What song do you want at your funeral?

[jamestl2]

What music would you want to represent your life and how you exit the world?
What kind of mood set do you want at your funeral?
How do you want to be remembered?
When you pass away, what type of music do you want played during the services? etc.

I would probably want either
“The Funeral Theme” from Star Wars or
Mercy Street by Peter Gabriel

Yours?

[Michelle]

Something to do with joy, love and light like this:

As with rosy steps the morn

Isn't that one of the most glorious things you have ever heard?

[AidanMatthews216]

The second movement of Beethoven's seventh, or "Paint It Black" by the Rolling Stones.

[LillyoftheValley]

Two months ago, on my father's funeral, a mass of people went so emotional we all felt very connected.
Despite our customs here, my whole family agreed we want a tambura - band to play for our father. He never liked those funeral orchestra. And tambura is our native instrument.
So the band played slowly an old song called "Tank You", which made everyone cry. All the way to his grave they played a beautiful old melody from our folklore.
At the grave, when they were putting his casket down, they slowly sang
"Slowly My Father Left,
He left on the path that meanders,
Some old songs accompanied him,
All the way to the river of Sorrow"

Well I belive there's no river of Sorrows, but boy did that song get me!
When you look at it closely, you see that the funeral is actually for us who stay behind. So the songs are actually for us, too. When they played something that really happened, it was easier to let it be. At least at that moment.

[Akashic_Librarian]

All My Best Friends Are Metalheads - Less Than Jake.

Yeah I know...a bit odd for a funeral but the lyrics are amazing:

This is a fair request, and I promise I will not judge any person only as a teenager.
You will constantly remind yourself that some of my generation judges people by their race,
their belief, or the color of their skin, and that this is no more right
than saying all teenagers are drunken dope-addicts or glue-sniffers.
You think its strange, that there's a way
of how you looked, and how you act, and how you think
pretend they're not the same as you.

You think its strange, that there's a way
of how you looked, and how you act, and how you think
pretend they're not the same as you.

Do you know about her strength in convictions
or how she puts all her faith in religion.
Did we take the time to really discover,
how little we know about each other.

Keep us from saying anything.
Can't separate from everything.
And all this really means is
you're one in a crowd
and you're paranoid of every sound.
You're not the friend
you won't miss anyhow.

You think its strange, that there's a way
of how you looked, and how you act, and how you think
pretend they're not the same as you.

Do you know about her strength in convictions
or how she puts all her faith in religion.
Did we take the time to really discover,
how little we know about each other.

Keep us from saying anything.
Can't separate from everything.
And all this really means is
you're one in a crowd
and you're paranoid of every sound.
Keep us from saying anything.
Can't separate from everything.
And all this really means is
you're one in a crowd
and you're paranoid of every sound.
You're not the friend
you won't miss anyhow.

[Intralude]

Do you know about her strength in convictions
or how she puts all her faith in religion.
Did ya take the time to really discover,
how little we know about each other.

Keep us from saying anything.
Can't separate from everything.
And all this really means is
you're one in a crowd
and you're paranoid of every sound.
Keep us from saying anything.
Can't separate from everything.
And all this really means is
you're one in a crowd
and you're paranoid of every sound.
Paranoid of every sound.
Paranoid of every sound.

[Old Soul]

I wrote a poem for my family and friends to be shared or read at my funeral
(strange?) lol, I just thought we all do such a good job of supporting one another each waking day , why not write a poem of support and comfort at physcial death too... here goes


"Today's Tomorrow"

Think of me not in death my loves
With a forgot and silent dream
Under the stone engraved statue
Empty of face and smile
Frustrated by the life born
to the delicate Butterfly
Grieve for me not as a sky
Cast heavy in overshadow
only to rain in torrents
threatening the tiny kept sparrow
Listen for me not as an echo
upon a foreign shore
With the desperation of the waves
Groping new places to explore
Fear not the sleep
With a mind heavy and overought
is if my life was dry, unlived or unsaught
But look to the seeds of grass implanted
And continue to work the soil
And learn of the beauty in blooms
My laborer's of trials
Remember me as a mother Robin
Called to leave her nest
Only after she and her young
have shared of the same warm breast

[Calculusaurus]

Originally Posted by AidanMatthews216

The second movement of Beethoven's seventh...

sweet.

I would do the last movement of Sibelius's 5th because it's easily the most majestic piece of music ever written. If that were played at my funeral, people would think that I was pretty damn important.

[Shamou]

Mine would be, "Eye of the Tiger" ...as I would want the place rockin'


Eye Of The Tiger Lyrics

Risin up
back on the street
did my time took my chances
went the distance now I'm back on my feet
just a man and his will to survive
so many times
it happens too fast
you trade your passion for glory
don't lose your grip on the dreams of the past
you must fight just to keep them alive

It's the eye of the tiger
its the cream of the fight
risin up to the challenge of our rivals
and the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night
and he's watching us all with the eye of the tiger

Face to face
out in the heat
hanging tough
stayin hungry
the stack the odds still we take to the street
for the kill with the skill to survive...

It's the eye of the tiger
its the cream of the fight
risin up to the challenge of our rivals
and the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night
and he's watching us all with the eye of the tiger

Risin up
straight to the top
had the guts got the glory
went the distance now I'm not gonna stop
just a man and his will to survive

It's the eye of the tiger
its the cream of the fight
risin up to the challenge of our rivals
and the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night
and he's watching us all with the eye of the tiger

The eye of the tiger......
The eye of the tiger......
The eye of the tiger......

.

[Matthew Shea]

I want magesty, grandeur and lots of pipe organs, brass and choral music. This is the kind of stuff that really brings out my emotions and makes me feel God's presence in a very strong way and, as my final statement, I'd want to try to transmit those feelings to everyone who dared to show. I suppose I feel that the emotional nature of a funeral could very much open that door and I'd want to take full advantage.

