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Songs for your fune...
 

Songs for your funeral

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"If you're happy and you know it clap your hands", catch a few people out.


 
Posted : 09/06/2026 7:54 pm
garage-dweller, burntembers, sillyoldman and 1 people reacted
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I think I would prefer to have a memorial event after a small funeral.

I’m quite morbid and have chosen songs that I want played at mine, that mean something to me.  I won’t be there to see it - but I hope it would be a captive audience and people wouldn’t leave before the end.

I won’t bore you all - but the same as lesgrandepotato a huge The Stone Roses fan and I Am the Resurrection is one of them on my list and yes it will be the proper full length version.

 


 
Posted : 09/06/2026 7:56 pm
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The Internationale

Between the Wars-Billy Bragg

I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight-Richard and Linda Thompson,Studio version please.


 
Posted : 09/06/2026 9:21 pm
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Just remembered one for when everyone is leaving the service


 
Posted : 09/06/2026 9:35 pm
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Posted : 09/06/2026 9:40 pm
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Every funeral and cremation I've been to, you never get the full song or songs...


 
Posted : 09/06/2026 9:46 pm
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Opening City by Fred Myrow.

 

Starts off quiet and a bit enthusiastic, before becoming quite disjointed and ruckus in the middle before quieting down and sounding melancholic at the end.

Could describe life really. 

Anyone interested its the opening music to Soylent Green. Get buried and you basically become somethings dinner.


 
Posted : 09/06/2026 9:53 pm
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Posted by: DickBarton

Every funeral and cremation I've been to, you never get the full song or songs...

 

depends who sets it up but 3 mins at a funeral is a long time for sure

 


 
Posted : 09/06/2026 10:17 pm
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Posted : 09/06/2026 10:23 pm
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Little Feat - Voices on the Wind


 
Posted : 09/06/2026 10:25 pm
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Nick Drake - Riverman.


 
Posted : 09/06/2026 11:11 pm
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Posted by: tjagain

I want disco Inferno - "burn baby burn"

I think that would be best at a burial rather than a cremation ... just to confuse people.


 
Posted : 09/06/2026 11:36 pm
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Posted by: tjagain

Posted by: DickBarton

Every funeral and cremation I've been to, you never get the full song or songs...

 

depends who sets it up but 3 mins at a funeral is a long time for sure

 

Hence my choice of Vexations... maybe not the whole thing. Something like this:

https://www.youtube.com/live/cPqIULsfOAU?si=6Lmfn9Cm3Zgeg3v1

 

 


 
Posted : 09/06/2026 11:56 pm
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I put it in my will that they're to play Eulogy by Frank Turner, Do You Realise by the Flaming Lips (appropriate and uplifting) and Hope For An Angel by Biffy Clyro- because they're probably my favourite band, and it's a quiet, beautiful and somewhat appropriate song, and also it has a gigantic EXPLOSION OF LOUDNESS one minute and 20 seconds in that I hope will make people shit their pants. 


 
Posted : 10/06/2026 12:07 am
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This has got to be the ultimate in narcissism.You will be dead at your funeral.Why on earth would you care.


 
Posted : 10/06/2026 12:14 am
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Posted by: scammell

Helvegen by Wardruna

Nice choice, although I’d prefer Kvitravn myself. I’d certainly have ‘Prayer in Open ‘D’, by Emmylou Harris, though, it’s a song about loss, regret and mistakes made, and absolutely beautiful.

I hadn’t given any thought to something in addition to Emmylou’s song, but Kvitravn would be ideal - I consider the raven to be a sort of totem bird for me.


 
Posted : 10/06/2026 4:09 am
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Posted by: monkeycmonkeydo

This has got to be the ultimate in narcissism.You will be dead at your funeral.Why on earth would you care.

Full of yourself, aren’t you. Why the heck do you care what others want at their funeral? It’s none of your sodding business, and I can’t imagine anyone who knows you wanting you anywhere near their funeral, with that self-righteous attitude. 🙄🖕🏼

Just to make it absolutely clear, it’s for the friends and family who are gathered, since you fail to understand that simple concept. Jackass.


 
Posted : 10/06/2026 4:17 am
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To Live is To Fly. Townes Van Zandt

 


 
Posted : 10/06/2026 6:19 am
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Predictable I know but closing with Monty Python - Always look on the bright side of life.

