What song do you want at your funeral?

Subject: Lyr Add: LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF JAKE THACKRAY
From: Morticia
Date: 24 Feb 01 - 03:35 PM

This is a blatant spin-off from the " what song should I know you by thread?". That was too hard for me to answer but funerals were mentioned several times and I have always been clear on what I wanted played on that occasion.

The Last Will and Testament of Jake Thackray

By Jake Thackray

I the undermentioned by this document
Do declare my true intention
My last will, my testament
When I turn up me toes, when I rattle me clack
When I agonise
I want no great, wet weepings, no tearing of hair
No wringing of hands, no sighs, no lack-a-days
No woe is me's,and none of your sad adieus
Go, go, go and get the priest and then
Go get the booze boys

Death where is thy victory?Grave, where is thy sting?
When I snuff it, bury me quickly then let carousal begin
But not a do with a few ham sandwiches,
A sausage roll or two and a small port wine please
Roll the carpet right back get cracking
With your old gay gordons and your knees up,
Shake it up, sup it up, live it up kind of time
And if the coppers come around then tell them
The party's mine, boys

Let best beef be eaten, fill every empty glass
Let no breast be beaten, let no tooth be gnashed
Don't bother with a fancy tombstone, or a big deal angel
Or a little copper flower pot
Grow a dog rose in my eyes or a pussy willow
But no forget me nots, no epitaphs, no keepsakes
You can let me memory slip
You can say a prayer or two for me soul then
But make it quick boys

Lady if your bosom is heaving
Don't waste your bosom on me
Heave it for a man who is breathing, a man who can feel
A man who can see
And to my cronies you can read me books
You can drive around in me motor car
You can fish your trout with my fly and tackle
You can play on my guitar and sing my songs,
Wear me shirts,You can even settle me debts
You can kiss my little missus if she's willing but
No regrets boys

Your rose buds are numbered,
Gather them now for rosebuds sake
And if your hands aren't too encumbered
Gather a bud or two for Jake

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Morticia
Date: 24 Feb 01 - 03:42 PM

Sorry chaps, I just realised there has already been a thread on this but for some reason it passed me by....still, gave me a chance to give Jake an airing and there's lots of new members who might want to think about it.

Subject: Lyr Add: LAY DOWN YOUR WEARY TUNE (Bob Dylan)
From: catspaw49
Date: 24 Feb 01 - 03:43 PM

LAY DOWN YOUR WEARY TUNE- Bob Dylan

Lay down your weary tune, lay down,
Lay down the song you strum,
And rest yourself 'neath the strength of strings
No voice can hope to hum.

Struck by the sounds before the sun,
I knew the night had gone.
The morning breeze like a bugle blew
Against the drums of dawn.
Lay down your weary tune, lay down,
Lay down the song you strum,
And rest yourself 'neath the strength of strings
No voice can hope to hum.

The ocean wild like an organ played,
The seaweed's wove its strands.
The crashin' waves like cymbals clashed
Against the rocks and sands.
Lay down your weary tune, lay down,
Lay down the song you strum,
And rest yourself 'neath the strength of strings
No voice can hope to hum.

I stood unwound beneath the skies
And clouds unbound by laws.
The cryin' rain like a trumpet sang
And asked for no applause.
Lay down your weary tune, lay down,
Lay down the song you strum,
And rest yourself 'neath the strength of strings
No voice can hope to hum.

The last of leaves fell from the trees
And clung to a new love's breast.
The branches bare like a banjo played
To the winds that listened best.

I gazed down in the river's mirror
And watched its winding strum.
The water smooth ran like a hymn
And like a harp did hum.
Lay down your weary tune, lay down,
Lay down the song you strum,
And rest yourself 'neath the strength of strings
No voice can hope to hum.

Spaw

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Katcina
Date: 24 Feb 01 - 03:47 PM

If I were to have a funeral, it would be Jud Strunk's ":Daisy A Day" and Barbara Striesand's "The Way We Were", but I aint. Just gonna get creamated and have a friend dump what's left in the Chippewa Flowage to be so much more gravel in the bed of that nice water.

Subject: Lyr Add: RESTLESS FAREWELL (Bob Dylan)
From: flattop
Date: 24 Feb 01 - 04:00 PM

If I were a Dyldomaniac I'd rather hear Restless Farewell at my funeral.
Restless Farewell

Oh all the money that in my whole life I did spend,
Be it mine right or wrongfully,
I let it slip gladly past the hands of my friends
To tie up the time most forcefully.
But the bottles are done,
We've killed each one
And the table's full and overflowed.
And the corner sign
Says it's closing time,
So I'll bid farewell and be down the road.

Oh ev'ry girl that ever l've touched,
I did not do it harmfully.
And ev'ry girl that ever I've hurt,
I did not do it knowin'ly.
But to remain as friends and make amends
You need the time and stay behind.
And since my feet are now fast
And point away from the past,
I'll bid farewell and be down the line.

