Music To Die By

Suppose you're on your deathbed.

Some vital organ of yours has reached its expiration date and your doctor says "Gee, that's a bummer," and all that (s)he and the hospital staff can do is "watchful waiting" which is medical-speak for "we're going to come in and check your pulse every half-hour until you don't have one."

This isn't far from how my mom died a little over six years ago. I do have to give the attending ER physician credit for one action that offset his incapacity to do anything, and made him look like a real human being who sincerely cared he'd just delivered a death sentence.

A few hours after my mom was admitted and transferred to a private room, he entered bearing a crumpled brown paper bag, from which he produced a short stack of compact discs, a player, and headphones.

"Would you like to hear some music, Mrs. Woods?" he asked.

My mother nodded yes. I was a little surprised; she didn't hear very well and didn't listen to music often at home.

The doctor shuffled through several titles, and she picked a collection of Glenn Miller recordings. "Of course!" I thought; these were the songs of her youth, the songs she heard when she was a freshly-minted adult, away from home, building C-47's in Long Beach, and dancing nights at the ballroom near the pier.

So I placed the headphones on her and loaded up the CD. I could hear music leaking from the little ear buds, and asked if the volume was OK...

The next day I returned the rumpled paper bag and its contents to the doctor's office at the Beaver Clinic. He came out to meet me, and I guess my expression told him that my mom had passed away. I thanked him deeply for the music and told him that it was a touching gesture.

So here's the question: what's on your deathbed playlist? A full album from a favorite artist? Perhaps a custom mix prepared especially for the occasion?

Obviously, you'd want each cut to be special; you've got no time for frivolity, so now's not a golden opportunity to renew your acquaintance with Cindy Lauper or MC Hammer. Unless, of course, your name IS Cindy Lauper or MC Hammer, and you want to recapture your fifteen minutes of fame.

But, it's not. So, what's it going to be?

Go rummage your record collection and let me know. And then I'll tell you mine.