I want people to leave my funeral with a smile on their face. 


 
Posted : 10/06/2026 6:29 am
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Posted by: CountZero

Posted by: monkeycmonkeydo

This has got to be the ultimate in narcissism.You will be dead at your funeral.Why on earth would you care.

Full of yourself, aren’t you. Why the heck do you care what others want at their funeral? It’s none of your sodding business, and I can’t imagine anyone who knows you wanting you anywhere near their funeral, with that self-righteous attitude. 🙄🖕🏼

Just to make it absolutely clear, it’s for the friends and family who are gathered, since you fail to understand that simple concept. Jackass.

Calm down dear, its only an opinion. And it certainly wasn't personal unlike your little rant.

 

 

 


 
Posted : 10/06/2026 6:43 am
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Killing Joke's Requiem


 
Posted : 10/06/2026 6:45 am
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Smog - Dress Sexy At My Funeral.


 
Posted : 10/06/2026 7:54 am
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Have you ever seen the rain - CCR

 


 
Posted : 10/06/2026 8:07 am
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Posted by: monkeycmonkeydo

This has got to be the ultimate in narcissism.You will be dead at your funeral.Why on earth would you care.

1) its clearly at least in part a humorous thread
2) If you do not specify what you want at your funeral and how you want it run then those left behind have to make the decisions which is very hard to do

 


 
Posted : 10/06/2026 8:08 am
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1) its clearly at least in part a humorous thread

 

Yep.

 

2) If you do not specify what you want at your funeral and how you want it run then those left behind have to make the decisions which is very hard to do

 

Which is why we sent most of Friday morning listening to Matt Monro songs.


 
Posted : 10/06/2026 8:41 am
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Posted by: MoreCashThanDash

Should I stay or should I go by The Clash

If I chose that my family would probably play the flip side, 'straight to hell' instead!


 
Posted : 10/06/2026 9:07 am
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An Ending (ascent) by Eno and Once in a Lifetime, talking heads and Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space (track1) by Spiritualized. I think.

Edit. Sod it, just the whole of Ladies and Gentlemen.....

These things can have  quite an impact - A friend died way to young, and at his funeral the playlist included And Dream of Sheep by Kate Bush - it's now firmly associated with him, and is a powerful and positive emotional trigger for me.


 
Posted : 10/06/2026 9:26 am
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My mum had "Time to say goodbye" by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman which really delivered an emotional punch.


 
Posted : 10/06/2026 9:39 am
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"Nick Drake - Riverman."

Not a dry eye in the house during that.  Great choice.


 
Posted : 10/06/2026 12:58 pm
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Ah yeah the 'make everyoen cry' song.

At mine thats going to be Last Leviathan. With a collection tin for save the whales


 
Posted : 10/06/2026 1:12 pm
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Because I've thought about this and tried to come up with such songs, and its difficult because what I like might grate or be lost at MY funeral. So...

Whenever I hear it, I think Chemical Brothers - One Too Many Mornings would be a solid, pensive number to get people tearing up to images of ME ME ME through life. And to finish, Black Lace -  Superman. Preferably accompanied by the video of ME (narcissist much?) teaching my ~4yo daughter the moves while my phone was connected to a Bluetooth lightbulb speaker in B&Q. 

Beyond that, they can please themselves.


 
Posted : 10/06/2026 1:30 pm
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this thread has reminded me of an episode of Alma's not normal, where as the coffin went into the furnace, they played springsteens 'I'm on fire' 

 

I'd probably opt for Type O Negative - everyone I love is dead, or everything dies.. other than that I have no idea.

I'd have a requests for the afterparty though, just a collection songs that others remind them of me, or formed part of memories that I was in. 


 
Posted : 10/06/2026 1:50 pm
 jwh
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I want to be a tree - William Shatner

Or Firework by Katy Perry ... but only if i get to be cremated and put in a firework 

 

 


 
Posted : 10/06/2026 2:50 pm
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I think as everyone is arriving I'd like 'Mirrorball' by Elbow playing because it's just a lovely song.

When the curtains are closing, and I have made as many friends and family aware of this as I don't intend going any time soon, it has got to be 'So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye' from The Sound of Music.

