When I die, I believe that I'll go to heaven. And I believe that when the gates to heaven swing open, it will make the sound of the drum roll that sends 'This Is the One' by The Stone Roses galloping into its second verse. I really believe that's what I'll hear when I cross over to the other side ... but I've asked my family and friends to play the song at my funeral, just in case I need a little help on my way.

Assuming the aliens don't care much for our physical forms or our intellects -- two things they're perfectly capable of assessing on their own -- our only hope is to convince them that humans are divine beings. 'This is the One' is the best evidence I have for that argument, the product of human endeavor that has most clearly and completely slipped from the bonds of the earthly. The structure is amorphous and the lyric unclear, but the song's spirit is more certain than death, mightier and more eternal. I can't be sure that it was recorded to tape or played on instruments, but I know deep down that it is the sound of something perfect, beautiful, and divine, something that I've come from and will return to.

I think the aliens will hear that too. If they don't, fuck it, at least I've got the right song playing when they incinerate me.
  ¶ 11/12/2004