My sweety beat me to Kind Of Blue so I’m going with Coltrane’s Crescent. And anybody who shows up sober I’m gonna whup.
Even this?
I envision the sacred and the profane. Growing up in the Lutheran Church, I’ve always been a big fan of anything JS Bach wrote for the pipe organ. Can’t name much, but I want it. Other hymns includeI Danced In The Morning, A Mighty Fortress, and one other that I can’t remember the name of that is a retread of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy. The church music needs to be upbeat, just to mess with people’s heads.
For the profane, two stand out. Mark Knopfler’s Piper to the End, and as the casket is lowered or my ashes spread, I want someone to play Johnny Cash’s cover of Vera Lynn’s We’ll Meet Again. This list will surely grow.
I have also threatened to haunt anyone who changes the list to add that dreary stereotypical funeral dreck.
I am considering Yakety Sax, and making all the mourners run out of the church chased by angry young women in scanties.
“A Land Where We’ll Never Grow Old” by the Anonymous 4.
And ONLY that version!
“Please don’t cry one tear for me…”
I’m a Catholic, and secular songs are frowned on at funeral Masses. So, my kind of music wouldn’t fly at a funeral. Standard religious stuff will be fine. Classical music is usually allowed, so I might ask for “The Great Gates of Kiev” from Mussorgsky’s*** Pictures at an Exhibition, *** Something bombastic like that!
But at my wake? If we want songs that fit the theme of death/farewell, I’d go with:
- “Glad to See You Go” by the Ramones
- “In My Time of Dying” by Led Zeppelin
- “The Parting Glass” Parting Glass-Makem & Clancy - YouTube
But if we want songs that my friends and family would associate with me…
- “Girls Got Rhythm” by AC/DC
- “And You And I” by Yes
- “Watermark” by Enya
- The Jeopardy! theme
Yeah, still “Sailing Away” by Styx. Or something by the Church, because I like the Church, and explaining what the music is would confuse people so much.
“This is church music? Really?”
Also a good idea. Then the mournful stuff can be played at the* wake.*
I won’t look at the last time I posted, but I am probably repeating myself!
Bold is essential; the other two change from time to time.
Sing with All the Saints in Glory
something like What Wondrous Love Is This* or I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say
How Can I Keep From Singing?**
Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
*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!
**Sensing a theme? I’m a shitty singer in this life but maybe in the next…
I like this one because I tend to have fear in the nighttime:
What though my joys and comforts die?
The Lord my Savior liveth;
What though the darkness gather round!
Songs in the night He giveth
Honorable Mention to All Creatures of Our God and King:
And thou most kind and gentle death,
Waiting to hush our latest breath,
O praise Him! Alleluia!
Thou leadest home the child of God,
And Christ our Lord the way hath trod.
And secular or recorded tunes to play at the reception:
When They Ring Those Golden Bells (Natalie Merchant’s and Emmylou Harris’s versions)
Gulf Stream Highway (Willie Nelson and Emmylou Harris version)
and pretty much the whole Angel Band album by Emmylou
(My mom was technically sick for a long time before she died but her actual time in the hospital wasn’t too long. She is also very good at compartmentalizing and never got the tumor in her breast diagnosed or even looked at. And I never heard a thing about it. Ten years later her body is riddled with cancer and she’s in the hospital – and finally asks my father if she is dying, at like 2:00 in the morning. “Sorry to say so but yes, I think so.” “OK, then here are the songs you need to sing at my funeral.” 
If I remember right,
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
How Great Thou Art
In Paradisum (which the cantor did a wonderful job with!)*
Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
*May angels lead you into paradise; upon your arrival, may the martyrs receive you and lead you to the holy city of Jerusalem. May the ranks of angels receive you, and with Lazarus, once a poor man, may you have eternal rest.
As the OP’er of the first of all these ‘funeral music’ threads, my choice remains the same almost 14 years later because, because, as I get closer . . . I have done things MY fucking WAY!!!
Ah, I like the cut of your jib. Those are my wake songs! Although, I’ve got to be honest, I was thinking of Powers’ instead of Jameson’s whiskey. 
For the church service, Amazing Grace on the bagpipes. May as well bring in the Scots for the solemn stuff.
The first two that come to mind are Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel, and Street with No Name by U2.
The Death Reception, however, must include Drink and Fight by Flogging Molly. As a final poke in the eye to the Holy Rollers that insist I’m doomed to an eternity of cleaning bathrooms in a Las Vegas casino.
I would like Disco Duck and The Hokey Pokey.