# Name Your Funeral Music **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 23, 2007, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-funeral-music/389049 "2007-01-23T04:05:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-funeral-music/389049/21 "2007-01-23T11:09:00Z")
My parents both passed recently. They both wanted their funerals to be ‘celebrations of their life’, not mournful occasions. So for Mum we played some Bach as the mourners entered, a choral work in the middle of the service and left to the sounds of ‘When the Saints go marching in’. 🙂 For Dad we also had Bach, then ‘A foggy day in London town’ and lastly ‘Moonlight Serenade’. 🆒 I was told by friends and relatives after both services that it was most comforting funeral they had been to. It was a a big help to me and my sister too. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-funeral-music/389049/22 "2007-01-23T11:15:15Z")
The _Skye Boat Song_. Perhaps Metallica’s _Nothing Else Matters_ as well. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-funeral-music/389049/23 "2007-01-23T11:17:13Z")
I have no current plans for suicide, but I’ve thought about it a lot, and about how I’d prefer a decidedly non-traditional funeral filled with music (dictated in my note, with an included CD) that would give mourners a glimpse of how I’ve felt for the last decade or so. This is actually something that I’ve laid awake at night thinking about, so I already have a list: eels - Things the Grandchildren Should Know Rasputina - A Quitter Radiohead - Motion Picture Soundtrack Pink Floyd - The Final Cut Sarah Brightman - Who Wants to Live Forever (Queen cover) Sundays - Here’s Where the Story Ends I have _many_ more, but just typing those song titles is depressing enough, so I’ll leave it at that. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-funeral-music/389049/24 "2007-01-23T11:26:53Z")
Oh, and two more that I could never leave off even a truncated list: “Whistles of the Wind,” and “The Spoken Wheel,” both by Flogging Molly. ---
**Author:** ![MostlyClueless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@MostlyClueless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyClueless)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-funeral-music/389049/25 "2007-01-23T12:33:24Z")
Deeper underground - Jamiroquai ---
**Author:** ![wayward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a87d85/32.png) [@wayward](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wayward)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-funeral-music/389049/26 "2007-01-23T13:49:54Z")
_Do You Realize?_ by The Flaming Lips. Lyrics [here](http://www.lyricsandsongs.com/print_song/75015.html) ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-funeral-music/389049/27 "2007-01-23T13:50:38Z")
The main ones are The Moody Blues “Nights in White Satin”, Alan Parsons “Old and Wise”, the hymns “It Is Well With My Soul”, “How Great Thou Art”, “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee”, and some selections from Wagner’s RING. Seeing Happy Rhodes’ cover on “Into the West” really got me thinking about adding that. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-funeral-music/389049/28 "2007-01-23T14:04:46Z")
“You are lost, little girl” by Siouxsie and the Banshees. ---
**Author:** ![Roonwit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/54ee81/32.png) [@Roonwit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roonwit)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-funeral-music/389049/29 "2007-01-23T14:39:14Z")
[QUOTE=FriarTed] Alan Parsons “Old and Wise” [/QUOTE] Oh, that’s a good one. Mine: Introit: _Friends_ by Elton John Offertory: _Delta_ by Crosby, Stills, and Nash Recessional: _You Can Close Your Eyes_ by James Taylor ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-funeral-music/389049/30 "2007-01-23T14:54:55Z")
[QUOTE=Cisco] Well, you learn something new every day I guess. My family isn’t big on funerals. We tend to just kind of stop talking about people when they die. [/QUOTE] 😃 I want all my near and dear to respectfully endure all 15 and a half minutes of _A Very Cellular Song_ by the Incredible String Band. Let 'em yell “Jesus Christ, will you turn that shit off!” then. _“And I bid you goodnight, goodnight, goodniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight…”_ ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-funeral-music/389049/31 "2007-01-23T15:02:18Z")
Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) - Green Day The Dance - Garth Brooks Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-funeral-music/389049/32 "2007-01-23T15:28:52Z")
“For All the Saints Who From Their Labors Rest” - all 9 stanzas. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-funeral-music/389049/33 "2007-01-23T17:10:11Z")
“Sing with all the Saints in Glory”, (Beethoven’s 9th tune) all verses. “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling”, all verses. “City of God” and “How Can I Keep from Singing?” for a more modern touch. And maybe “Lord of the Dance”. And after the official Mass is over, “Blow Gabriel Blow” from De-Lovely should blared from the balcony: Now you’re all ready to fly Yes, to fly higher and higher and higher 'Cause you got through the brimstone, And you’ve been through the fire And you purged your soul, and your heart too So climb up the mountain top and start to Blow, Gabriel, Blow, Go on and Blow, Gabriel, Blow I want to join your happy band, To play all day in the promised land That reminds me, I’ve got to look for those DNR forms… ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-funeral-music/389049/34 "2007-01-23T17:17:12Z")
Bach’s _Wachet Auf_… just in case. And _Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life_. Complete with whistles and everything. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-funeral-music/389049/35 "2007-01-23T17:24:06Z")
Apologies in advance for the hijack, but this thread has really inspired me to pitch a new show to FOX “OK, what I’m talking here is Bridezilla meets Six Feet Under - how 'bout we launch a show where terminally ill and/or suicidal people bitch about having the perfect funeral? ‘This is MY day, godammit, and I want everything to be just perfect!’” ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-funeral-music/389049/36 "2007-01-23T17:27:40Z")
Time To Say Goodbye, by Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli. ---
**Author:** ![YWalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/6f9a4e/32.png) [@YWalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YWalker)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-funeral-music/389049/37 "2007-01-23T18:23:27Z")
I’d like to go out with the Louis Armstrong version of “What a Wonderful World.” At my mother’s funeral, we all knew there was one song that she did NOT want played — “Amazing Grace.” She said that it just made the old ladies cry, and she objected to the line “… that saved a wretch like me,” as she said she never considered herself a wretch. ---
**Author:** ![mrklutz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@mrklutz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrklutz)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-funeral-music/389049/38 "2007-01-23T18:39:31Z")
One of my former roomates used to say he wanted _You Can’t Alway Get What You Want_ to be played at his funeral. Seemed fitting. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-funeral-music/389049/39 "2007-01-23T18:41:49Z")
Something by Zeppelin… maybe _Bring It On Home_ or something like that. I want the kind of funeral where people tap their feet. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-funeral-music/389049/40 "2007-01-23T18:45:52Z")
_Stairway to Heaven_ and _Free Bird_ and _Highway to Hell_ played simultaneously. That would be AWESOME!!! \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-funeral-music/389049.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-funeral-music/389049.md?page=3)