Funeral songs
 

I was just randomly thinking about how I would want my funeral to go and I got to talking to some friends about what we would like to be played at our funerals. I was debating with myself on where to post this but I think its more of a general topic so its here.

Everything seems to fall into one of three catagories. There are the somber songs that would probably make your little sister cry.
example: Modest Mouse - Lives.

Then there are the offensive songs that would show your good humor about death and get your corpse (or ashes or whatever) a few odd looks from distant reletives.
example: ACDC - highway to hell

Lastly there are the just plain weird songs of the sort that Andy Koffman or Salvador Dali would probably have liked played at their funerals. Personally I like these the best as (imho) they would reflect well on the personality of the dead and would put a smile on peoples' faces and help them move on.
(bad)example: Moldy Peaches - Who's got the crack?

So what do you think? What songs or spoken word (William S. Burroughs anyone?) would you like played at your funeral?

Inna Gadda Da Vida on a huge cathedral's organ.

Personally, I want my funeral to be more of a party, and there needs to be a wry sense of humor, sortof a last bit of irony to my life.

Funny, the first thing that I thought of when I thought of when I read the title of this thread were having the songs "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" followed by "Sit on my Face" by Monty Python. Just because I have an odd sense of humor like that, and that's how I'd want to be remembered. As twisted as that sounds. :)

First thing that came to my mind was the funeral song they played for Blue in Old School. "Blue, you're my boy!"

Nice Simpsons referance.

Black Sabbath - Electric Funeral
Five Pointe O - The Infinity
Coal Chamber - My Mercy

O_o

I'd like Amazing Grace to be played by a group of bagpipers. Played poorly. Really really god-awful off-key badly.

And have a bunch of kids run by with paintball guns halfway through the song & shoot all the bagpipers.

I hate that song.

Either that or have a collection of Weird Al's polka music.

I'd like to have people play the song I played at my brother's funeral: "It's Summertime" by the Flaming Lips

It's summertime
And I can understand if you still feel sad
It's summertime
And though it's hard to see its true possibilities
When you look inside, all you'll see
When you look inside, all you'll see
Is a self reflected inner sadness
Look outside
I know that you'll recognize
It's summertime

Beautiful song about living after grief.

Just a thought. You could play the traditional wedding march - It's originally a funeral march from an opera. I didn't even use it in my wedding - used Trumpet Volunteer. I can't remember the opera name that it came from. Maybe someone can help me out here. Anyone know the name of the opera? I just gotta laugh that no one seems to know that this song started out in such a somber use.

The two traditional wedding marches are "Here comes the Bride" (Not the real title) from act III of "Lohengrin" by Richard Wagner; the other is from the Incidental music for "A Midsummers night Dream" by Felix Mendelsshon; in context, niether of the pieces are explicitly used for a funeral, but "Lohengrin" gets pretty grim later on.

"Born to be Wild" by Stephenwolf

Johnny Cash!!! I would say all of his songs... but there are a lot of those. So I'll say just his gosple a drunkards prayer

You could always go the Big Chill route with You Can't Always Get What You Want - that seemed to work pretty well.

Elton's "Funeral for a Friend" is pretty cool

Kevin Gilbert's "Song for A Dead Friend"

...but I'm with the party" vibe on this. I wouldn't want mine to be a somber event. Maybe start it out that way, let people get that out and get it out of the way, then... celebrate, dammit.

random note: a friend used "Highway to Hell" in his wedding - it was the first song played after they exchanged vows. Pretty damned funny...




Danny my friend
I think you knew me better than I ever knew you
Cause you read every chapter
And I just glossed right over them and pretended I knew
But I believed in you
I loved you for your brilliance
and your way of making everything absurd
And I relied on you to make me see
the foolishness of paragraphs that were better as one word

What could I have told you to make you think again
We draw the same conclusions but we choose a different end

When you tear it down it only looks more ragged
And when you build it up it only looks more fake
So why not let it be at least until tomorrow
And then you just might see your sad mistake
Cause life has more to give that what you take

Danny my friend
Forgive me if I break our rule but I think it's overdue
I really cared about you
I didn't think that I could love a friend
as much as I loved you
And we were always friends
We were Captain Jim and Billy
the Super-human Crime-avenging twins
Oh, I'm gonna miss you
And I truly am alone now
because there's no one to congratulate my sins

I wish I could have been for you a more consistent friend
The chapters that I skipped I'm going to have to read again

But when I tear it down it only looks more ragged
And when I build it up it only looks more fake
But I can't let it be because part of me died with you
And there's lots of pages missing from my book
You had more to give than what I took.

I wouldnt want any of my relatives/friends/or whatever to sit through a funeral.
I just want to get cremated, and stuck in the earth as quick as possible.

Oh and this made me laugh;

I was at a funeral for a fairly big Elvis fan. Elvis was piped through the sound system of the funeral home for the wake. However, we aren't talking about his gospel songs, we're talking about his greatest hits. It's odd to be looking at a corpse and hearing "Viva Las Vegas" in the background.

Even worse when you find yourself singing along.

That scares me more than death does.


Man,that inspires


I have always thought that my death song "so to speak" should be along the path of humor.


It's a long way to the top.


"They tell me"

Eulegy- Tool

And it ain't no use in turning on your light babe
the light I never knowed
and it ain't no use in turning on your light babe
I'm on the dark side of the road
Well I wish there was something you would do or say
to try and make me change my mind and stay
we never did too much talking anyway
But don't think twice, it's all right

-- Bob Dylan, Don't Think Twice

"mote" by Sonic Youth

hmmmm, eulogy has already been said... i gotta be original


hmmm

I'd have to say the entire album Broken, by Nine Inch Nails. Its an EP, less than a half hour long.... even better, maybe Fixed

or really anything by Tool. probably third eye.
so many good songs, only one death!