Oh ev'ry foe that ever I faced,
The cause was there before we came.
And ev'ry cause that ever I fought,
I fought it full without regret or shame.
But the dark does die
As the curtain is drawn and somebody's eyes
Must meet the dawn.
And if I see the day
I'd only have to stay,
So I'll bid farewell in the night and be gone.

Oh, ev'ry thought that's strung a knot in my mind,
I might go insane if it couldn't be sprung.
But it's not to stand naked under unknowin' eyes,
It's for myself and my friends my stories are sung.
But the time ain't tall,
Yet on time you depend and no word is possessed
By no special friend.
And though the line is cut,
It ain't quite the end,
I'll just bid farewell till we meet again.

Oh a false clock tries to tick out my time
To disgrace, distract, and bother me.
And the dirt of gossip blows into my face,
And the dust of rumors covers me.
But if the arrow is straight
And the point is slick,
It can pierce through dust no matter how thick.
So I'll make my stand
And remain as I am
And bid farewell and not give a damn.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: tiggerdooley
Date: 24 Feb 01 - 04:17 PM

'Satiisfied Mind' by Jeff Buckley and 'Take Me To The Mardi Gras' by Paul Simon. Possibly 'It's Not Easy Being Green' by Kermit the Frog.

Oh there are too many!!!!

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: RoyH (Burl)
Date: 24 Feb 01 - 04:30 PM

I'd like a song I can join in on. Burl

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: R!
Date: 24 Feb 01 - 04:37 PM

I'd like to think that the chorus of McPherson's Farewell, especially the first two lines, accurately described how I lived:

Sae rantingly, sae wantonly, Sae dauntingly gaed he, He play'd a spring, and danc'd it round Below the gallows-tree.

Ta ra, Reen

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: kendall
Date: 24 Feb 01 - 04:39 PM

I dont have a favorite funeral song, but, I do have a piece for someone to speak. It is the last part of William Cullen Bryants' THANNATOPSIS

So live, that when your summons comes
To join that innumerable caravan
That moves to that mysterious realm
Where each shall take his place in the silent halls of death
Thou go not like the quarry slave at night
Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained by an unfaultering trust
Approach thy grave like one who wraps the covers of his couch about him
And lies down to pleasant dreams.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: InOBU
Date: 24 Feb 01 - 05:21 PM

What ever has just hit the charts, 300 years from today...
Larry

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: NH Dave
Date: 24 Feb 01 - 05:44 PM

    Probably a piper to do Black Bear and if he insists Amazing Grace, and the congregation singing a couple of verses of Eternal Father Strong to Save(its a military thing.)

Dave

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Peg
Date: 24 Feb 01 - 06:12 PM

good one Larry!

Galileo, by The Indigo Girls

How Fortunate the Man with None, by Dead Can Dance

Dun Ringtill, by Jethro Tull

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Dave Wynn
Date: 24 Feb 01 - 06:15 PM

I don't wanna die...I don't wanna die......I would however like to sing parting glass at my own funeral...you OK Morticia....hell of a thread.....!

Spot (the evangelist) dog

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Diva
Date: 24 Feb 01 - 06:31 PM

I haven't got a song (yet) but I must have,at some time in the proceedings, the pipe tune, The Glasgow Police Pipers. It has been a favorite of mine since I first heard it at Rothbury many years ago. I have been known to stop complete (pipe carrying) strangers at festivals and ask them to play it for me......and guess what... they usually do.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Lyrical Lady
Date: 24 Feb 01 - 06:32 PM

When the road finally runs out of bricks, I'm going to be sprinkled amongst the apple trees in my friends old, old orchard. I would like all of my singing friends to sing 'Art Thou Troubled' in our beautiful little island church and I'd like a soloist to stand in the orchard and sing 'Goin Home'. LL

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Justa Picker
Date: 24 Feb 01 - 06:41 PM

Here's the original thread.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: kimmers
Date: 24 Feb 01 - 06:43 PM

I'd want a traditional Anglican-Episcopalian funeral with all my favorite hymns... whatever they are then (they change a bit from year to year). But I'd also want a good wake, so that my friends can gather 'round the piano and sing all the old hokey songs and knock back a drop o' the Irish. Hmm, maybe we should start practicing now!

A lady of our parish died a couple of months ago. It was not unexpected, as she had fought bone cancer for a number of months. She refused to be gloomy, but instead said things like, "You know you're dying when you stop buying green bananas!" She sat down with the rector and planned her own funeral, choosing her favorite hymns. We laughed at the stories and sang with tears in our eyes, knowing that Ruth was listening with joy as we sang.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Metchosin
Date: 24 Feb 01 - 06:46 PM

Rowana, for me not a Farewell or a Lament but Old Blind Dog's style, as MacPherson's Rant. I hope when I go it will be a cause for celebration not tears. Life's to precious to let go of graciously and gracefully. Maybe when i've had at least my full fourscore and ten I'll finally want to lay my burden down. In either case have many a wee dram on me byes.