[Tuumble]

My wife said that she wants: 'I'll sleep when I'm dead' which knowing her means she's probably serious!

I considered 'Trail of Lonesome Pine' by Laurel and Hardy as it was the first record I ever owned and 'Atmosphere' by Joy Division which has the line: 'Don't walk away in silence'

I may even try a drum 'n' bass remix of the Funeral March which should get them chuckling.

[madgeylou]

"suzanne" - nina simone's version
"and your bird can sing" - the beatles (version on the anthology 2 disc)
"given to fly" - pearl jam
"break on thru" - the doors

[JackB74]

My Way - Frank Sinatra

[JohnGalt]

Frank Sinatra - I've Got the World on A String

[ming]

I'll be right back
by the Whisful Thinkers.

[Sly Apple Pie]

Muse - Blackout

Don't kid yourself
And don't fool yourself
This love's too good to last
And i'm too old to dream

Don't grow up too fast
And don't embrace the past
This life's too good to last
And i'm too young to care

Don't kid yourself
And don't fool yourself
This life could be the last
And we're too young to see

[maximebellemare]

i'm not going to die.

[The David]

I'm not going to have a funeral. Other people are going to have a funeral. The body that is currently under my supervision may be lying there in a box, but it's got nothing to do with 'me'.

[Akashic_Librarian]

Ohh the David....lighten up haha

[The David]

Originally Posted by Akashic_Librarian

Ohh the David....lighten up haha

I was trying to one-up the previous poster.

[Liara Covert]

This is a great topic. I have asked people to ask people close to them what the surviving people would write in the deceased loved one's obituaries, what they would write as an epitaph, and what they would do to recognize their lives. What was discovered was an intrinsic fear that held them back from asking these questions. The people who imagined being dead were concerned about attracting death (we are what we think & talk about), and actually feared what the other people would say. I sensed an underlying fear in those people who hesitated to ask themselves and otehr people questions. I think they were ultimately afraid thatthese people wouldn't know them well enough to do what they would have wanted. Ironically, they didn't have the courage themselves to discuss their desires.

To be wrapped up in fear if to forget to live and redefine meaning in life.

[Namaste]

I'd have Goran Bregovic and his Wedding and Funeral Band playing - live! Nothing better than larger-than-life, full of soul, emotion and crazyness Balkan orchestra And I'd want people to cry and laugh and drink and dance. And sing along.

Alternatively, I'd die in Varanasi and then it'd be flutes or chants or silence as my ashes are scattered over the Ganges. Yeah.

[silicon toad2000]

sometimes i think it should be chris deburgh - don't pay the ferryman, other days I think ween - push the little daisys
maybe metallica - enter sandman or nothing else matters.

[Gene]

Originally Posted by jamestl2

What music would you want to represent your life and how you exit the world?
What kind of mood set do you want at your funeral?
How do you want to be remembered?
When you pass away, what type of music do you want played during the services?
Yours?

I would want music that would help my family and friends with my transition from this life. I want them to know that they exist in love and it is only a little sadness amid the great joy of being for me and for them.

[Michael Chui]

I don't want a funeral either. My will requests that my friends take hikes to some of my favorite places to spread my ashes. I can only hope that they consider it the gift I mean it to be.

[justfiverules]

Half of me ashes in the Buddhist way over here in J-Land.

The other half (the running legs) spread over a very special hill at Barnett's park in Belfast, N.Ireland.

Belfast City Council.Barnett Demesne.

20 Years ago, I spent many foggy, cold and damp Winter Tuesdays running up this hill to the white house at the top...the killer was that the hill got steeper at the top and there was a park seat invitingly in view...which we could never sit on because we were staggering back to the bottom before our coach would whistle for the next one to begin.

After 10 of those hill reps I would often wish for the earth to open up and swallow me, such was the pain and exhaustion.
I can still see our coach's glowing cigarette in my mind's eye as he 'encouraged' us "to get back down that d%mn hill because you won't get another chance to next week"

As for Music. Just two requests, played in this order:

1) The Brian Kennedy version of "You Raise Me Up" as played at the Soccer Star George Best's funeral:
You Raise Me Up - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2) Followed by a full volume with video(!) of Van Halen's "Right NOW!"

No time like the present.
I suspect I would be dancing in the wings...or is that "with wings" ;-)

[Jes]

Originally Posted by AidanMatthews216

The second movement of Beethoven's seventh, or "Paint It Black" by the Rolling Stones.

My kind of guy.

I haven't given this too much thought yet, but maybe "Opportunity to Cry" by Willie Nelson or "Song for You" by Leon Russell ("I've been so many places in my life and time/I've sung a lot of songs, I've made some bad rhymes").

[Velvet]

Firstly, I either want one o' them green burials. or to be cremated, and I would like my friends to play live music.

Some of the songs I'd like:

"The Morning Fog" by Kate Bush

"Skating Away" by Jethro Tull

"Have You Ever Seen the Rain" by CCR

"Dover Beach" by the Bangles

"People Who Died" by the Jim Carroll Band

"Femme Fatale" by the Velvet Underground

[Scin]

I'm not going to have a funeral. Funerals are sad things.

That said....the only music I'd want to hear (or have heard) at a death ceremony would be the sound of crackling flames.

[Keith]

Wil Anderson, the Aussie standup comic once said (paraphrased):

I'm going to be cremated, not buried. But I don't want a song playing as I go down the conveyor belt, I just want a tape recording of myself going "Help! Help! Let me out! I'm still alive in here!".

[Billy]

Here comes another one by Monty Python