# What music should be played at your funeral/wake? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 14, 2010, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-music-should-be-played-at-your-funeral-wake/546672 "2010-07-14T16:18:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-music-should-be-played-at-your-funeral-wake/546672/1 "2010-07-14T16:18:00Z")
Inspired by **Gagundathar** ’s comment in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=570770). What music do you think sums up your life and should be played at your exit therefrom? Given any control over the situation, I’d like the last piece of music I hear to be Dave Brubeck’s “Forty Days.” Absolutely haunting. At my wake I’d like Molly Hatchett’s “Flirting With Disaster.” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Claude\_Remains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@Claude\_Remains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claude_Remains)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-music-should-be-played-at-your-funeral-wake/546672/2 "2010-07-14T16:24:37Z")
“Always look on the bright side of life” - Monty Python ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-music-should-be-played-at-your-funeral-wake/546672/3 "2010-07-14T17:09:29Z")
I don’t have any specific song requests, but it’s just not a proper funeral without bagpipes. ---
**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:** [July 14, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-music-should-be-played-at-your-funeral-wake/546672/4 "2010-07-14T17:13:20Z")
siegfried’s funeral march. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-music-should-be-played-at-your-funeral-wake/546672/5 "2010-07-14T17:16:09Z")
“Ding Dong, The Witch is Dead” from the Wizard of Oz, and preferably an instrumental version, so that the realization breaks slowly… ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-music-should-be-played-at-your-funeral-wake/546672/6 "2010-07-14T17:17:08Z")
I don’t know if it sums up my life in any meaningful way, but I’d go with Chopin’s Nocturne Op 9. No. 2 in E-flat major as the soundtrack for my transition into Wherever. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-music-should-be-played-at-your-funeral-wake/546672/7 "2010-07-14T17:24:32Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I don’t have any specific song requests, but it’s just not a proper funeral without bagpipes. I will come back and haunt anyone that plays anything with bagpipes at my funeral. I want Green Grass and High Tides by The Outlaws followed by Enter Sandman by Metallica. Then as my casket is rolled out, Smoke On The Water (live version) by Deep Purple and Sympathy For The Devil by The Rolling Stones. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-music-should-be-played-at-your-funeral-wake/546672/8 "2010-07-14T17:29:18Z")
“Shiver Me Timbers” by Tom Waits ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-music-should-be-played-at-your-funeral-wake/546672/9 "2010-07-14T17:49:40Z")
I Didn’t Mean to Turn You On - Robert Palmer ---
**Author:** ![Satchmo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/satchmo/32/4223_2.png) [@Satchmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satchmo)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-music-should-be-played-at-your-funeral-wake/546672/10 "2010-07-14T18:16:54Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I don’t have any specific song requests, but it’s just not a proper funeral without bagpipes. I’m partial to “Amazing Grace”. At a funeral, it just brings a lump to my throat and a tear to my eye. I blame Star Trek 2. “Taps” is good, too. But not on the bagpipes, on a bugle, (or maybe a trumpet.) ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-music-should-be-played-at-your-funeral-wake/546672/11 "2010-07-14T18:33:59Z")
Dylan’s _Restless Farewell_ (The first verse, anyway): …the corner sign Says it’s closing time, So I’ll bid farewell and be down the road. Or maybe the traditional version: (_The Parting Glass_): Of all the money e’er I had, I spent it in good company. And all the harm I’ve ever done, Alas! it was to none but me. And all I’ve done for want of wit To mem’ry now I can’t recall So fill to me the parting glass Good night and joy be with you all ---
**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:** [July 14, 2010, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-music-should-be-played-at-your-funeral-wake/546672/12 "2010-07-14T18:46:59Z")
Looking over my iTunes library, the top 10-15 most played tracks are mostly surprisingly appropriate for my own wake, with a few notable exceptions (“The Fight Song” and the Tiger Lillies’ “Hell,” you might be able to make work. The Robocop theme…not so much). It’s actually a little eerie, though probably not that surprising. I…think I’ll probably just go with Beethoven’s [Piano Concerto no 5, movement III](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dqw3qZk6k8M). ---
**Author:** ![Tequila\_Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/41988e/32.png) [@Tequila\_Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tequila_Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-music-should-be-played-at-your-funeral-wake/546672/13 "2010-07-14T19:06:44Z")
Highway To Hell by AC/DC and something by My Chemical Romance. Most likely Dead! or Welcome To The Black Parade ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-music-should-be-played-at-your-funeral-wake/546672/14 "2010-07-14T19:09:00Z")
“We Gotta Get Out Of This Place” ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-music-should-be-played-at-your-funeral-wake/546672/15 "2010-07-14T19:13:45Z")
“Ripple” by Grateful Dead would be nice. ---
**Author:** ![Storm\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Storm\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Storm_Girl)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-music-should-be-played-at-your-funeral-wake/546672/16 "2010-07-14T19:18:30Z")
I’m thinking “Swingin’”-the Tom Petty one, not the horrible country/novelty abomination… ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-music-should-be-played-at-your-funeral-wake/546672/17 "2010-07-14T19:19:05Z")
A friend who owned a very popular record store [died last year](http://blogs.pitch.com/wayward/2009/10/anne_winter_1964-2009.php), and one song played at her funeral was a total heartbreaker by Iris Dement (a friend of hers) that had most of the folks there in tears, but everyone was smiling at the memory of our friend when the first notes of the Talking Heads’ [“And She Was”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgSVTdAtNYE) played. We miss you Annie. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-music-should-be-played-at-your-funeral-wake/546672/18 "2010-07-14T19:25:02Z")
Thanks **Silenus**! I thought about starting a thread on this, but I am still a newbie here and defer to others with more seniority for these kind of things. 😉 One of my choices (as mentioned elsewhere) is ‘Funeral for a Friend’ by Elton John. I actually have a playlist worked out (and no, I am not dying or anything, I just got my will and durable power of attorney paperwork done earlier this year) and since I intend to be cremated the only service will involve a wake. The long version of ‘Uncertain Smile’ by The The is another of my favorites. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-music-should-be-played-at-your-funeral-wake/546672/19 "2010-07-14T20:00:17Z")
_[Love Actually](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0314331/)_ featured the best movie scene with a song being played at a funeral. My personal choice would probably be “The Morning Fog” from Kate Bush’s “The Ninth Wave” from her album “Hounds of Love”. ---
**Author:** ![In\_Winnipeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a8b319/32.png) [@In\_Winnipeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Winnipeg)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-music-should-be-played-at-your-funeral-wake/546672/20 "2010-07-14T20:11:27Z")
I want a typical Irish wake. Pick up a case of whiskey, and get smashed around me, to the strains of The Clancy Brothers, The Wolfe Tones, hell, even the Irish Rovers. I’ve got 'em all, so no one will need to hunt for any of it. Don’t want a funeral, but I will take a memorial service, and they can play \*Amazing Grace \* on the pipes, _I’ll Walk With God_ by Mario Lanza from the soundtrack of “The Student Prince”, _How Great Thou Art_ by Elvis, and _Those Were the Days_ and _Goodbye_ by Mary Hopkin. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-music-should-be-played-at-your-funeral-wake/546672.md?page=2)