Let's be maudlin for a minute shall we? What would you like played at your funeral? I'm finding it hard to choose, though I have already got my parents to commit to theirs:
Mum - 'In My Life' by The Beatles
Dad - 'Do You Realise' by The Flaming Lips
Anyone else given the subject any thought? I always like 'This Friendly World' as seen in Andy Kaufman's funeral at the end of 'Man on the Moon', gets me every time.
As for me, I'm still not sure. Maybe 'The Man Comes Around' by Johnny Cash, that'd raise a few eyebrows.
whitey
Mar 7 2005, 02:40 PM
Going Underground by The Jam.
Philz
Mar 7 2005, 02:43 PM
When a friend of mine kicked the bucket a few years ago, we went for 'Always look on the bright side of life'.....it was really mad, but summed him up!
For me, Burn baby burn by ash perhaps...but seriously, freefalling by Tom petty
Px
pots
Mar 7 2005, 02:49 PM
thats a really nice choice by your dad.
if that song has touched you in any way read
this from mcsweeneys.
maybe 'don't cry' by the beach boys for me.
Omniscia
Mar 7 2005, 02:52 PM
Depends on the mood I want to strike...
If I want them leaving teary-eyed and depressed, I'd probably go with the Lacrymosa from Mozart's Requiem.
If, on the other hand, I want them leaving on a slightly more upbeat note, I'd go with Trooper's "We're Here for a Good Time, Not a Long Time."
QUOTE (pots @ Mar 7 2005, 02:49 PM)
thats a really nice choice by your dad.
if that song has touched you in any way read
this from mcsweeneys.
That is very touching.
I like the song very much and think the lyrics are beautiful and ideal for an atheist's funeral (like my Dad) in fact I may try and talk him out of it so I can nick it for my own final party.
My favourite line:
"You realise then sun don't go down, it's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round"
I've always found that thought very comforting.
pots
Mar 7 2005, 03:00 PM
QUOTE (Zoe @ Mar 7 2005, 02:54 PM)
"You realise then the sun don't go down, it's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round"
I've always found that thought very comforting.
i just remember hearing ' do you realize, that everyone you know one day will surely die' and being hooked. you don't often get songs that say something like that. it is very comforting.
ella
Mar 7 2005, 03:11 PM
My dad chose "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong- odd choice for his funeral maybe, but that was his outlook on life. It was incredibly moving. I can't hear that song now without weeping.
I think that I would go for another Louis. "We Have All the Time in the World" Or perhaps Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. It is my favourite piece of classical music.
Omniscia
Mar 7 2005, 03:22 PM
QUOTE (ella @ Mar 7 2005, 11:11 AM)
I think that I would go for another Louis. "We Have All the Time in the World" Or perhaps Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. It is my favourite piece of classical music.
Moonlight Sonata is nice, yes. As is "We Have All the Time in the World," but that one's already indellibly linked in my mind with "On Her Majesty's Secret Service." But hey, it's your funeral.
Amazongirl
Mar 7 2005, 03:23 PM
I ahve a few songs in mind but I dunno ifb they would be suitable for being sent of, in marrage or death.
Pacardbels Cannon, the virsion played at the end of Death in Neon Genesis Evangelionm death and rebirth is my favorite version of it.
A bit of Queen and the Beatles would go down well to
Noodles
Mar 7 2005, 03:24 PM
I have an arrangement with a friend. Whichever one of us outlives the other will arrange for "Alive" by Pearl Jam to be played at their funeral.
For some reason the idea of Eddie Vedder screaming "Woahhhoa I'm still alive" as the coffin goes into the furnace tickled us both.
ella
Mar 7 2005, 03:26 PM
QUOTE (Omniscia @ Mar 7 2005, 03:22 PM)
Moonlight Sonata is nice, yes. As is "We Have All the Time in the World," but that one's already indellibly linked in my mind with "On Her Majesty's Secret Service." But hey, it's your funeral.
I think that partly, that is why I think of it as a funeral-worthy song. On Her Majesty's Secret Service makes me cry at the end every time....
WiseJoeyD
Mar 7 2005, 03:27 PM
Oh dear. Um...something with massive hiden subtext (like that Justin Timberlake song which REALLY stands for free homosexual love for everyone) so as my coffins going down the aisle you'll see people slowly cotton on
Aunt Petal:eh?! "pink boys rule"?! Wait a moment....
I'm more owrried about thwta photo they use (more self-loathing than vain here) since I haven't had my picture taken since, well skipping a week ago, since about Form1! So they'll draw a beard on and add glasses or something!
