If you had only one day left to live, how would you spend it — and what would you deliberately avoid doing?
Recorded Rufus Wainwright said elsewhere, not written here
I would probably want to cook a decent turkey. Whether it was my mother or my sister, growing up in a matriarchal family in America, they always cooked the best turkeys and kinda ruled my life that way, so I would like one crack at it. I’d put a turkey in the oven, and that would give me a good five hours to do some other stuff.

Clash, Last Day On Earth, 18 July 2011 source ↗

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Mark Rylance Actor, playwright and theatre director
Anywhere but the M25, rushing around in circles going nowhere with no one.
Recorded Catherine Shoard, Don't Look Up press questionnaire, The Guardian, 9 December 2021 source ↗
David Guetta French DJ
I guess I would wake up, have breakfast with my children. Then I’d go to the studio and make the best record of my life, and then have a lot of sex! That sounds pretty balanced, I think!
Recorded Clash, Swan Song, 9 March 2018 source ↗
Brody Dalle Singer, songwriter and musician
This is so heavy. If I’m never going to see my kids and husband again, it’s to let them know how giantly, massively and crazily I love them. Every ounce of me loves them so deeply, it makes me cry.
Recorded Clash, Swan Song, 9 June 2014 source ↗
Amy Hempel Short-story writer; teacher at the Michener Center for Writers
I think that dying might bring about a profound loneliness. I don’t feel lonely in life, but I do think this would be a very hard discovery at the end. Assuming there might be a time of consciousness, I think that serious medication might be a help. Not to put me out, but to smooth things over. The last time I had surgery, the anesthesiologist visited me in Recovery and gave me a sheet of paper on which was listed all of the drugs he had administered. I was glad to get it after the surgery, since I went down the list thinking, That’s what killed Michael Jackson, that’s what killed Prince. I don’t take recreational drugs, never did, but I would like to have the option of taking the edge off of fear. People I love at my bedside—I don’t see that being a comfort, but a reminder of who I’ll be losing. Music might be welcome. I could imagine wanting to hear Jorma Kaukonen sing “Genesis.”
Recorded Anna DeForest, A Good Exit, a five-part column, The Believer, 2 June 2026 source ↗

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