Death songs

Subject: Death songs
From: gnu
Date: 19 Oct 09 - 06:01 PM

Barry Finn's obit... I immediately went to You tube and listened to this.

Parting Glass?... others... solace?... some reason?... what share you?

Subject: RE: Death songs
From: Mrrzy
Date: 19 Oct 09 - 06:06 PM

Taps and The Last Post (which last I only hear referred to)...

That song by Eric Bogle about Willie McBride, aged 19, lying in the Green Fields of France after WWI.

The song about Gallipolli that the Clancy Brothers do, And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda. Actually I know about Willie McBride from the CBros too.

But at my memorial service I also would like to hear Isn't It Grand Boys, to be bloody well dead...

Subject: RE: Death songs
From: Joe_F
Date: 19 Oct 09 - 06:15 PM

Vita nostra brevis est,
Brevi finietur.
Venit mors velociter,
Rapit nos atrociter,
Nemini parcetur.

-- Gaudeamus (old student drinking song)

(Our life is short and will be finished shortly. Death comes quickly, seizes us cruelly, spares no one.)

Subject: RE: Death songs
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 19 Oct 09 - 06:33 PM

Some will cite "McPherson's Last Farewell," others will favor "Rosin The Beau." Theirs is the group that favors the sentiment that goes, "I feel that old tyrant approaching,
      That cruel, remorseless old foe,
      And I lift up my glass in his honor -
      Take a drink with old Rosin The Beau!"

There is an element of me in that, but I would rather dwell on the beautiful things life has offered me and the loved ones who populated it along the way - the memories of a full life, lived as well as I could. Trite or treacly, and un-folk as it may seem to some, I always liked the Louis Armstrong tune, "What a Wonderful World." It looks back on life and forward to lives to come.

Subject: RE: Death songs
From: bfdk
Date: 19 Oct 09 - 06:41 PM

Eric Bogle's Soaring Free, lyrics here.

Subject: RE: Death songs
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 19 Oct 09 - 06:42 PM

Dave Webber's Parting song , written for John Purdy.

Kitty

Subject: RE: Death songs
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 19 Oct 09 - 06:52 PM

the one they sang as they faced death in India I believe...

here's to the next one to die...mg

Subject: RE: Death songs
From: Deckman
Date: 19 Oct 09 - 07:18 PM

Evelyn Beers ... "Bring My Savior To Me". bob

Subject: RE: Death songs
From: Bobert
Date: 19 Oct 09 - 07:32 PM

Old hymm, "I'll Fly Away"...

Subject: RE: Death songs
From: bfdk
Date: 19 Oct 09 - 07:39 PM

You mean this one? As sung by Johnny Silvo

Subject: RE: Death songs
From: ranger1
Date: 19 Oct 09 - 07:41 PM

When I Go by Dave Carter.

Subject: RE: Death songs
From: Genie
Date: 19 Oct 09 - 07:50 PM

Ashes On the Sea (Utah Phillips)


Some older, related threads, posts:

Funeral Tunes, songs that heal


Going Up Home to Live In Green Pastures

People looking for song suggestions for memorial service or funeral:

here
and
here.

Subject: RE: Death songs
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 19 Oct 09 - 07:59 PM

MacColl's 'Joy of Living' says it all.
Jim Carroll

Joy Of Living
by Ewan MacColl

Farewell you northern hills, you mountains all goodbye
Moorlands and stony ridges, crags and peaks goodbye
Glyder Fach farewell, cold big Scafell, cloud bearing Suilven
Sun warmed rocks and the cold of Bleaklow's frozen sea
The snow and the wind and the rain of hills and mountains
Days in the sun and the tempered wind and the air like wine
And you drink and you drink till you're drunk on the joy of living

Farewell to you my love, my time is almost done
Lie in my arms once more until the darkness comes
You filled all my days, held the night at bay, dearest companion
Years pass by and they're gone with the speed of birds in flight
Our lives like the verse of a song heard in the mountains
Give me your hand and love and join your voice with mine
And we'll sing of the hurt and the pain and the joy of living

