I knew [I was going to die], I wouldn’t wake up – I’d stay awake all night.
Who would you wake up next to?
If I tell you that I’ll get into trouble.
What would there be left to achieve on your last day?
I’ll have to write the greatest song I’ve ever written. You know, every day I get up, I live most days like they’re my last. I wake up with a kind of fear in my belly, with a feeling like, ‘This is it – go for it.’ So in many respects, it won’t be that much different from any other day. Knowing my luck, if I knew it was going to be my last day I’d make an elaborate arrangement. But something always goes wrong – like the gas boiler would explode. I’m not very good at making plans, so I live every day as if it’s my last. But I’d have to write a great song.
Who do you invite for your final dinner?
I guess I’d invite a few friends. And a few enemies. I think life’s too short, and most people become enemies because of a misunderstanding or a misrepresentation of things that they’ve read about me or things that I’ve read about them, or we’ve fallen out. I think it’s a nice idea to make the peace with a few people, and be amongst friends and family as well.
What would be on the menu?
My worst enemy. No, no – right now, knowing it’s my last dinner, I’d eat something that would be completely indigestible. I’d probably go for Italian and have masses of garlic that would keep me awake as long as possible. And I would cook it – I’m a brilliant Italian cook.
What would be your greatest regret?
That I didn’t do that more often.
What would be the last album you’d listen to?
Right now I love so many different types of music and so many different people. I’d probably put together my favourite selection of tracks in a playlist.
Who is the last person you would kiss?
There was this girl in Bergen in Norway who saw me off at the airport in the late-’60s, and I almost kissed her, and I never did. I always think about her and I never knew what her name was. I think I’d just like to recapture that moment.
How would you like to snuff it?
I follow Dylan’s philosophy – don’t go softly into the night. Try to do something, something sensational for the world. For a bit. Then go to sleep and die peacefully.
What would your final words be?
“Fuck it”. No, actually, I don’t think so. Great words – “So what”.
What song would you play at your funeral?
Not ‘Days’. Not ‘Waterloo Sunset’. I’m writing a new song right now, and I always think that my last song is my best. I love my catalogue, I love songs like ‘Days’, and I’ve been privileged to have had that song played at many memorials of friends or people that I’ve known. I’d probably like [the last song to be] ‘Jerusalem’.
What would it say on your grave stone?
“He knew how to take a bullet”.
Which dead star would welcome you at the Pearly Gates and why?
My mum and dad were the biggest stars in my life, so I’d like them to meet me. When it was party time, no one could upstage them.
What clothes would you be buried in?
Not my first Kinks outfits. I think the stage suit from a show we did called Starmaker – the Norman stage suit. It was a three-piece suit that zipped up the back, and it turned me into a glam rock star. I’d like to make a quick change at the last minute.
If you were resurrected the day after tomorrow, who or what would you come back as?
If it was a clichéd sort of answer, I’d say a girl. I’ve tried it as a bloke and it hasn’t worked out too well. I’d actually like to come back as a wise old person – I’d like to start old, like Benjamin Button. I’d be a wise old man and as I got older I’d get more and more stupid.
‘The Kinks Choral Collection’ by Ray Davies is released 8th June on Decca Records