At Mum's funeral the exit music was 'The Gay Gordons', which put a smile on peoples faces as she and Dad did a bit of country dancing when they were both much younger, and at Dad's it was 'The Coronation Scot' as he loved his trains.

I don't think funerals should be sad occasions, I think they should be happy, celebrating the person's life, not their death, so something that will get folks laughing and smiling should always be a part of the show.


 
Posted : 10/06/2026 3:22 pm
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Funerals are normally happy occasions unless Count zero attends!Weddings on the other hand.


 
Posted : 10/06/2026 5:35 pm
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Funerals imo should be both.  People need to greive and they give a focus for that. 

 

Mrs TJs celebration of her life I told her story and made folk cry but I also got some laughs.  Both were deliberately done


 
Posted : 10/06/2026 5:54 pm
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My uncle had Combine Harvester by the wurzels, my grandad had Frank Sinatra. 

 

No idea, for myself, maybe John B, up all night. 


 
Posted : 10/06/2026 7:32 pm
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The Bare Necessities from The Jungle Book.

Look for the bare necessities, the simple bare necessitiesForget about your worries and your strife...

 


 
Posted : 10/06/2026 8:08 pm
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I'm a bit of an Iron Maiden fan. So there's a few to go at, inc. 

- the evil that men do

- Holy Smoke (if its a church  and/or crem gig.

-  I've Got the Fire (cover of the Montrose song) if its a cremation

- die with your boots on.

- no prayer for the dieing

- only the good die young (apt if I'm really old a crinkly at the time !)

And plenty more. 

 

If it's a burial, Status Quo's "Down Down" when they lower the box into the ground. 

 

And a +1 for the OP's choice of Good Riddance by Green Day. I always think that'd be a great one to make those who know it's title have a giggle, and those who don't just think it's 'time of your life'

 


 
Posted : 10/06/2026 10:10 pm
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A pal had Belfast by Orbital. The full version - just over 8 minutes of reflection for the rest of us

 

Dad had "You're my best friend" at his -- not that he got to choose it but it worked ok for the family, and that is all that matters


 
Posted : 10/06/2026 10:13 pm
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Funerals imo should be both. People need to greive and they give a focus for that. 

Mrs TJs celebration of her life I told her story and made folk cry but I also got some laughs. Both were deliberately done

Couldn't agree more.  When I spoke at my mum's I kept the tone deliberately light hearted while capturing what I saw as the essence of mum or at least how I remember it.  

The sensible answer to this is whatever Mrs Dweller and the (not so) mini dwellers want but since Mrs and one of them will want some kind of nauseating lightweight pop-rock and the younger one will want some kind of Nordic doom metal I think it's sensible that I help them navigate a middle ground.  

I think entry of the coffin to: 

For whom the bell tolls by Metallica (cool bass intro) or

A tout le monde by Megadeth (I like the sentiment)

Cremation = Burn by the Cure

Burial = Buried Alive by Black Sabbath 😬

Waiting around music, Orion by Metallica

Or if they just take me out of the car boot and chuck me in a wheelie bin (think Mathis in Quantum of Solace) then they should drive away to Suppose you gave a funeral and nobody came by Carter USM.

 

 


 
Posted : 10/06/2026 10:58 pm
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I've only been part of one funeral, for my Dad two years ago - cremation, three songs, intro was partial (Knights in White Satin), middle was full (Memories Maroon 5 - chosen by my SEN son who had a huge emotional bond with my Dad and i still can't hear that song without welling up), outro (In My Life) also partial, kind of a cadence really.

If that's the accepted format, i'd like I Think I’ll Call It Morning  by Gil as my middle, if they play the whole thing, partly for the morning/mourning pun, mostly because it's beautiful. The others i'd like to leave for others to remind me by, ultimately it's for them really.

For my Mum, when it comes, i'm hoping i can convince my brothers to have All Things Must Pass by Georgie for the middle part. I want to read Sunlight on the Garden by Louis MacNeice if i can do so without crumbling.


 
Posted : 11/06/2026 4:11 am
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Wreckless Eric - Final Taxi


 
Posted : 11/06/2026 6:55 am
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Surface to Air - Chemical Brothers


 
Posted : 11/06/2026 7:28 am
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I went to a cremation of one of my colleagues, Highway to Hell by AC/DC as he went into the flames, we all had a wee chuckle.


 
Posted : 11/06/2026 1:41 pm
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