First, listen to this recording of Danny Boy.. I want this played at my funeral.
What is it about Danny Boy that brings tears even to the non-Irish?
Then, read this article from the Seattle Times.
Go on! I dare ya! 
Wow. That song always makes me cry. But I was getting by with only a lump in my throat, reading the article…
until the last line.
sniffle, sob
Very beautiful and bittersweet story!
I prefer this rendition of Danny Boy 
MacTech, that’s hysterical! I feel better now. 
chanteuse, wasn’t it sweet? 62 years married and they still liked each other.
I love the song, my favourite version is by Johnny Cash. It is so ubiquitous one forgets how beautiful the air, the words are.
If you like that, you may like this.
At my mother’s funeral a few months ago, after the Mass and at the graveside, my cousin Dennis sng Danny Boy. He’s a wonderful tenor. But, like all the men in my mother’s family, he starts breaking up shortly after starting the song. SO you have about 40 people joining in on a beautiful fall day, singing Danny Boy in front of an open grave. It was memorable.
StG
I often wonder if my wife’s parents will go like that. They’ve been married for 54 years, and despite the fact that senile dementia has reduced my mother-in-law to a hostile, hysterical, paranoid, and berating demon who can’t even remember events that occurred five minutes ago, her husband still loves her and holds her hand in bed every night. It would not surprise me in the least if they died simultaneously.
Sorry,
I’ve got a fair amount of Irish in me;
I’ve never liked that song. But hey, if it’s your song, more power to you.
Is it a common song to be played at funerals in the US? I don’t think it would be that common here for that purpose.
An Gadai, I don’t know if it’s a common funeral song, but I think it should be. My second choice is from Springsteen, the one with the lyric “If I should fall behind, wait for me.” That one makes me cry too.
I don’t know if it is popular. I do know that when we requested that it be sung at my father’s Catholic funeral mass, the best they could do was play a very restrained music-only version on the church organ. It still made me weep.
An Gadai - It wasn’t sung because it’s common, it was sung because my mother used to call Dennis and make him sing it for her. My cousin Dennis is one of my Uncle Jim’s 9 kids. They all sing, but Dennis is the best. We asked him to sing it in remembrance.
StG