# Morbid I know \[funeral music\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 23, 2008, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-i-know-funeral-music/438840 "2008-02-23T12:05:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-i-know-funeral-music/438840/61 "2008-02-25T06:04:24Z")
[QUOTE=elfkin477] “People Who Died” by the Jim Carroll band [mp3 here](http://armagideontime.blogspot.com/2008/01/nothing-will-ever-be-same-again.html) [/QUOTE] A sensitive and moving classic. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Pixilated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/aeb1de/32.png) [@Pixilated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixilated)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-i-know-funeral-music/438840/62 "2008-02-25T06:21:44Z")
Will You Remember Me - Sarah MacLachlin All other songs will be sung at the wake (I refuse to have a religious funeral - get me something as close to a Celtic-pagan send off as possible) shall be traditional Irish & Scottish ballads complete with pennywhistle, bodhran, fiddle, and vocals… and as much whiskey, meade, and storytellin as one can take.) ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-i-know-funeral-music/438840/63 "2008-02-25T06:32:27Z")
An alternative to Amazing Grace for the bagpipes – especially when played at a distance is “The Minstrel Boy.” If you ever seen _The Man Who Would Be King_, you probably know the piece I’m speaking of. It’s a familiar pipe tune anyway. I think I’ll write my own send-off and punctuate it with favorite tunes from different points in my life – “Moonglow and Theme from Picnic” from 1956 – a Tom Jobim bossa nova from the 1960s – “If” by Bread from the early 1970s and “Still Crazy After All These Years” – some jazz from the 80s on – and I’ll end it with the music from my wedding: Pat Metheny’s “Are You Going With Me?” It seems only fair… ---
**Author:** ![williambaskerville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f14d63/32.png) [@williambaskerville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/williambaskerville)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-i-know-funeral-music/438840/64 "2008-02-25T07:04:38Z")
Monty Python’s Always Look On The Bright Side. > **[Always Look On the Bright Side of Life (from Monty Python's Life of Brian):...](http://www.thebards.net/music/lyrics/Always_Look_Bright_Side_Life.shtml)** > > Always Look on the Bright Side of Life by Eric Idle. Hilarious song by Monty Python comedian I’m surprised no one else has nominated it. The first time I heard it, it struck me as the perfect funeral song. (And yes, seriously, that’s the only music being played at my funeral :- it’s in my will). ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-i-know-funeral-music/438840/65 "2008-02-25T07:28:46Z")
Isn’t the will often read after the funeral? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-i-know-funeral-music/438840/66 "2008-02-25T07:28:54Z")
Well, hopefully, there’d be strippers, so I’d have to say it really ought to be up to the ladies and their DJ - these are _professionals_, after all. (What? Can anyone honestly say their funeral wouldn’t be improved with strippers? Didn’t think so.) Failing that - “Sympathy for the Devil” would be nice. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-i-know-funeral-music/438840/67 "2008-02-25T12:03:19Z")
I’d like _Breathe me_ by Sia, although someone pointed out in another thread that that particular track has been so rehashed now that it might make my funeral seem like a special episode of CSI. Still, I like it a lot, and it will always have particular significance in that it was the track played during the finale of Six Feet Under (so quite fitting). ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-i-know-funeral-music/438840/68 "2008-02-25T14:39:25Z")
_I Am_ and _The Interpreter_, by Roky Erickson – both of them the version found on the\*\* Gremlins Have Pictures\*\* collection. ---
**Author:** ![Octalcode](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Octalcode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octalcode)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-i-know-funeral-music/438840/69 "2008-02-25T15:32:29Z")
Narrowed down to two by Frank Zappa. Peaches en Regalia. or Titties and Beer. Decisions, decisions… ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-i-know-funeral-music/438840/70 "2008-02-25T23:14:06Z")
[QUOTE=Lilacs] Thanks. I recognized it…I knew the first part of the quote, but the last part had escaped me. I remember now. :smack: [/QUOTE] **Baker** makes a fair stab at translation. I meant it to say "Out of the great sea to Middle-earth I am come. In this place I shall abide until the ending of the world. Night is come and all paths are drowned deep in shadow. But night passes. Day will come again. " The ‘great sea’ represents Lake Michigan, on which shores I was conceived, raised, and still dwell. Middle-earth would be six feet under! I thought about substituting “Mitchi-gumi” for “Earello”. Perhaps I still will. 😉 Is it linguistically accurate? I don’t know, I didn’t get a chance to run it past David Salo or the other speakers out there. I probably misconjugated a few verbs and used improper tenses in more than one spot. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-i-know-funeral-music/438840/71 "2008-02-26T04:39:07Z")
