When you've lived a life as vast and exciting as that of guitarist Carlos Santana, finding something you haven't already done to put on your bucket list might not be the easiest task. Who hasn't he played with? Where hasn't he gone? What hasn't he done or won or accomplished?
His answer surprised us, and it might raise your eyebrows, too. (He also threw in a couple of "do play" and "don't play" song requests for his funeral for good measure -- both unexpected choices.)
Carlos Santana has a professional career that most musicians could only dream of. He got his big break performing at the Woodstock Music and Art Festival in 1969. His eponymous band, Santana, had a myriad of enduring hits, including "Oye Como Va," "Black Magic Woman," and "Evil Ways." Santana (both the man and the band) is one of the most iconic names in rock 'n' roll history. With a legacy like that, we'd imagine it would be difficult finding an item to add to one's bucket list.
What the guitarist chose as his one item was surprising, but you would have never known it looking at interviewer Dan Rather's face. When Rather asked Santana what was left on his bucket list, the musician replied, "I dream of having -- like Ted Turner -- one TV station globally that would only show beauty, elegance, excellence, grace, dignity, integrity. Not all the other crap that they show in every other channel of fear, you know. And I can call fear crap. I'm not afraid to call fear crap, you know, because we do promote a lot."
"I would have one TV channel that, in the morning, it starts with a woman giving birth," he continued, his legs wide apart on his chair. "Like seven in a row. And the first thing you see is the eyes of the child coming out. How many killings do we show a day? And we're grossed out about showing birth. If I had the capacity, I would get a TV channel worldwide and present 24-hour excellence. The more you promote those things, the more people will sit differently. Instead of sitting like, 'I'm wretched, and I'm full of crap, and I'm useless.' People can be programmed or deprogrammed to claim their own divine excellence."
A person's answer to the question, "What would you play at your funeral?", offers intriguing, albeit morbid, insights into that individual's connection to music, their opinion of themself, how they want people to remember them, and the message they wish to impart on the world on their way out. Carlos Santana's answer was certainly no exception. Speaking to Dan Rather, the guitarist said his first request for his funeral was not to play the traditional hymn, "Amazing Grace".
"It'll p*** me off," Santana said. "Don't play that one cause I'm not a wretched sinner. So, don't play that one. Not even last. Play "Galaxy in Turiya" by Alice Coltrane because it sounds like heaven is opening up, and I'm getting a standing ovation up there," he said with a laugh.
Alice Coltrane's otherworldly track comes from her sixth studio album, World Galaxy, which she released in May 1972.