# You get 5-10 songs played at your funeral, what would they be **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 22, 2017, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-5-10-songs-played-at-your-funeral-what-would-they-be/777887 "2017-01-22T22:41:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-5-10-songs-played-at-your-funeral-what-would-they-be/777887/21 "2017-01-23T12:58:54Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > I could live (sorry – bad pun intended) with a couple of those during my funeral; the classics are often the best. One though that I have warned my wife and cousins will cause me to claw my way out of my casket and start the zombie apocalypse ---- On Eagles Wings. I can’t explain just why but that song, especially at funerals, is just nails-on-a-chalkboard to me. I’ve threatened to come back and haunt them if I hear On Eagles Wings. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot Amazing Grace ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-5-10-songs-played-at-your-funeral-what-would-they-be/777887/22 "2017-01-23T15:39:01Z")
I mean this not as threadshitting, but just to offer another perspective: I’m all for funerals, although we generally call them “a celebration of life”, but as an atheist I’ve always believed these events are for the living. Let the folks who know and care about me select the music they would like to hear. This is their gig-- I’m gone. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-5-10-songs-played-at-your-funeral-what-would-they-be/777887/23 "2017-01-23T15:54:08Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I mean this not as threadshitting, but just to offer another perspective: > > I’m all for funerals, although we generally call them “a celebration of life”, but as an atheist I’ve always believed these events are for the living. Let the folks who know and care about me select the music they would like to hear. This is their gig-- I’m gone. They are for the living, but for them to be comforting to the living, they also have to be about the dead. Its stressful to the living to not know what your wishes would have been - at a stressful time. So, if you can leave some instructions - simple ones - “cremation, wake, someone reads “Crossing the Bar,” crank up some Pink Floyd and drink” it can make it a hella less stressful. (Someone who had to do the funeral arrangements for someone who didn’t leave clear instructions - and then had the family arguing about what needed to be done - with lots of stress and recriminations and “that isn’t what he would have wanted” and “but that isn’t what I want” - and then three months later - we found the instructions :smack:) ---
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-5-10-songs-played-at-your-funeral-what-would-they-be/777887/24 "2017-01-23T16:30:37Z")
The only music I want is the sound of nature. I told me daughter I want to be cremated and have my ashes mixed with my hearing dog then taken to the woods and throw toward the river . I don’t want to waste land ,I want to save it for the livings and wildlife. I will also want my dog I have to be cremated if he dies after I do and also have his ashes mixed in too . I told a lawyer I wanted to have my ashes mixed with my hearing dog ashes and the lawyer put in my will " to mix the ashes well " LOL! ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-5-10-songs-played-at-your-funeral-what-would-they-be/777887/25 "2017-01-23T17:13:39Z")
Paul Simon, “Graceland” _And my traveling companions Are ghosts and empty sockets I’m looking at ghosts and empties But I’ve reason to believe We all will be received In Graceland_ Roxy Music, “More Than This” _I could feel at the time There was no way of knowing Fallen leaves in the night Who can say where they’re blowing As free as the wind And hopefully learning Why the sea on the tide Has no way of turning_ George Harrison, “Hear Me Lord” _At both ends of the road To the left and the right Above and below us Out and in, there’s no place that you’re not in Oh, won’t you hear me, Lord_ ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-5-10-songs-played-at-your-funeral-what-would-they-be/777887/26 "2017-01-23T17:32:32Z")
Mass: Sing With All The Saints in Glory How Can I Keep From Singing? What Wondrous Love Is This\* Love Divine All Loves Excelling \*Because it contains the excellent: And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing and joyful be And through eternity I’ll sing on! Than I have a Death Mix playlist I want burned onto thumb drives for attendees which contains a bunch of favorites having to do with friendship and love and excitement about the next life. ---
**Author:** ![Hendrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hendrix/32/7327_2.png) [@Hendrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hendrix)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-5-10-songs-played-at-your-funeral-what-would-they-be/777887/27 "2017-01-23T17:45:13Z")
Jimi Hendrix. Angel. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-5-10-songs-played-at-your-funeral-what-would-they-be/777887/28 "2017-01-23T17:56:35Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > I’ve threatened to come back and haunt them if I hear On Eagles Wings. > > … I hear ya on that one. I cantor Catholic funerals and if I have to sing that one more time … gah. I’m going for Mozart’s Requiem Mass in D Minor. Live with orchestra. Most larger choirs know it so it wouldn’t be impossible to find singers. If I could pull out all the stops I’d go for Bach’s Mass in B Minor. That would kick my ass right up to the pearly gates. ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-5-10-songs-played-at-your-funeral-what-would-they-be/777887/29 "2017-01-23T18:16:16Z")
I’ll rise from the cremains if I hear Amazing Grace. I hate that song. Hateithatehateit. I’d like Ava Maria, In the Garden, How Great Thou Art, Bringing in the Sheaves. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-5-10-songs-played-at-your-funeral-what-would-they-be/777887/30 "2017-01-23T19:29:39Z")