Subject: Lyr Add: WHAT'S THE LIFE OF A MAN?
From: Bill D
Date: 24 Feb 01 - 07:09 PM

WHAT'S THE LIFE OF A MAN

As I was a walking one morning at ease
A viewing the leaves as they fell from the trees
All in slow motion appearing to be
And those that had withered, they fell from the trees

What's the life of a man anymore than the leaves
A man has his season, so why should we grieve
Though all thru this life, we appear fine and gay
Like the leaves we will wither and soon fade away

If you'd seen the leaves just a few days ago
So beautiful and bright they all seemed to grow
A frost came upon them and withered them all
A storm came upon them and down they did fall

If you look in the churchyard, there you will see
Those that have passed like the leaves from the trees
When age and affliction upon us do fall
Like the leaves we must wither and down we must fall

...and several more

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: SeanM
Date: 24 Feb 01 - 07:20 PM

Most definitely The Night Pat Murphy Died. When I go, I want a wake that'll make any old brickhauler pale in shame... I fully expect my friends to make a valiant attempt to drink the country dry.

Me

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: tiggerdooley
Date: 24 Feb 01 - 07:27 PM

My Mum has told me that if I go before her, there's no way I'm having The Tigger Song at my funeral, but she says 'Take Me to the Mardi Gras' is OK. Gee, thanks Mum!!! So all you people out there who think you've got your funeral songs sorted, remember, you won't be there to stop them playing what THEY want to play

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Katcina
Date: 24 Feb 01 - 07:42 PM

But you are wrong about that tigger. My husband most certainly was there at his funeral and it was done exactly to his wishes,contrary to his familys, because he told me what he wanted.

Since I know that I will out live most of creation I really ain't too worried none about what the few people left do.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 24 Feb 01 - 09:35 PM

For me, "Linden Lea", I think.  'Spaw's choice is pretty damn good, mind.

Malcolm

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Linda Mattson
Date: 24 Feb 01 - 10:12 PM

Yes, Spaw's choice - Lay Down your Weary Tune, which soothed me when my mother died. Also Kendall's choice, Thanatopsis, perhaps we should find a tune for it. The whole poem is wonderful. Some more lines:

...Earth, that nourished thee, shall claim Thy growth, to be resolved to earth again, And, lost each human trace, surrendering up Thine individual being, shalt though go To mix forever with the elements ...

And then, perhaps an English Music Hall song: Swim Sam Swim Sam Swim Sam OR When father papered the parlor... -Linda

Subject: Lyr Add: WE BOTH HAD A VERY GOOD TIME (Brimstone)
From: Bugsy
Date: 24 Feb 01 - 10:30 PM

Funnily enough, after a close call last week, Annie and I were discussing this just the other night I've decided on; Fred Small's "Everything Possible", and this one.

WE BOTH HAD A VERY GOOD TIME
(Derek Brimstone)

How mamy miles have we wandered side by side
laughing and talking, sometimes we even crie
well the long long road has ended to baby dry your eyes
come here let me kiss you, you know I'm going to miss you
and we both had a very good time

how many bar rooms, how many cities and towns
how many faces - how many sights and sounds
and how many places did you hear me sing my songs
Well laughing or grieving we broke about even
and we both had a very good time

well remember all the good times, forget all about the bad
you know I really really really loved you - i gave you all I had
didn't I always tell you some day this time would come
well I'm sorry my dear, but now that it's here
we both had a very good time

This ain't no time for sadness, It ain't no time for tears,
For happiness just fades away, then it disappears,
You've got many more years than I have - that's why I set you free
So be glad that you met me and baby don't forget me
And we both had a very good time.

So then how many miles, have we wandered side by side,
Laughing and talking, sometimes we even cried.
But the long long road has ended, so baby dry your eyes.
Come here let me kiss you, you know I'm gonna miss you,
And we both had a very good time - I mean
We both had a very good time


Cheers

Bugsy

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,PattyG
Date: 24 Feb 01 - 10:36 PM

How interesting that I revisited to ask the experts about a song that I think would be perfect for a funeral and lo and behold, there's a funeral song thread! I recently acquired a CD made by Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, and Dusty Rogers, "Say Yes To Tomorrow." All of the tunes are lovely, but *such* beautiful lyrics to, "The Best Years of My Life!" If that wasn't sung at Roy and/or Dale's funeral, I can't imagine why not. I'm wondering if anyone knows how I might find the sheet music. It was written by Mark Craig of Mark & Jeff Music - BMI. I'd be most grateful for your input.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Deckman
Date: 24 Feb 01 - 11:23 PM

I think an 'oft requested song might be: "Who Will Sing For Me?" ... sounds good to me, anyway .... CHEERS, Bob (deckman) Nelson

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Troll
Date: 24 Feb 01 - 11:31 PM

Sweet Sunny South
Who Will Sing For Me
It Was A Very Good Year
And my Grandfathers favorite, Bound For The Promised Land

troll

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: jofield
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 01:28 AM

"Beautiful Isle of Somewhere"

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: sledge
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 02:10 AM

Fairports "meet on the ledge"

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: rangeroger
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 03:08 AM

I want Emmylou Harris singing "Til I gain control again" and "Hobo's Lullaby"

rr

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From:
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 04:10 AM

The Old Man by the Fureys

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Big Tim
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 04:26 AM

When Woody Guthrie died in 1967 I sent a short letter of condolence to his manager Harold Leventhal asking him to pass it on to Woody's family. About two months later I got a handwritten card from Marjorie Guthrie saying "Woody said 'no funeralizing' so in January we are all having a big concert here and we will all SING! Wish you could be with us". So no funeralizing but please sing Dylan's "Every Grain of Sand".