EDIT:
Even better, Aenema. that would be quite... shocking to hear at a funeral.

Among others, Mozart's Requiem, and Grateful Dead's "Uncle John's Band", Steely Dan's "Deacon Blues", and "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life".

Frankenstein -- Edgar Winter Group. On the pipe organ. Fast.

First I'd have them play 'I Shall be Released' by Bob Dylan. Then some somber, but uplifting organ music during the middle part.

At the climax of the funeral, something really powerful and in Latin or French. That sort of churchy music would be real cool.

At the very end, a band would play a really cliche version of "When the Saints go Marching In" with that New Orleans feeling to it. Maybe even that music at the end of all the Warner Bros. cartoons...

Ahh, Dust In The Wind...classic :) Awesome movie too, bought it on DVD.

But someone better play "Nice Day...For A Funeral" by Overkill at my funeral.

That and Alice Cooper :)

I was thinking maybe some Bob dylan my self. D esolation Row or Sad eyed lady of the lowlands . How about Knocking on Heavens Door.

If I go too soon:

"Adam McCarthy" by Ralph Covert

Lit a cigarette and smiled, alone in the kitchen
It's all been more trouble than it's worth for Adam McCarthy
Made a long-distance call, talked for an hour
Dying at 33...Adam McCarthy

And what about growing old, getting drunk, getting mad at your lover?
What about making time for yourself?
What have I done to deserve watching a friend waste away?
And what about waking up, feeling good, acting like you're immortal?
What about having a moment to lose?
And what about having a place in the world?

The doctor says "Hope, hope is the answer."
But he means that he's run out of tricks for Adam McCarthy

So I sat by his bed while he showed me his pictures
The candles, the cake, and the two sunken eyes of Adam McCarthy

And what about growing old, getting drunk, getting mad at your lover?
What about making time for yourself?
What have I done to deserve watching a friend waste away?
And what about waking up, feeling good, acting like you're immortal?
What about having a moment to lose?
And what about having a place in the world?

And I wanted to cry
But I could see he was hungry for laughter
And I wanted to say that I understood
But how can you lie to a friend?

He smiled and said "Do you want to get high?
It's not like it's gonna kill me.
I'm almost as dead as I'll get." said Adam McCarthy

So we stared into space, lost in our own worlds
And I said I'd come back when I could,
but I never did make it

And what about growing old, getting drunk, getting mad at your lover?
What about making time for yourself?
What have I done to deserve watching a friend waste away?
And what about waking up, feeling good, acting like you're immortal?
What about having a moment to lose?
And what about having a place in the world?
What about Adam McCarthy?

Miserere Mei Deus - allegri The most hauntingly beautiful choir music I know

Requiem Aeternam - J. Rutter

Field Commander Cohen - Leonard Cohen

Tribute - Tenacious D

I think that there should be a mix to a funeral. It should be sad. It should be happy, people should experience the range of emotions in My death that they felt in My life...

All I can do is hope I am remembered well...

Perhaps I would go for a full requiem, Mozart, Verdi or Rutter. A pity that I don't want a church funeral. they are such emotive places.

heh. offhand, I don't care what's done with my body. tho personally, I'd like a wake. with... lesse... "Angel" by McLachlan (sp), "Blinded by Rainbows" by the Rolling Stones, and "Hallelujah" by Rufus Wainwright...

It's the least of my concerns. I'll be dead, I won't hear the d*mn song, so who cares what they play..

YEAHHHH THE MOLDY PEACHES!
heh, kimya's cousin is one of my best friends. it makes me feel really hardcore.

and shouldn't this be in tilted music?

a very wise choice. Motion picture soundtrack by Radiohead (Kid A) would be another apt choice.

well at my first funeral (im gonna fake my death) im gonna play Weird Al - I think im a clone now... and after the song ill come back and ask someone "who died?" then the real funeral i dunno... ill have the people have a rave around my ashes in a mayonaise jar or something... something fun atleast...

I want it SAD, dammit. Weeping and gnashing of teeth. At the entrance everyone gets handed a razor blade for self-mutilation. The flowers should stink horribly. The lighting should be just a little too bright. Whatever the music it should be just a little too loud and a little off-key. A drunk organist maybe. Large posters of me with banners saying things like "You should have told me that you loved me when you had the chance" and "I've hidden the gold, you'll never find it" and "Now look what you've done". :)

Time to resurrect this thang.

Id play Rock the Casbah by the Clash. Then after the funeral all my buddies would go set fire to the local movie theatres

I've got my whole playlist planned out :D

Key Song:Last Stop This Town by The Eels

I'd have to go with the "The Song That Never Ends," just to annoy all of my friends and family.

Definetly "The Infinity" by Five Pointe O. Even though they've been broken up for quite some time now they're still one of my favorite bands (not that that would matter at my funeral) and it's one of those songs with a message that I'd like to teach to everyone and they might just heed it because of the occasion.

As Well As:

Too Many Tool songs to mention
and "No Presents For Christmas" by Exhumed so they laugh as they exit.

My funeral is gonna rock.

Grim Reaper - See You in Hell

Oh, lurkette!!! You just stole my heart. They are my favorite band. That song reminds me of my best friend, and father of my daughter. He was killed three years ago. I cry every time I hear it. He loved summer so much. He was friends with Wayne. I've loved them for about 15 years.

Cheers.

:icare:

"Frankenstein," by the Edgar Winter Group. Or "Monster Mash," by Bobby "Boris" Pickett. Either way, I get up out of my coffin at the beginning of the last chorus and do a monster walk down the aisle and out the front door. Yeah...