# Your Funeral Song **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 28, 2008, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-funeral-song/465594 "2008-09-28T17:33:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-funeral-song/465594/41 "2008-09-29T03:22:34Z")
Good lord, it’s DONNIE Darko. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-funeral-song/465594/42 "2008-09-29T03:23:18Z")
My family has had instructions for years that I would prefer a viking funeral, and I want a boombox playing on my burning boat, blaring The Kingsmen’s version of **Louie, Louie**. I was inspired by the viking funeral scene in Blake Edward’s **[S.O.B.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083015/)**, a phenomenal film by one of my favorite directors. I was quite struck by the imagery when I saw this back in 1981, and my 15 year old brain seized on it as something that would fit me. The odd thing is, I still want it. 😃 Many people ask me why I chose **Louie, Louie**. As I see it, is the best, most perfect rock song ever written, and much of what has come since then is directly descended from it’s raucous 3 chord repetition. I personally have over 100 different recorded versions of **Louie, Louie** and the Kingsmen’s sloppy but energetic rendition is still my favorite. ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-funeral-song/465594/43 "2008-09-29T03:24:24Z")
I’ve already requested “I’ll Be Mellow When I’m Dead” by “Weird Al” Yankovic… ---
**Author:** ![ThisSpaceForRent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisspaceforrent/32/345_2.png) [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-funeral-song/465594/44 "2008-09-29T03:25:04Z")
> [@picker](#): > > Whipping Post, by the Allman Brothers, followed by Ripple/Brokedown Palace by the Dead. > > Then one hell of a wake, with a live band and jam session. Winner…🙂 (would replace Whipping Post w/ Jessica…ftr) tsfr ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-funeral-song/465594/45 "2008-09-29T03:35:36Z")
[We’ll Meet Again](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gb0mxcpPOU&feature=related) ---
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-funeral-song/465594/46 "2008-09-29T03:49:45Z")
Hells Bells/Teenage Waste Land /I Get By/Hey Jude/ I’m Not Afraid of Life/ Too Tough To Die/ Smoke on the Water/ Under the Bridge/ Seed 2.0/ Tom Sawyer/ Won’t Get Fooled Again/ Lithium/ I Want You (She’s So Heavy)/ Smells Like Teen Spirit/ Lithium/ All Apologies/ Wish You Were Here/ Freebird/ Strawberry Fields Forever/ Imagine/ All You need is Love Is actually my current playlist of songs that I’ve kept in mind to play for the funeral, changing up between happy and sad, and things i like and things I think would fit the mood. And yes, I DO keep a list like this for all the times, cuz you never know when it happens, and it kinda makes me feel better. But I need more chili peppers on there… ---
**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:** [September 29, 2008, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-funeral-song/465594/47 "2008-09-29T03:50:55Z")
“Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” by Green Day. I told my brother, as he is more likely to outlive me. He thought I was being overly sentimental. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-funeral-song/465594/48 "2008-09-29T03:52:46Z")
[Laugh and Be Happy](http://www.televisiontunes.com/Sheriff_John_-_Laugh_and_Be_Happy.html) ---
**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:** [September 29, 2008, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-funeral-song/465594/49 "2008-09-29T05:01:53Z")
[QUOTE=Lucky 13] “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” by Green Day. [/QUOTE] Heh, that’s funny…I actually specifically wrote down in my will that if anyone played _this_ in my honor, I would rise from the grave and attack the living. This or McLachlan’s “I Will Remember You.” ---
**Author:** ![Pollux\_Oil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/858c86/32.png) [@Pollux\_Oil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pollux_Oil)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-funeral-song/465594/50 "2008-09-29T06:25:18Z")
Jimmy Eat World - Hear You Me Or My Sundown. Either one. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-funeral-song/465594/51 "2008-09-29T08:51:41Z")
I don’t know, I’d be torn. I have so much music that I love that I couldn’t just say to use my favorite song cuz I couldn’t pick just one. Something upbeat, to celebrate my life? Something beautiful but haunting? Something that specifically talks about death? Something where the lyrics describe how I want to be remembered? Something where the lyrics impart some kind of lesson I want people to take with them? Maybe they should just plug in my ipod and let my favs playlist throughout the wake 😃 ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-funeral-song/465594/52 "2008-09-29T13:27:51Z")
‘Wayward Wind’, by Neil Young or ‘I’ll Fly Away’, by Allison Kraus ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-funeral-song/465594/53 "2008-09-29T13:50:59Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > I don’t know, \*\* I’d be torn.\*\* … [Bolding Mine] Are you clairvoyant? ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-funeral-song/465594/54 "2008-09-29T13:58:02Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Yackety Sax? > > 😃 I’ll chase scantily clad doper babes around your coffin. ---
**Author:** ![gladtobeblazed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@gladtobeblazed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gladtobeblazed)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-funeral-song/465594/55 "2008-09-29T14:21:27Z")
The sadly beautiful instrumental Whale & Wasp by Alice in Chains. I can’t think of any other song I would rather have played at my funeral. It’s one of the very few songs to ever move me to tears. ☹ You can listen at youtube: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qRbLvtcMk4U/hqdefault.jpg "Alice in Chains - Whale & Wasp (Layne Staley Tribute)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRbLvtcMk4U) ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-funeral-song/465594/56 "2008-09-29T14:45:47Z")
“[Try Not to Breathe](http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Try-Not-To-Breathe-lyrics-R-E-M/A015E3734FFD0C7748256894001F4FEF)” by REM. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-funeral-song/465594/57 "2008-09-29T14:55:35Z")
Blue skies, smiling at me Nothing but blue skies do I see Bluebirds singing a song Nothing but bluebirds all day long Never saw the sun shining so bright Never saw things going so right Noticing the days hurrying by When you’re in love, my how they fly Blue days, all of them gone Nothing but blue skies from now on ---
**Author:** ![Sublata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7cd45c/32.png) [@Sublata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublata)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-funeral-song/465594/58 "2008-09-29T15:00:24Z")
When I was in the sixth grade I told my little friends that I wanted to be buried in a pink-and-purple polka-dotted coffin and “War” (Edwin Starr) to be played at my funeral. Tastes change… These days I don’t expect I’d have much of a funeral at all, since nobody but my family would give a damn about me dying, and I want to be cremated. Theoretically, I’d choose the fifth movement of Brahms’ German Requiem (_Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit_) to be played, but I wouldn’t want to make my family sit through music they don’t like. ---
**Author:** ![Jolly\_Roger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@Jolly\_Roger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jolly_Roger)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-funeral-song/465594/59 "2008-09-29T15:02:00Z")
Solsbury Hill- Peter Gabriel ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-funeral-song/465594/60 "2008-09-29T15:06:49Z")
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