Farewell to you my chicks, soon you must fly alone
Flesh of my flesh, my future life, bone of my bone
May your wings be strong, may your days be long, safe be your journey
Each of you bears inside of you the gift of love
May it bring you light and warmth and the pleasure of giving
Eagerly savour each new day and the taste of its mouth
Never lose sight of the thrill and the joy of living

Take me to some high place of heather, rock and ling
Scatter my dust and ashes, feed me to the wind
So that I may be part of all you see, the air you are breathing
I'll be part of the curlew's cry and the soaring hawk
The blue milkwort and the sundew hung with diamonds
I'll be riding the gentle breeze as it blows through your hair
Reminding you how we shared in the joy of living

Subject: RE: Death songs
From: Genie
Date: 19 Oct 09 - 08:08 PM

This thread has links to about a dozen other related threads too: What song do you want at your funeral?

And here's one more: Music and Poems for a Funeral



Has anyone suggested Rick Fielding's song "When We Gather Once More?" It's a good one (and also one one of the Mudcat Blue Plate Special CDs).

Subject: RE: Death songs
From: Genie
Date: 19 Oct 09 - 08:25 PM

Here Barry suggested a couple songs for a wake/funeral party for someone else. One was
Flowers Of the Forest

Subject: RE: Death songs
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 19 Oct 09 - 08:25 PM

The Worms Crawl In

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Geee I like to think of death, to remind myself there's not much left

Subject: RE: Death songs
From: Beer
Date: 19 Oct 09 - 10:29 PM

I don't think this is a death song but one that is beautiful to listen to. At funerals as well.
Adrien

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ee9UleYSd0g

Subject: RE: Death songs
From: Effsee
Date: 19 Oct 09 - 11:26 PM

"What's the life of a man any more than a leaf"...

Subject: RE: Death songs
From: Janie
Date: 19 Oct 09 - 11:27 PM

May sound strange, but I think "I Shall Be Released" is one I wouldn't mind having sung at my wake.

"I Can Hear the Sweet Wind Blowing" is one I love. Such a simple and gentle leave-taking.

And lastly (and yes, I know all of these may be weird choices to many...

WHAT YOU GIVE ME
( Laura G. Lindgren)

To Walk in your forest, To graze in your pastures, To fly in your
   starry black night
Such is the garden, Such the devotion
Such is the fountain of love in my heart

To flow in your river, To gaze at your colours, To sway in your
    treetops so high
Such is the garden, Such the devotion
Such is the fountain of love in my heart refrain

1st bridge
What you give me is a doorway to God, let us bathe in the Now
Never grasping at the days ahead
Just a patience of the heart in the pastures of truth
And love, trembling love.

To let out your kite string, to feel your dark ocean, to play in the
    breakers at dawn
Such is the garden, Such the devotion
Such is the fountain of love in my heart


To shatter on your hard floor, to dance in your cobwebs, to sing the
    song of our death
Such is the garden, Such the devotion
Such is the fountain of love in my heart

2nd bridge
You are teaching me songs that I never dreamed of.
Opening worlds that I never hoped for
I'm breathing my breath, I'm dying my death
Sing that the world doesn't end.

To read your sad story, to bask in your glory, to sit in the presence
    of God
Such is the garden, Such the devotion
Such is the fountain of love in my heart

To know beyond knowing in the patience of being
beyond thought, beyond wanting to know
Such is the garden, Such the devotion
Such is the fountain of love in my heart

Subject: RE: Death songs
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Oct 09 - 11:34 PM

Every Grain of Sand.
Adrien

Subject: RE: Death songs
From: iancarterb
Date: 21 Oct 09 - 12:34 AM

http://digital.lib.msu.edu/collections/index.cfm?action=view&TitleID=610&Format=jpg&PageNum=122
This is All Is Well from the Sacred Harp. We've sung it at bedsides and at funerals.
Carter B

Subject: RE: Death songs
From: Joe_F
Date: 21 Oct 09 - 05:04 PM

Abide with Me