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: zander (inactive)
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 05:18 AM

That fine group Cockersdale singing Keith Marsdens 'Funeral Song ' and Noel Murphy singing ' Paddy and the Barrel '

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Gary Owens
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 06:25 AM

At THE wake, "Jug of This", accompanied by adding a pint to my ashes during the last verse ( .. transport me then, into a fish, and let me swim, in a jug of this. )for drama. Then, of course, a recording of "The Parting Glass", sung by guess who.

g

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: cetmst
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 06:46 AM

A list of songs that move me. Would they could do so at my funeral: Midnight Prayerlight - Cathy Fink The World Is Turning Toward the Morning - Gordon Bok Be Thou My Vision Your Long Journey Sheep May Safely Graze - J.S.Bach Sleepers Awake - J.S.Bach Give Me the Roses While I Live Remember Me Old Rosin the Beau Who Will Sing For Me I Have Been a Good Boy - Carl Sandberg The Parting Glass The Mary Ellen Carter Keewanee Light A good friend had "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" - very effective

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: R!
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 07:47 AM

I just remembered something that happened at my beloved Uncle Eddie's funeral. We are a staunch Navy family. Grandfather was in the Navy, serving in both world wars. His son was in the Navy and all six daughters married Navy men. We are also Roman Catholic. When Uncle Eddie died, dearest Aunt Doris, the center of our family, requested a particular piece of music be played at the funeral Mass. The priest said no. Aunt Doris insisted. After some wrangling, she got her way. Therefore, it was with happiness and pride that we were able say our final goodbyes to Uncle Eddie as the church organ rang out with "Anchors Aweigh".

Ta ra, Reen

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,willa
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 07:54 AM

Not a song (yet), but this piece by Joyce Grenfell struck me as the perfect epitaph when I read it many years ago; I came across it again recently. "If i should die before the rest of you, Break not a flower nor inscribe a stone, Nor when I'm gone speak in a Sunday voice, But be the usual selves that I have known. Weep, if you must. Parting is hell, But life goes on, So sing as well.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: walkinman
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 08:04 AM

Without question...."Sunshine On The Land", by; David Wilcox.

WM

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: tiggerdooley
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 08:46 AM

My Grandad wants 'I Know a Millionaire'. Cool!

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 08:48 AM

Who Dies, by James Keelaghan
The Universe Song, Monty Python
The Pilgrim, Kris Kristofferson
And if Len Wallace can be there, I want him to sing his folksinger verse to F@uck Off And Die!

;-)

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Deni
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 08:55 AM

Mary's Dream

...the storm is past and I'm at rest so Mary weep no more for me...

Not that I know anybody called Mary...

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: kendall
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 09:05 AM

Guest willa, that is beautiful. Anchors a weigh also makes sense, as does Weary Hobo.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: fat B****rd
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 09:17 AM

Keep a twinkle in your eye by buck and bubbles, Jesu, joy of mans desiring by Bach and Peaches en regalia by Zappa. Mind you I want a long time to perhaps change my mind several times

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: wdyat12
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 09:27 AM

Amazing Grace sung by Judy Collins accompanied by a lone bagpiper across the bay.

wdyat12

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Mrs.Duck
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 10:31 AM

Roseville Fair-Geoff sang that to me on the night of my mother's funeral - on his knees in a crowded room and I'd like to think of an eternity dancing all night to fiddles and banjos.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Liam's Brother
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 10:40 AM

Someone else in the casket.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Spud Murphy
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 03:04 PM

No funeral, please, but it's okay to play Scott Joplin's 'Solace' and/or Eubie Blake's 'Memories of You.' as they stuff me into the incinerator.

Spud.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: winniemih
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 03:05 PM

I'd like a really good fiddler to play "Da Slokit Light" (the light which has gone out) by the late Tom Anderson, a Shetland fiddler/composer, wrote to lament his wife's passing. Winnie

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Nemesis
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 05:06 PM

AT my Grandmother's funeral recently I held out long and hard for "Zorba the Greek" (which she loved) for the committal music - i.e. music to close curtains by...Well, not surprisingly I was unanimously voted down.

So.....It ain't folk, but when the curtains go around - I'M PUTTING THIS IN WRITING HERE!! I want Curtis Mayfield/M People "Move on Up"

"....Moving on up ..time to break free ...nothing's gonna stop me ...""

