# Top 10 Funeral Songs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 5, 2006, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-10-funeral-songs/375353 "2006-10-05T03:50:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2006, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-10-funeral-songs/375353/41 "2006-10-06T21:05:17Z")
Siegfried’s Funeral March. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-10-funeral-songs/375353/42 "2006-10-07T00:51:40Z")
If anyone plays McLachlan’s _I Will Remember You_ at my funeral, I swear I’m going to raise an army in Hell to attack the world of the living. Not that it’s a BAD song…it wasn’t, the for the _first_ three times it was used at a funeral. In the 90s. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-10-funeral-songs/375353/43 "2006-10-07T00:57:37Z")
I still need valium when I remember _Mandy_ and \*Can’t Smile Without You \* at the funeral. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-10-funeral-songs/375353/44 "2006-10-07T01:08:48Z")
These threads come up every so often and I think of the usuals; Another One Bites the Dust, Walking on Sunshine (played on bagpipes), Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, etc., and then I stop to think: No one in my family has ever had a funeral, which means I probably won’t either. We tend to cremate our dead and then stop talking about them. So: Are all of you just picking hypothetical songs, or are you really going to have a funeral, and is it really _that_ common to have music at a funeral? ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-10-funeral-songs/375353/45 "2006-10-07T02:13:43Z")
On a serious note, I’d like _Ripple_ by the Grateful Dead. In a more humorous vein, I think Bach’s _Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor_ would be fabulous to play as the mourners were filing in. Of course, when it comes down to it, I’ll be dead and I won’t care. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-10-funeral-songs/375353/46 "2006-10-07T02:15:33Z")
[QUOTE=Cisco] These threads come up every so often and I think of the usuals; Another One Bites the Dust, Walking on Sunshine (played on bagpipes), Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, etc., and then I stop to think: No one in my family has ever had a funeral, which means I probably won’t either. We tend to cremate our dead and then stop talking about them. So: Are all of you just picking hypothetical songs, or are you really going to have a funeral, and is it really _that_ common to have music at a funeral? [/QUOTE] Being cremated is still having a funeral. Definition of funeral: the ceremonial burial or cremation of a dead person. And it is usual AFAIK to have music at a cremation. ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-10-funeral-songs/375353/47 "2006-10-07T02:25:23Z")
My grandmother and dad were cremated but we still had full-fledged funerals for them beforehand, so I think that’s probably what I will do too. My preference for a funeral song has always been “Amazing Grace”. Even though it seems cliche, I do truly like it and find it moving. I figure funerals are more for the living than the dead. So, even though I hate most of the songs on that list, if whoever is left to mourn me after I’m gone feels better after hearing an annoying song like “Wind Beneath My Wings”, well, good for them I guess. At least one nice thing about being dead is that I won’t have to listen it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-10-funeral-songs/375353/48 "2006-10-07T02:39:55Z")
A friend of mine is serious about having Peggy Lee’s “Is That All There Is?” played at his funeral. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-10-funeral-songs/375353/49 "2006-10-07T05:45:09Z")
I have decided to be like Harry Houdini and I will have foolproof, absolute test to see if there is an afterlife. At my funeral play the following songs. Seasons in the Sun You Light up my Life UmmBop The Pina Colada song Turn the Page If the power cord to the boom box does not mysteriously pull from the wall, there is no afterlife. ---
**Author:** ![quiltguy154](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ad7895/32.png) [@quiltguy154](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quiltguy154)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-10-funeral-songs/375353/50 "2006-10-07T09:49:22Z")
What about the “Alfred Hitchcock Show” theme music? It’s entitled “Funeral March for A Marionette” I believe it’s by Saint-Saens. ---
**Author:** ![quiltguy154](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ad7895/32.png) [@quiltguy154](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quiltguy154)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-10-funeral-songs/375353/51 "2006-10-07T09:52:52Z")
Has anyone seen the movie “Big Eden”, at the funeral Stephen Foster’s “Linger in Blissful Repose”, was sung, I believe by Louise Fletcher’s character. A very haunting melody, with absolutely soul-rending lyrics. There won’t be a dry eye in the house. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-10-funeral-songs/375353/52 "2006-10-07T15:40:27Z")
[QUOTE=Cicero] Being cremated is still having a funeral. [/QUOTE] Uhhh, not if no one is there, and there is no manner of ceremony whatsoever. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-10-funeral-songs/375353/53 "2006-10-07T15:44:22Z")
[QUOTE=Zebra] Seasons in the Sun [/QUOTE] I turned on CBC radio in the middle of a story yesterday, and they were playing recordings of messages callers had left. It seems that _Seasons In the Sun_ is the song most callers would _not_ want played at their funerals. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-10-funeral-songs/375353/54 "2006-10-07T16:16:16Z")
[QUOTE=Cisco] Uhhh, not if no one is there, and there is no manner of ceremony whatsoever. [/QUOTE] So, you just toss Uncle Joe onto the bonfire, or something? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-10-funeral-songs/375353/55 "2006-10-07T16:49:16Z")
_And that’s Uncle Joe He’s a-roastin’ kinda slow At the junction…_ ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-10-funeral-songs/375353/56 "2006-10-07T17:13:51Z")
[QUOTE=Suburban Plankton] So, you just toss Uncle Joe onto the bonfire, or something? [/QUOTE] My grandpa died at home, my grandma called someone to come get him, and they creamated him, AFAIK, at the local morgue. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-10-funeral-songs/375353/57 "2006-10-07T19:08:14Z")
Madonna-The power of goodbye John Lennon- Imagine Not because it rejects the idea of an afterlife, but because the song \*trancends \* it. ---
**Author:** ![Stillwell\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@Stillwell\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stillwell_Angel)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-10-funeral-songs/375353/58 "2006-10-07T20:15:16Z")
[QUOTE=Zebra] At my funeral play the following songs. Seasons in the Sun You Light up my Life UmmBop The Pina Colada song Turn the Page If the power cord to the boom box does not mysteriously pull from the wall, there is no afterlife. [/QUOTE] My best friends mother died of cancer a couple of years ago. She specifically asked that Turn the Page be played, and it was. When a very young friend was killed in a car wreck, the propped his electric guitar up by the casket and played Wish You Were Here, now that one brought on the waterworks. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-10-funeral-songs/375353/59 "2006-10-07T20:22:08Z")
[QUOTE=quiltguy154] What about the “Alfred Hitchcock Show” theme music? It’s entitled “Funeral March for A Marionette” I believe it’s by Saint-Saens. [/QUOTE] [Gounod](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gounod). ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-10-funeral-songs/375353/60 "2006-10-07T20:31:18Z")
I just remembered another song I want at my funeral: “Do You Realize?” by the Flaming Lips. Mr. Lucky says that if he should die before I do, he wants me to play at his funeral “The Floods of Florence” by Phil Ochs and “He Loved Him Madly” by Miles Davis. It’s about his admiration for John Coltrane. It’s also very long. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-10-funeral-songs/375353.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-10-funeral-songs/375353.md?page=4)