Soundtrack Of My Life: Mac DeMarco

The first song I remember hearing

Pearl Jam – ‘Jeremy’

“I have a distinct memory of driving down the Whitemud freeway aged around four in my hometown in Edmonton [in Canada] and  ‘Jeremy’ by Pearl Jam was playing on the radio. It confused me, and I asked my mum ‘Is he [frontman Eddie Vedder] speaking English?’”

The first album I bought

Weezer – ‘Weezer’ (‘Blue Album’)

“When I was a young teen, I had 30 bucks and picked up the ‘Blue Album’ at the local CD store and listened to it on my Sony Walkman. It was during peak-Weezer where they were all over music video television. I thought, ‘These guys look cool. Oh my God, they write songs about weed!’ They encapsulated teenage counterculture to me.

“I’ve no idea if Rivers Cuomo ever heard my live covers of Weezer. I butchered those songs lots of times, so maybe he did! But I have a lot of respect for the band and still think they’re great.”

The first gig I went to

Village People at RE/MAX Field, Edmonton, 1995

“My mum had a couple of different jobs, so I grew up in a YMCA childcare program. I was in their daycare through to junior high school. When I was five, they took all the kids from the different YMCAs to the baseball field of the local team, The Edmonton Trappers, where the Village People played their hits including ‘In the Navy’ and, of course, we all did the ‘Y.M.C.A.’ dance! It was very strange. The American Indian Village Person was wearing a leather flap and you’d see his bare ass every time he turned around to dance.”

The song that reminds me of home

‘O Canada’

“It’s got to be the Canadian National Anthem. When you’re younger, you go through a period of trying to reject where you’re from. I once thought Canada was kind of goofy – we have a [maple] leaf on our flag and our reputation is simply that we’re nice. That’s all changed as I’ve gotten older. The American national anthem talks about bombs flying through the air, but ours is just sweet, and I love to sing it and have pride in my country.”

The song I wish I’d written

The Moody Blues – ‘Had to Fall in Love’

“Every component of it sucks me in – in a way that no other song from their catalogue does. When I first heard it five years ago, I felt like I’d uncovered this rare jewel or mystical chalice buried at the bottom of a temple. It’s almost like I could have written that song – it has a kinship to the music I’m making. Hearing it, I was like, ‘Oh that’s what I’m trying to do. The Moody Blues: you understand me’. I’m obsessed with it.”

The song I can’t get out of my head

Emerson, Lake & Palmer – ‘Lucky Man’

“It’s frying my brain but I don’t mind it being there. It’s not intrusive; the song just rocks! The chorus of ‘Ooh, what a lucky man he was’ is an impossible-to-forget earworm that should be illegal.”

The song I can no longer listen to

Harry Nilsson – ‘Everybody’s Talkin’’

“I’m a huge Harry Nilsson fan and he’s one of my great inspirations, but I just hammered ‘Everybody’s Talkin’’ to death. I love the song but I played it too much. I’ll still listen to it if it comes on randomly, but I’m not reaching for it anymore. I’ve heard it too many times!”

The song that makes me cry

Harry Nilsson – ‘Turn On Your Radio’

“I took Harry’s roses away, but let’s give ‘em back to him, because ‘Turn On Your Radio’ makes me cry every time. It smokes me. There’s a scene in the documentary Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin’ About Him)? where one of his collaborators talks about sitting with him in his car shortly before he died, and Harry playing his songs on cassette. Afterwards, Harry says, ‘Well, that’s my life’s work’. As that story’s being told, ‘…Radio’ is playing and it absolutely tortures me.”

“Another one is ‘Texas Girl At The Funeral Of Her Father’ by Randy James. It’s one of the saddest songs I’ve ever heard. It got me in a very vulnerable moment when I first heard it so any time I listen to it, I’m transported back to how I felt then, and it turns a tap on! But it’s very beautiful.”

Why were you feeling vulnerable?

“Two years ago, my cat was very ill and I was on a plane home to put him down, which was horrible. So I’ll always remember Pickles and attribute that song to him.”

The song that makes me want to dance

Michael Jackson – ‘Rock With You’

“It depends what kind of dancing it is. If it’s fun-time at the club dancing, then ‘Rock With You’ by Michael Jackson. But if it’s romantic dance-y time, then I love ‘Change Partners’ by Frank Sinatra. The sentiment is cheeky; it’s romantic and bad boy. I’m a horrible dancer. My partner and I were at a wedding recently trying to two-step, but it was a ‘two left feet’ vibe. If anybody wants to give me dancing lessons, I’d gladly accept!”

The song I do at karaoke

‘O Canada’

“Honestly, I’m going to have to double up on this one. I sing this, especially when I’m in the States, because it confuses people before going off. As a Canadian, I see it as my duty! I was in Koreatown, LA, and I invited Anderson .Paak out once. Walking into a bar, somebody was doing one of his songs on karaoke and he went up and sang it with them. It was a funny, Hollywood moment.”

The song I want played at my funeral

Sergei Rachmaninoff – ‘ Prelude in C-sharp minor’

“Maybe that’s what they’ll play when they’re walking my casket down to the burial site. It’s claimed that Rachmaninoff wrote this about being buried alive, so it’s apt! It’s a scary song. I don’t even know if I’ll have a funeral. Burn me up and plant a tree! I’m down for just giving back to the Earth.”

Mac DeMarco’s latest album ‘Guitar’ is available now via Mac’s Record Label

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