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: bill\sables
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 06:51 PM

I Think I would like Rick Fielding to sing A Handfull of Songs
Bill

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From:
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 10:24 PM

let me fish off cape st. mary's mg

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: leprechaun
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 10:46 PM

"Bright Eyes" by Art Garfunkle to make everybody cry. "Finnegan's Wake" to make everybody laugh.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: CamiSu
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 11:01 PM

Feeling a bit low so I would probably be too sad to choose well right now, BUT for my father I sang My Lord What a Morning and Swing Low, and everyone sang Harry Chapin's "Circle". We also seriously considered having my brother run in late with the ashes, as Daddy was always late to everything.

Maybe for me

My Lord What a Morning

Jesus Christ the Apple Tree

something happy and that everyone can sing.

Cami Su

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 11:05 PM

If ya beat me to it Bill, consider it done! Thanks.

Rick

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: cowboypoet
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 11:32 PM

In the other thread I mentioned that I'd like to have Bill Staines' song "River" sung at my funeral. As nearly all the people who want to see me off are musicians I'd rather have it played at a wake and skip the funeral all together. I look at it this way -- *somebody* should be having a good time.

Probably sounds morbid, but some while back I had to have some minor surgery, and as it's always the people who go in to have a hangnail removed who end up taking the long dirt nap I made some preparations just in case. One of those preparations was a tape of all the songs I'd like to "hear" one last time. These included, but were not limited to, the following:

"Colorado" by Chuck Pyle "My Proud Mountains" by Townes Van Zandt "Cortelia Clark" by Mickey Newbury "Let Him Roll" by Guy Clark "Carry Me Back To the Lone Prairie" by the Sons of the Pioneers "Beetlebaum" by Spike Jones and the City Slickers ("And there goes the winner...")

But the one I'm most looking forward to is my best friend singing "Sweet Baby James," not because I like it particularly but because he loathes it. He'd do it under the circumstances and I've have the last laugh, which would be *very* satisfactory.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Norton1
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 11:32 PM

From the Halls of Montezuma
To the shores of Tripoli
We fight our Country's battles
On the air and on the sea
First to fight for right and Freedom
First to fight to keep our Honor clean
We are proud to claim the title of United States Marine

If the Army and the Navy
Ever look on Heaven's scene
They will find their wives are sleeping
With United States Marines

And then the whole damn gang can drink booze and play music till dawn.
The last guy we put under wanted to be shot out of a mortar. So we built one, loaded him up in 12 empty Budweiser cans (his favorite) with a small charge of black powder inside, and launched him out over the Oregon Desert to our accompanying cheers. Had a riotous good time!

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: WyoWoman
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 11:39 PM

The Hokey Pokey, of course, sung by the Norman Crab and Apple Choire of the NYCFTS.

ww

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: nutty
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 05:05 AM

The choice would be difficult but these are possibilities.........

The Joy of Living ... by Ewan MacColl

Here is my Home .... by Si Khan
Farewell Shanty
Never Grow Old
When All Men Sing ... Scowcroft/Gifford

Above all I would want a send off that people would remember as a joyous occasion

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 05:21 AM

Gee, I was going to be really original and say Who Will Sing For Me, but I see it's already been mentioned three times. That being the case, would Rick Fielding please recite Reincarnation for me? Goin' Home might be nice, if somebody can find lyrics that aren't too racist and aren't too bowdlerized.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: KingBrilliant
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 06:09 AM

The Parting Glass & Best Years of Our Lives

Kris

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Jimmy C
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 10:25 AM

For me it will be
What a wonderful world
The Parting Glass
The Coolin
all following a real bang up wake where the cops have to be called to quieten things down after my family and friends have been drinking Canada Dry - and I don't mean Ginger Ale.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: LR Mole
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 10:25 AM

"Comin' Back to Me" ,Jefferson Airplane, "Among the Rollin' Hills," Van Morrison, and either "It Makes No Difference" or "The Shape I'm In" by the Band.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Fibula Mattock
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 10:43 AM

"Ae Fond Kiss" and "The Parting Glass" at the funeral, but the wake is a different matter. At the wake I'd just like a hell of a lot of singing and plenty of playing, including a couple of John Denver songs and my dad singing El Paso or Coulter's Candy (diverse, I know, but they remind me of my childhood). If my Uncle Metal-Detector would sing "Miss Mouse's Ball" and "Halfway Up the Stairs" that would also be great. And my mandolin and guitar-playing pals doing "Arthur McBride" and their equally good but slightly crude "STD"...Oh, and a version of Fiddlers Green would be great to remind me of my favourite pub which shares its name. And could someone organise a couple of West Kerry sets on the wooden floor in the kitchen?

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Pete Peterson at work
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 11:38 AM

Northfield. Page 155 in the Sacred harp. With ALL the verses please. 2nd choice, Amsterdam, from the same source. (Sung that at my father's funeral; my mother got O God, our help in ages past ((once an Episcopalian, always an Episcopalian)) )

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 11:49 AM

Joe, I think I have Goin' Home for ya. If you like my style that is-- you've heard my style on tape, so you can decide. We have done it on Saturday nights. I learned it a the funeral of a friend of Hardiman's, an Episcopal deacon. I've never heard it before or since, so I hope I haven't messed up the melody too much. You can correct me from heaven when the time comes, OK? *G*G* I'll tune in so I can hear you.