I'll just be hovering, mortified, as the mortician treats my body
Me: ....well it IS cold down there!
the-way
Mar 7 2005, 03:31 PM
QUOTE (WiseJoeyD @ Mar 7 2005, 03:27 PM)
Oh dear. Um...something with massive hiden subtext (like that Justin Timberlake song which REALLY stands for free homosexual love for everyone) so as my coffins going down the aisle you'll see people slowly cotton on
Aunt Petal:eh?! "pink boys rule"?! Wait a moment....
I'm more owrried about thwta photo they use (more self-loathing than vain here) since I haven't had my picture taken since, well skipping a week ago, since about Form1! So they'll draw a beard on and add glasses or something!
I'll just be hovering, mortified, as the mortician treats my body
Me: ....well it IS cold down there!
the-way
Mar 7 2005, 03:35 PM
that was a good start! mucked up my first post!
i think i would like people to hear "oh lovely day" by the edwin hawkins singers
imagine the tears when the big chorus kicks in! lovely!
rebelstar
Mar 7 2005, 03:43 PM
Stone Roses - I Am The Resurrection
PrincessKate
Mar 7 2005, 04:04 PM
Obvious choice 1: Time of your life-Green Day (Although that's now inextricably linked with break-ups now so possibly not)
Obvious choice 2: Days-Kirsty MacColl/The Kinks (Although 'you took my life' is a little harsh I think).
rebelstar
Mar 7 2005, 04:09 PM
QUOTE (PrincessKate @ Mar 7 2005, 04:04 PM)
Obvious choice 1: Time of your life-Green Day
Do you think having a song with 'Good Riddance' in the title is appropriate?
kid_koala
Mar 7 2005, 04:09 PM
come to daddy by aphex twin.

but generally as much glitchy IDM as possible. then lots of funk.
PrincessKate
Mar 7 2005, 04:48 PM
QUOTE (rebelstar @ Mar 7 2005, 04:09 PM)
Do you think having a song with 'Good Riddance' in the title is appropriate?

That's a very good point... I'll have a rethink.
Noodles
Mar 7 2005, 05:00 PM
I'd like to have "Jacques Your Body" by Les Rhythms Digitales as a hymn, if only for the fun of watching a funeral congregation trying to sing it. I'd like to see the lyric sheet for that one as well. Of course, I don't want a church funeral, so that puts an end to that one.
Hail to the king
Mar 7 2005, 05:24 PM
i think johnny cash, burning ring of fire best suits were im going
Celticstar
Mar 7 2005, 05:35 PM
U2 running to stand still
williambuckrogers
Mar 7 2005, 05:45 PM
QUOTE (Philz @ Mar 7 2005, 02:43 PM)
When a friend of mine kicked the bucket a few years ago, we went for 'Always look on the bright side of life'.....it was really mad, but summed him up!
heh...
Jon 79
Mar 7 2005, 06:08 PM
I think I have to choose a bowie song.
After much deliberation.... ok, not much deliberating really.
... After a small quantity of deliberation, I choose 'A New Career in a New Town' from his Low album.
It's actaully a very happy sounding upbeat instumental, but I think it has a sort of tragic tone to it.
tameblue
Mar 7 2005, 06:24 PM
Like this one...too many choices though.
The End - The Doors
Living in a Box - Living in a Box
Down in a Hole - Alice in Chains
Down Down- Status Quo
Getting Better all the Time - The Beatles
Die Die Die my Darling - The Misfits
Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd
And the Monster Mash because I just like it and its my funeral....
Celticstar
Mar 7 2005, 06:45 PM
can i come to your funeral tameblue? i wud totally wet myself when the monster mash comes on!
tameblue
Mar 7 2005, 06:50 PM
QUOTE (Celticstar @ Mar 7 2005, 06:45 PM)
can i come to your funeral tameblue? i wud totally wet myself when the monster mash comes on!
Sure thang...but no black....everyone has to wear stripes and shorts!
maian
Mar 7 2005, 06:59 PM
Hmmm...
If i wanted to be sorta serious i'd go for
''There is a Light that Never goes out''-the Smiths, since it's such a sweet song thats sad but also uplifting (if i'd REALLY want them to cry i'd play 'I Know It's Over')
If i wanted them to have a bit of a laugh i'd choose the decidedly frank ''Ed is Dead'' by the Pixies
Jessopjessopjessop
Mar 7 2005, 07:43 PM
'God Moving Over The Face of the Waters' by Moby.
Think the final scene in Michael Mann's 'Heat'... I'm going out like de Niro baby!