## _Paint it Black_ and _Sympathy for the Devil_ by the Stones _The Leader of the Pack_ – who was it, the Shirelles? _I Hold Your Hand in Mine_ and _Poisoning Pigeons in the Park_ – Tom Lehrer _We’ll Meet Again_ – Vera Lynn _Down to the River to Pray_ and _Whiskey Lullabye_ – Alison Krauss _Bad Things_ – Jace Everett ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-5-10-songs-played-at-your-funeral-what-would-they-be/777887/31 "2017-01-23T19:43:43Z")
5-10??? Why would I put anyone through that? Will my enemies be forced at gunpoint to sit there?? Anyway, “Funeral for a Friend” and on the second half, I’m going to bust out of the coffin and play a rocking guitar solo. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-5-10-songs-played-at-your-funeral-what-would-they-be/777887/32 "2017-01-23T21:55:03Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > I could live (sorry – bad pun intended) with a couple of those during my funeral; the classics are often the best. One though that I have warned my wife and cousins will cause me to claw my way out of my casket and start the zombie apocalypse ---- On Eagles Wings. I can’t explain just why but that song, especially at funerals, is just nails-on-a-chalkboard to me. Heh. I was born in 1968 just in time for the 1970s wasteland of Catholic music, so of course my best friend’s funeral (1988) featured OEW. Flash forward 20+ years to a friend’s daughter’s funeral – again with the OEW! NOOOO! Whenever there is some amorphous glurge being sung, I always look down and (c) 1987. And it’s someone like Marty Haugen or Iona Community. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-5-10-songs-played-at-your-funeral-what-would-they-be/777887/33 "2017-01-23T22:14:12Z")
Surprise me. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-5-10-songs-played-at-your-funeral-what-would-they-be/777887/34 "2017-01-23T22:52:30Z")
The [Hebrew Slaves Chorus](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2F4G5H_TTvU) from Nabucco. Probably the most beautiful chorus ever written. [Night on Bald Mountain](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCEDfZgDPS8), by Mussorgsky, just because it would freak people out. [The Stroke](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_OGARBe6W0), Billy Squier because of its solid rock construction. [Unsquare Dance](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDB4K5zCcfk), Brubeck Quartet because it’s a bit confusing. [A Song For You](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYvPzXNIHcU), as sung by Ruby Wilson ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-5-10-songs-played-at-your-funeral-what-would-they-be/777887/35 "2017-01-23T23:07:42Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > They are for the living, but for them to be comforting to the living, they also have to be about the dead. Its stressful to the living to not know what your wishes would have been - at a stressful time. So, if you can leave some instructions - simple ones - “cremation, wake, someone reads “Crossing the Bar,” crank up some Pink Floyd and drink” it can make it a hella less stressful. > > (Someone who had to do the funeral arrangements for someone who didn’t leave clear instructions - and then had the family arguing about what needed to be done - with lots of stress and recriminations and “that isn’t what he would have wanted” and “but that isn’t what I want” - and then three months later - we found the instructions :smack:) OK, OK, OK. Start off with _Gimme Shelter by the Stones_, then blend into _Let the Sunshine In_ by The Fifth Dimension, and segue into _Into the West_ by Annie Lennox. ---
**Author:** ![scootergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@scootergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scootergirl)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-5-10-songs-played-at-your-funeral-what-would-they-be/777887/36 "2017-01-24T00:07:24Z")
> [@Arrendajo](#): > > Surprise me. You got it, honey! And do the same for me if I go before you. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-5-10-songs-played-at-your-funeral-what-would-they-be/777887/37 "2017-01-24T00:47:57Z")
Hallelujah (Shrek version) Hell’s Bells - AC/DC Friends in Low Places - Garth Brooks Hounddog - Elvis Take Me Home (Country Roads) - John Denver Amazing Grace What A Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong William Tell Overture for the finale (The Lone Range song) I want to mix it up with a little ambiguity and confusion the same way I live my life. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-5-10-songs-played-at-your-funeral-what-would-they-be/777887/38 "2017-01-24T02:18:16Z")
Aside from normal Jewish music, I think I’d like someone to play the Indigo Girls’ “Closer to Fine.” I think it’s appropriate, and it’s also close to my heart, because on the day of my college graduation, which was an outdoor ceremony with no alternative location, it was raining in sheets when I woke up, so I skipped it, and made a pot of tea, which I drank by myself, while I played this song over and over on the stereo. It’s about knuckling under and finishing college, and by having a certain amount of higher learning, earning the right to question authority, and when authority doesn’t answer, ultimately be OK with ambiguity. The less you look to other people for the secret to life, the closer you are to “fine.” But part of the point of it is that you do need to jump through the hoops first, or it’s just rebellion, not wisdom. But other than that, I would stick to Jewish music. Call me old fashioned. Or observant. I think most people find tradition and fulfilled expectations comforting. ---
**Author:** ![JHBoom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/13edae/32.png) [@JHBoom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JHBoom)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-5-10-songs-played-at-your-funeral-what-would-they-be/777887/39 "2017-01-24T18:13:45Z")
Led Zeppelin, _The Rain Song_. Beyond that, play whatever is requested by whoever decides to show up to my memorial party. Yes, party - we’ve been to enough damn funerals and memorial services that neither of us want some sad, depressing, drawn-out last goodbye. Have a drink or three, toast my urn, remember the good times and the fun, and point & laugh at all the goofy pictures that someone will almost certainly make into a collage. ---
**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:** [January 24, 2017, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-5-10-songs-played-at-your-funeral-what-would-they-be/777887/40 "2017-01-24T19:16:14Z")
> [@zoogirl](#): > > I have told everyone that I want my funeral to open with Spirit In The Sky full blast. That should wake everyone up. I also want Alice Cooper, of course, so I think it should be I Love the Dead and maybe Cold Ethel. My friends will expect it. Gotta have Stairway to Heaven. That will probably be last, as everyone is heading out. Let’s see, one more…oh heck, better have Amazing Grace. No solo. Everyone sings!. Oh, one more Alice! School’s Out! Jeez, can I come? That sounds fun. I would like “Ding Dong the Witch is Dead” from The Wizard of Oz (an instrumental version so that the realization can break slowly over the attendee[s]). Also, please play Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” because I may get up out of the casket to turn it off. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-5-10-songs-played-at-your-funeral-what-would-they-be/777887.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-5-10-songs-played-at-your-funeral-what-would-they-be/777887.md?page=3)