Morts, I never thought of this till you asked. There was a time in my life when I thought it would be "Bury Me in My Overalls," but now I've decided on cremation and I think people would get confused. Plus I'd hate to waste a good pair of Oshkosh B'Gosh in the fire.

But since you DID ask, all that comes to mind now is, "Wake Up Little Susie!"

Now I can't resist the idea of requiring that the choir do this one! So now when they do this at my funeral, someone will have to explain that you brought it about! *G*

~S~

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: SINSULL
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 11:50 AM

No funeral. I want to be cremated and tossed around a garden or on the ocean. Celebrate my life with a party not my death with morbid floral arrangements and sad songs.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 12:55 PM

I like "Meet on the Ledge" by Fairport, too. Another one that is just so poignantly beautiful is an instrumental by the Albion Band called "Half Each"

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Amergin
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 01:03 PM

I don't really want to be buried....I want to be stuffed and stowed by the fire place....and maybe Mary Ellen Carter as they prop me up against the wall....I think I'd make a great family heirloom...

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Bruce O.
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 05:23 PM

Re: Mary's Dream. The author, John Lowe, is buried somewhere in northern Virginia. Does anyone know where?

As to my funeral song, it's between H. Poole's "Finigan's Wake" and "Rock Around the Clock". Decisions, decisions; maybe I'll just have both.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: ray bucknell
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 08:19 PM

I attended a memorial service recently for the husband of a friend. I didn't really know him at all, but upon leaving the service (which was surprisingly upbeat), I felt as though I knew him a bit. They played some Jimmy Buffett song at the service (one with which I was not familiar) and it gave me an idea: When I'm on my journey don't you grieve after me, (repeat twice more) I don't want you to grieve after me." "On My Journey" was recorded by the Chad Mitchell Trio in 1961 on the "Mighty Day On Campus" album. It seems to be a traditional song. CMT fan that I am and have always been, I guess it would only be appropriate to play that song at my MEMORIAL SERVICE (funerals are too morbid). Ray

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Amos
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 10:11 PM

Now, Patty O'Reilly ducked his head,
As a barrel of whiskey flew at him.
The barrel broke upon the bed,
And the whiskey fell all over Tim!

Now, Tim revives! See how he's rising!
Timothy rising from the bed!
Saying, "THROW YER WHISKEY AROUND LIKE BLAZES!!!"

"HOLLAMAROUGHAH!! DID YE THINK I WAS DEAD??!!!"

Then I just float off LAFFIN!!!!!!!!

A

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Rich(bodhránai gan ciall)
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 10:17 PM

Morning has Broken

Angel Band

Táimse seo choladh (on low whistle)

The God That Never Fails



and of course,

If you're happy and you know it.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: JedMarum
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 10:20 PM

I don't care; I won't be there - so whatever my family and friends think is appropriate will be fine with me!

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: FOG(Friend of Gnome)
Date: 27 Feb 01 - 09:42 PM

My will stipulates that my friends should gather on the shores of Wastwater at the Southern end looking up the lake .They will play Jon Harvisons version of Seasons in the sun 'Want you to dance ,want you to cry, to be crazy and enjoy, To dance round and round when they put me in the ground. Someone will then recite ,Now is the time for the burning of the leaves< by Lawrence Binyon. Then there will be Nimrod by Sir Edward Elgar from the 'Enigma' Varioations. This is to be the 1958 recording with Sir John Barbirolli and the Halle orchestra. Then after the last strains of Elgar have faded over that most dark and beautiful of English lakes My friends will all piss off to the nearest hostelry and get absolutely mortal on the grand I have left behind the bar.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Doctor Z
Date: 27 Feb 01 - 09:57 PM

My personal favorite is Tom Paxton's "Forest Lawn", which is known in California as the Disneyland of the Dead.

The song describes a fictitious funeral with all the trappings, including "a hundred strolling strings and topless dancers with golden wings". You get the idea.

Doctor Z

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Nancy King
Date: 27 Feb 01 - 10:26 PM

Willa, I really like that epitaph. Must save it in a good place.

My son Dan Schatz has written several songs appropriate to such an occasion. My current favorite is "Leave Time," but I'm hoping he'll have time to write a whole lot more songs between now and the time I kick off.

I've been singing "Who Will Sing For Me" for years and always hoped people got the message, so I add another vote for that one. Of course, I assume my demise will be the occasion for a hell of a party, with lots of singing and laughing.

Cheers, Nancy

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Spud Murphy
Date: 27 Feb 01 - 11:13 PM

Don't know the name of this or even if it's got one, but I remember my Dad doing it on KFBK back in the thirties and somehow these two verses stuck with me:

Did ever you think as the hearse rolls by
That one of these days you are going to die?
They'll take you away in a big black hack,
Oh, they'll take you away and you won't come back, no you won't come back.

Oh, the men with the shovels will stand around
And they'll shovel you into the cold, cold ground.
They'll throw in the dirt and they'll throw in the rocks
And they won't give a damn if they break the box, they break the box.

Then there is at least two more verses. not very comforting ones, at that. Anybody recognize it?