I’ve got two Sigur Rós songs on my funeral setlist. First, _Njósnavélin_, the fourth “untitled” song from () to set the mood appropriately sad and reflective, and then to close the show on a happier note, _Glósóli_ from Takk. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-i-know-funeral-music/438840/72 "2008-02-26T05:59:13Z")
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan] The ‘great sea’ represents Lake Michigan, on which shores I was conceived, raised, and still dwell. Middle-earth would be six feet under! [/QUOTE] (Apologies for slight hijack) I’ve been under the misapprehension that you were a Brit. How did that happen? Tolkien [del]obsession[/del] expertness? (/AFSH) ---
**Author:** ![yellowval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/919ad9/32.png) [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-i-know-funeral-music/438840/73 "2008-02-26T15:59:13Z")
“Lake of Fire” by the Meat Puppets. “Where do bad folks go when they die? They don’t go to heaven where the angels fly They go to a lake of fire and fry Won’t see 'em again 'til the Fourth of July.” Of course I’d never get away with that, so instead I might choose Aerosmith’s “Dream On.” ETA: I hate bagpipes. ---
**Author:** ![Sublata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7cd45c/32.png) [@Sublata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublata)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-i-know-funeral-music/438840/74 "2008-02-26T16:13:42Z")
[QUOTE=freckafree] …“Denn alles Fleisch, es ist wie Gras” from Brahms… [/QUOTE] Me, I’d go for “Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit.” ---
**Author:** ![Made\_in\_Macau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@Made\_in\_Macau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Made_in_Macau)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-i-know-funeral-music/438840/75 "2008-02-26T17:18:33Z")
Having recently buried my father, I have spent some time thinking on this. I have since been telling those who need to know that I want ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go’ by Wham to be played at my service. MiM ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-i-know-funeral-music/438840/76 "2008-02-26T18:13:41Z")
Navy Hymn: _Eternal Father, Strong to save, Whose arm hath bound the restless wave, Who bid’st the mighty Ocean deep Its own appointed limits keep; O hear us when we cry to thee, for those in peril on the sea._ ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-i-know-funeral-music/438840/77 "2008-02-26T22:49:29Z")
“Old and Wise,” by the Alan Parsons Project. ---
**Author:** ![Slypork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc29f/32.png) [@Slypork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slypork)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-i-know-funeral-music/438840/78 "2008-02-27T16:00:01Z")
My wife’s great-aunt came to the US from Ireland when she was 16 and never looked back. She was sent here by her family so she could get a job and send money home so her siblings could come over as well. She so resented it that she strove to eliminate her brogue, married a Swede and became the most American person she could. Before she died she told everyone that if anyone did anything remotely Irish, she would come back and haunt them. She said that she wanted everyone at the wake to sing _My Country ‘Tis of Thee_ and _America the Beautiful_. At her wake we all stood around her casket and sang those songs and, because the wake was on her birthday, we also sang _Happy Birthday_. We all laughed and cried at the same time. For my funeral, I want Blood, Sweat and Tears’ _And When I Die_ or Bob Dylan’s _Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door_. ---
**Author:** ![Canadiangirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Canadiangirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadiangirl)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-i-know-funeral-music/438840/79 "2008-02-28T00:51:07Z")
I would like Circle of Life by Elton John or Stevie Winwood, I need help with the title but has the lyrics 'whales and albatross are my brothers". ---
**Author:** ![Canadiangirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Canadiangirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadiangirl)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-i-know-funeral-music/438840/80 "2008-02-28T01:01:28Z")
Whoops, it’s not Stevie Winwood, it’s little River Band and it’s “Cool Change” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-i-know-funeral-music/438840.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-i-know-funeral-music/438840.md?page=5)