{"id":47183,"date":"2026-08-15T19:17:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T14:17:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=47183"},"modified":"2026-08-15T19:17:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T14:17:23","slug":"matthew-mcconaughey-life-in-songs-u2-tears-for-fears-ali-farka-toure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=47183","title":{"rendered":"Matthew McConaughey Life in Songs\u2014U2, Tears for Fears, Ali Farka Toure"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/matthew-mcconaughey\/\" id=\"auto-tag_matthew-mcconaughey\" data-tag=\"matthew-mcconaughey\">Matthew McConaughey<\/a> once took an elaborate, multi-day trip to Niafunk\u00e9 in Mali on a hunt for Ali Farka Tour\u00e9, the blues musician behind one of his all-time favorite songs, \u201cAi Du.\u201d He didn\u2019t exactly know where to find the artist. His journey to Africa only began because it came to him in a dream after he first heard the song.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t\u201cI got the liner notes, found out he was from Niafunk\u00e9, on the Niger River, and knowing nothing else, I said, \u2018Well, that\u2019s where I\u2019m going, and I won\u2019t get a return ticket,&#8217;\u201d McConaughey tells<em> Rolling Stone <\/em>while sitting down to discuss the songs that have defined his life. \u201cI hitched a nine-hour ride to Mopti. Met somebody with a boat. We did a two-day trip up the Niger River to Niafunk\u00e9, where I went to town, and we were looking for Ali. Hours and hours and hours. I\u2019m finding Ali.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tTo make a long story long, McConaughey finally finds Ali, but forgets the name of the song. \u201cSometimes you travel and you lose a sense of space and time and memory,\u201d he says. \u201cI forgot the damn name of the song. I love the song. I knew it was \u2018Ai Du,\u2019 and I\u2019m sitting there not remembering the name of the song. Anyway, he gets up with a VHS and through translation, he goes, \u2018I want you to listen to this song of me in concert. I stopped the rain this night.\u2019 He put a VHS in. It was a concert he was playing in France, and it was this song.\u201d He remembers it as \u201cthe most important trip I\u2019ve taken in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tMcConaughey has deep memories tied to most of his selections, like when he played \u201cShout\u201d by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/tears-for-fears\/\" id=\"auto-tag_tears-for-fears\" data-tag=\"tears-for-fears\">Tears for Fears<\/a> in the car with his dad and was surprised to see him crank up the volume: \u201cI remember as a young boy going, \u2018My dad just turned up one of my tunes.&#8217;\u201d His brother, Pat, is the root of his love for Paul Simon\u2019s \u201c50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,\u201d John Mellencamp\u2019s \u201cPink Houses,\u201d and AC\/DC\u2019s \u201cBeating Around the Bush.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tSome other picks simply remind him of the big screen. When he hears <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/steve-miller-band\/\" id=\"auto-tag_steve-miller-band\" data-tag=\"steve-miller-band\">Steve Miller Band<\/a>\u2018s \u201cTake the Money and Run,\u201d he thinks of Nicolas Cage in <em>Raising Arizona<\/em>. \u201cGreat song for kicking off summer or a good night, where you just chuck the morals out and let go. Let\u2019s just go pull some shit off. Two young lovers, nothing better to do,\u201d McConaughey says. \u201cMy favorite comedy is <em>Raising Arizona<\/em>. Nicolas Cage, his wife in there, they\u2019re all about, \u2018We gotta go steal some diapers because we got a new baby.\u2019 It\u2019s like beautiful, comedic, small-time crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n<section class=\"brands-most-popular \/\/ recirculation-modules trending-in-article lrv-u-margin-tb-2 lrv-u-border-a-2 u-box-shadow-5-5 lrv-u-padding-lr-1 a-span1 u-padding-b-1@tablet u-overflow-hidden\">\n<h2 id=\"section-heading\" class=\"c-heading larva  lrv-u-text-align-center u-border-color-black a-font-theme-primary-xxs lrv-u-color-black lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-0063 lrv-u-padding-t-050 u-padding-b-0375@tablet lrv-u-padding-b-050@mobile-max lrv-u-border-b-2\">\n<p>\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tMcConaughey has lived as many lives on-screen as he has off. Th e<em>Rattle and Hum<\/em> version of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/u2\/\" id=\"auto-tag_u2\" data-tag=\"u2\">U2<\/a>\u2018s \u201cSilver and Gold,\u201d he says, \u201cgot me through my year in Australia when I was an exchange student, two weeks out of high school, and I was living with a family in the middle of nowhere.\u201d <em>Rattle and Hum<\/em>, in general, came at a time when McConaughey was \u201cvery, very strongly considering becoming a monk.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tNeedless to say, McConaughey will follow his favorite songs to the ends of the Earth.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Matthew McConaughey once took an elaborate, multi-day trip to Niafunk\u00e9 in Mali on a hunt for Ali Farka Tour\u00e9, the blues musician behind one of his all-time favorite songs, \u201cAi Du.\u201d He didn\u2019t exactly know where to find the artist. His journey to Africa only began because it came to him in a dream after&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/MyLifeIn10Songs_MatthewMcconaughey_SEGMENT_STILL.jpg?w=1600&h=900&crop=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-gossip"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/47184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}