Spud

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Wolfgang
Date: 28 Feb 01 - 05:06 AM

Adieu, Emile (Le moribond)

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,JeZeBeL
Date: 28 Feb 01 - 02:42 PM

Definately "THE DEVIL WENT DOWN TO GEORGIA" and "jUST THE ONE" both by the Levellers, even better if i could have them playin live @ mine, that'd send me straight to heaven!! I dont know really, lotsa happy jumpy tunes, oh n that one by the poozies about the old woman on the hill that'll sell her soul to the devil if she can't last the nite with him,.............she beats him, of course......men, they've got ne stamina!!

JEZ!! xxx

Later darlins!!

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: MiriamKilmer
Date: 28 Feb 01 - 05:13 PM

"Rainbow" and "Arnold" from _The Sacred Harp_.

"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" - Make up your own verses.

"In Memoria Eterna" by what's-his-name (Mimi Stevens & Peter Sailer know).

Judy Cook may sing whatever she pleases.

And I definitely want to be there!

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 28 Feb 01 - 05:26 PM

I don't particularly care at this point if I ever have a funeral or not. Some do. Some don't.

If I was to pick a song, I guess Spaw picked the best one...Lay Down Your Weary Tune by Bob Dylan.

It would be a fine salute to the eternal that goes on regardless, no matter what we say or don't say about it.

- LH

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Marion
Date: 28 Feb 01 - 06:33 PM

I recently played "Neil Gow's Lament for the Death of his Second Wife" at the funeral of a good friend who was a devoted Scotch fiddler - think I wouldn't mind one of the classic fiddle laments myself.

As for songs, maybe "Bread of Life".

Marion

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Paddy(1)
Date: 28 Feb 01 - 06:53 PM

For me there is but one, by Dory Previn, the last track on her Mythical Kings and Iguanas album called Going Home also.

It begins

I have flown to star stained heights on bent and battered wings
In search of mythical kings, mythical kings . . .

and finishes with a huge gospel chorus repeating the line

Going home is such a ride, going home is such a ride, isn't going home a lo-lonely ride . .

over and over.

As I am wheeled feet first down the church I will certainly cry . . .

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: ray bucknell
Date: 28 Feb 01 - 08:59 PM

"Oh,lay me down in Forest Lawn in a silver casket, Put golden flowers over my head in a silver basket. Let the drum and bugle corps blow Taps while cannons roar, and sixteen liveried employees pass out souveniers from the funeral store. I want to go simply when I go. And they'll give me a simple funeral there, I know. With a casket lined in fleece, and fireworks spelling out "Rest in Peace" Oh, take me when I'm gone to Forest Lawn.

Oh lay me down in Forest Lawn, they understand there. And they have a heavenly choir and a military band there. Just put me in their care and I'll find my comfort there, With sixteen planes in a last salute, they'll drop a cross in a parachute. I want to go simply when I go. And they'll give me a simple funeral there, I know. With a hundred strolling strings, and topless dancers in golden wings, Oh, take me when I'm gone to Forest Lawn.

Oh, come to the church in the wildwood, Kindly leave a contribution in the pail. Be as simple and as trusting as a child would, and we'll sell you the church in the dale.

To find a simple resting place is my desire. To lay me down with a smiling face comes a little bit higher. My likeness cast in brass will stand in plastic grass, while weights and hidden springs will tip its hat to the mourners filing past. I want to go simply when I go. And they'll give me a simple funeral there, I know. I'll lie beneath the sand with piped-in tapes of Billy Graham. Oh, take me when I'm gone to Forest Lawn.

Rock of Ages cleft for me, for a slightly higher fee. Oh, take me when I'm gone to Forest Lawn."

Thanks, Doctor Z, for reminding me of that one. Paxton has written some clever songs but this has got to be one of his funniest. There's another one called "A Dying Business" that begins, "It was a helluva funeral" where they "gave away a Chevrolet to the person who cried the most" (and the funeral director was a shoo-in for the prize). "It was all done up deluxe and I made forty-thousand bucks" he brags at the end of the song. (Actually it was four thousand when I first heard the song in the 60s but that's been adjusted for inflation.)

Ray

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Rich(bodhránai gan ciall)
Date: 28 Feb 01 - 10:18 PM

Hard Times Come Again No More.

And if I go before Spaw, I want him to play a march on Cleigh O'Possum during the trip down to the gravesite.

Rich

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Rich(bodhránai gan ciall)
Date: 28 Feb 01 - 10:19 PM

Hard Times Come Again No More.

And if I go before Spaw, I want him to play a march on Cleigh O'Possum during the trip down to the gravesite.

Rich

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Jeremiah McCaw
Date: 01 Mar 01 - 11:21 AM

A wake, for sure. Music and celebration. Tears? Hell, yes; but I want more laughter than tears. Way more.

Three things for the sombre moments:
Phil Ochs' song "When I'm Gone" (Mr. Fielding do a pretty fine version, BTW)
The "Fiddler Jones" epitaph from Edgar Lee Masters' "Spoon River Anthology"
Ewan McColl's "The Joy of Living" (if by recording, then definitely the Bobby Watt rendition.

