IMHO there's no disrespect shown either to the dead or their friends and relations in writing a song satirising the way in which the remains were disposed of. So SharonA, stop worrying. I get the distinct impression that some of the negative comments above are coming from individuals with one eye situated in the middle of their foreheads. The dead certainly won't care and the others would do well to direct their anger against the system that allowed it to happen, not commentators on the event itself.

Another thought that occurs to me is that the practice of writing both humorous and tragic songs about human disasters has a long and honourable history. Just off the top of my head, "Wreck of the Old '97", "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" and "The Reuben James" all deal with human tragedies of one sort or another. Not to mention Tom Paxton's recent take on 9/11. I went definitiely wobbly around the top lip when I first heard that one - should Paxton have considered the possible effect on my feelings (or those of the firefighter's families) when he sat down to write it? No way...

And let's not get too vituperative about the poor (literally) person at the heart of this event. Dealing day in and day out with dead bodies and human grief must give you a heavy weight to carry. Most crematorium and undertaker's staff become at least a little desensitised over time: it's the same defence mechanism that drives the medics' and nurses' black humour. A coping strategy, not inherently evil. This guy has taken disrespect for the dead further than most people would consider acceptable, but it is in the same line. And if, as posts above have suggested, he would have to have been brought up from an early age to think that way, is he really so bad?