Omniscia
Mar 7 2005, 07:51 PM
Ooo, ooo, I've got it! The perfect funeral song is:
Blue Öyster Cult - Don't Fear the Reaper
iranspaced
Mar 7 2005, 07:53 PM
my track was always going to be 'long forgotten' by oceansize or fade to black by metallica
Intergalactopus
Mar 8 2005, 12:23 AM
Pick any one of these:
Big Country by Béla Fleck and the Flecktones/ Little Wing by Hendrix/ Stomping Grounds by Béla Fleck and the Flecktones/ Shaved Head by Rheostatics/ Shine On You Crazy Diamond by Pink Floyd/ Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd/ Brain Damagae and Eclipse in succession by Pink Floyd/ Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven by Godspeed You Back Emperor!/ I Talk To the Wind by King Crimson/ We Have Heaven by Yes/ I Am Thy Labyrinth by Mayhem.
Just kidding about that last one.
feck off!
Mar 8 2005, 09:44 PM
The decline by NOFX, aerials by System Of A Down or leavin here by the Who
Ingram
Mar 9 2005, 09:16 AM
Metallica - Whiskey in the Jar
From the "Garage Inc." album. Preferred to the Thin Lizzy original, I hope this one will send me off.
ianmak
Mar 9 2005, 09:32 AM
Forever - Dropkick Murphys
Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns - Mother Love Bone (Singles Soundtrack)
SuperSaiyanStoner
Mar 9 2005, 01:04 PM
umm, I actualy dont know!I would just have a cd playing through the whole service!Im not getting burryed anyway so there wouldnt be much funeral, im going to get shot into space!
Starscream`s Ghost
Mar 9 2005, 03:11 PM
Either the Imperial March, or Inna Gadda Davida. (I just want to see how many people would consent to sing Inna Gadda)
Svein
Mar 9 2005, 03:17 PM
These songs in this order...
Queen - Another One Bites the Dust
GNR - Knocking on Heaven's Door
Alice in Chains - Man in the Box
Queen - Who Wants to Live Forever
Queen - Show Must Go On
Bobby McFerrin - Don't Worry (Be Happy)
Monty Python - Bright Side of Life
whitey
Mar 9 2005, 06:33 PM
If I'm being serious I'll take The Porpoise Song by The Monkees. No, seriously.
Ingram
Mar 9 2005, 06:34 PM
QUOTE (whitey @ Mar 9 2005, 06:33 PM)
If I'm being serious I'll take The Porpoise Song by The Monkees. No, seriously.
The Ghostbusters theme surely whitey
Omniscia
Mar 9 2005, 06:59 PM
QUOTE (Svein @ Mar 9 2005, 11:17 AM)
GNR - Knocking on Heaven's Door
Oh, please, not the GNR version! If you want that song, for the love of all that is good and holy, go with Dylan, or at least Clapton... Nobody wants their final moments above ground to be accompanied by some caterwauling eunuch with laryngitis.
Sostie
Mar 9 2005, 07:09 PM
Could go downbeat option and choose Eligia by New Order....or go the opposite way and choose Reach For The Sun by Polyphonic Spree..I think that'd be quite good
Svein
Mar 10 2005, 09:28 AM
QUOTE (Omniscia @ Mar 9 2005, 06:59 PM)
Oh, please, not the GNR version! If you want that song, for the love of all that is good and holy, go with Dylan, or at least Clapton... Nobody wants their final moments above ground to be accompanied by some caterwauling eunuch with laryngitis.
Sorry mate. I am a huge GNR fan and love that version...
MissingPlanet
Mar 10 2005, 11:49 AM
If I'm being serious, I'd ask for Find The River by R.E.M. and if I'm not, I'd go for Everybody Loves You (When You're Dead) by Cop Shoot Cop.
I don't really get traditional funerals. I have only been to one as an adult, and having a box sat at the front of the church with a corpse in it struck be as being a bit sick. The body isn't the person I knew in life. I also think burial is an enormous waste of useful space.
If my remains are to be disposed of, I think I'd like them dropped out of a small plane in a little box with an explosive charge in so my ashes can be scattered to the winds. Then everybody would go and watch The Big Lebowski with an enormous fatty each.
tigerlily
Mar 10 2005, 01:35 PM
Bizarrely, 6 Music mentioned this story just as I was about to post it. Hmmm . . .
Anyhoo, thought this would fit in quite well here. From today's Scotsman online:
QUOTE
Deceased do it their way with music to die for
ITALIANS demand Mozart, Germans want heavy metal and Brits must have Robbie Williams, according to a survey yesterday of the most popular tunes for funeral services across Europe.
The bizarre choices - which also include hits by the rock group Queen and Monty Python’s Always Look on the Bright Side of Life - show a wide range of "music to die for" across nine European countries, including Finland, France and Denmark.
The research suggests Germans favour guitar-led songs by bands such as AC/DC and Metallica to be played at their funeral, while Italians and Spaniards prefer more classical music.
It could mean churches and crematoria across Europe having to update their music collections to reflect a growing trend towards more personalised ceremonies.
More than 45,000 adults across Europe were polled on their choice of funeral tune by digital television channel, Music Choice.
Queen’s The Show Must Go On was voted No 1 funeral song by one in five Europeans, with Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven coming in second and AC/DC’s Highway to Hell third.
Queen’s Who Wants to Live Forever and Metallica’s Nothing Else Matters also featured strongly.
In the UK, Robbie Williams’ Angels came out top, followed by the Frank Sinatra anthem My Way. Among other popular British choices were Bette Midler’s Wind Beneath My Wings as well as Amazing Grace.
The European results were also broken down country by country. Norway’s favourites include Time to Say Goodbye by Andrea Bocelli and Viva Las Vegas by Elvis. The French top five was dominated by French music, while Mozart’s Requiem was the top choice in Italy. Spaniards and Finns prefer Albinoni’s mournful Adagio For Strings.
Rebecca Barrett, of Music Choice, said: "Music can be very personal, indeed it often helps create a sense of identity. Wanting to share your most treasured musical gem with those you’re leaving behind is the perfect way to sign off and leave a lasting impression.
"It is interesting that the French preferred French songs and classical music and didn’t really go for the sort of heavy rock metal that is popular in Germany. There was such a different set of choices between those two countries.
"The choices in the Catholic, Mediterranean countries were also more classically influenced and perhaps a bit more sentimental, with the likes of Let It Be by The Beatles and Imagine by John Lennon. We do tend to go for pop tunes in Britain but that just reflects our national taste."
The 20,000 British participants in the poll clung on to their ironic side with nearly one in five of those polled choosing to have Always Look on the Bright Side of Life from the Monty Python film Life of Brian.
Eric Clapton’s Tears in Heaven was No 1 for funerals in Sweden, while There is a Light That Never Goes Out by The Smiths came in at No 3. In Denmark, local talent Kim Larsen topped the bill with Om Lidt Bli’r Her Stille the most requested funeral music.
Dominic Maguire, a Glasgow funeral director and a spokesman for the National Association of Funeral Directors, said: "Seventy per cent of funerals now involve cremations, while only 25 per cent involve a church service.
"Obviously, with the trend towards more secular ceremonies, funeral directors are increasingly being asked to include exotic choices of music. Hymns such as Abide With Me and the Frank Sinatra song My Way are obvious choices.
"There is anecdotal evidence that people are even choosing rock tunes. A funeral director in Glasgow was recently handed a CD of Queen’s greatest hits and asked to play Bohemian Rhapsody, although there was the risk that another track on the same CD, Another One Bites the Dust, was played instead."
Dr Tony Walter, a sociologist at the University of Reading and an expert on funerals, said: "There is a huge difference between what people would like to have played at their funeral and what actually gets played. I would imagine family members having something to say about some of the more unusual requests on this list.
"I’m not surprised that the British went for songs where the words had a clear and simple meaning.
"There is an enormous variety in the way different countries approach funerals and the notion of grief and remembrance, and this survey reflects social attitudes to acceptable choices. It would be hard for the average Italian to consider AC/DC at a funeral - they are more likely to have a traditional church service in mind."
He added that across Scandinavia, with the exception of Finland, cremations are the norm rather than burial, suggesting perhaps that people in Denmark, Sweden and Norway feel more able to choose pop or rock tracks.
"I would imagine the choices in Scotland are more conservative because of the stronger religious influence on the funeral ceremony," Dr Walter said.
"So many people these days are going for non-religious funerals, and music is the way they can stamp their identity on the ceremony. It stands to reason that people have already thought about what they would like to have played at their funeral because everyone has a strong idea of how they would like to be remembered.
"In many ways, Robbie Williams and Frank Sinatra are quite naff choices, but My Way is such an anthem about individuality and that is exactly what people are trying to create by choosing non-conventional music. So I suppose it is to be expected.
"Many crematoria are run by local authorities and sometimes asking for something a bit different is the only way of making the event seem less municipal. And there’s nothing more miserable than choosing hymns and then having only a few people singing along."
Starscream`s Ghost
Mar 10 2005, 02:46 PM
If I was going to have My Way at my funeral *shudder* then I`d have the Sid Vicious version, not the Sinatra, personally.
Mind you, I want some real depressing music at my funeral. None of this "happy occasion" bollocks. It`s a funeral, they`re meant to be sombre, depressing affairs. I want everyone to miss me, dammit!!
Svein
Mar 10 2005, 02:49 PM
Nah... the eulogy will take care of that...
"Svein's dead... WE'LL NEVER SEEN HIM AGAIN.... EVER... EVER EVER..."
Svein
Mar 10 2005, 03:16 PM
According to the
BBC Robbie Williams' "Angels" tops the list!
kateykinz
Mar 10 2005, 03:28 PM
U2 - Running to Stand Still
EBTG - Mirrorball
Portishead - Roads
REM - It's the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine)
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