And if anybody sings "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone", I swear I'l come back and haunt the sumbitch!!!

When I'm Gone
Phil Ochs (1966)

Fiddler Jones Edgar Lee Masters (1917)

The Earth keeps some vibration going there in your heart and that is you
And if the people find you can fiddle, why, fiddle you must, for all your life
What do you see? A harvest of clover? Or a meadow to walk through to the river?
The wind's in the corn; you rub your hands for beaves hereafter ready for market?
Or else you hear the rustle of skirts, like the girls when dancing at Little Grove? To Cooney Potter, a pillar of dust or twirling leaves meant ruinous drought.
They looked to me like Red-Head Sammy stepping it off, to "Toor-a-Loor"
How could I till my forty acres, not to say of getting more,
With a medley of horns and bassoons and picolos stirred in my brain
By crows and robins and the creak of a windmill, only these?
And I never started to plough in my life, that someone did not stop in the road, and take me away to a dance or a picnic!
I ended up with forty acres
I ended up with a broken fiddle, and a broken laugh,
And a thousand memories
And not a single regret.

The Joy Of Living
Ewan McColl

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Jeremiah McCaw
Date: 01 Mar 01 - 11:26 AM

Hmmm...
Didn't quite lay out as intended. Where'd those repeats come from? Darn!

One omission to correct: in "Fiddler Jones" one line is incomplete and should read: "To Cooney Potter, a pillar of dust or twirling leaves meant ruinous drought."

There, I feel better now.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Mar 01 - 11:54 AM

I'LL FlY AWAY-some bright morning, when my work is over I'll fly away.....<> Weary Tune ....again<> come and go with me to that land-Blind Willie Johnson<> I'll do my last singin in this world somewhere- Rev. Gary Davis<> He Was a friend of mine<> Life is a carnival<> Did I mention it's going to be a full length concert with jugglers, elephants, and I am to be shot out of a cannon at the finale. (grin)

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: JulieF
Date: 01 Mar 01 - 12:11 PM

I'm not particulary bothered about the funeral bit - anything would have to include some chorus songs as I've noted that singing at funerals seems to help and hymns are out.

Afterwards I would like to be buried in a green burial site where they put you in a wicker coffin and plant a tree. I would then have a piper play a lament to mark my going as you can only have pipe laments played outside.

Julie

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: grumpy al
Date: 01 Mar 01 - 04:21 PM

don't want a song at my funeral. I wan't my ex to dance on my grave..............I'm being buried at sea.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 01 Mar 01 - 11:14 PM

"Somewhere," from West Side Story. Ed Miller to sing "A Man's A Man For A' That" accompanied by Alasdair Fraser on fiddle. Alasdair to solo on the Gaelic air "A Nochd Gur Faoin Mo Chadal Dhomh." Someone or ones to sing favorite Gilbert and Sullivan songs: "Model Of A Modern Major-General" from The Pirates of Penzance, "If You Give Me Your Attention," from Princess Ida, "The Moon And I," from The Mikado, "Never Mind The Why And Wherefore" from HMS Pinafore. A small jazz group to play a Charlie Parker composition. A trio of Irish musicians to play a set of reels.

-chanteyranger

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Mar 01 - 11:22 PM

Whatever makes my wife and kids feel better, I'll be dead.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Ely
Date: 02 Mar 01 - 12:06 AM

Mom made me promise I'd play Howie Mitchell's "Dipper of Stars".

I haven't thought much about my own funeral. I don't want everyone to get depressed--I think I'll have them sing "I'll Fly Away" and then order a night of square dancing.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: *#1 PEASANT*
Date: 02 Mar 01 - 01:26 PM

For a very complete guide to Irish Wake music including customs etc.... Get a copy of our Irish wake book. Songs, lyrics, music all you need for a complete Irish wake including laws governing home burial and shipping bodies to the isle of Ireland republic or provence. Doesnt matter what musicians you have got if they can read music you will have a great wake. Recipes,games everything... go here http://www.geocities.com/artcars/bookie4a.html or order via http://www.amazon.com searh under Bladey Enjoy and be prepared as you dont know you will be having one till you are having one!

Conrad

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Smok
Date: 02 Mar 01 - 09:14 PM

Being in the 'biz' I have made note of a lot of the suggestions. I starte my career in death liking 'Amazing Grace' but now, if I hear it one more time, either on the pipes over vocal I will join the recently departed. But, one of the 'best' service I work was at a rural cemetery, on a piney hill, where one of the friends of the dead man started to sing 'Amazing Grace' unannounced. We, the paid mourners, were stunned! It was one of those monent that I will never forget. The rest of gathering slowly joined in this wonderful, and truly heart felt, outpouring. It is great when the family can choose non-traditional music, poetry or sites for the closing of a life/

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Lox
Date: 03 Mar 01 - 12:03 AM

Mozarts requiem, (up until and including "lacrimosa").

At the very least, it would be a chance for my philistine friends to be forced into listening to something of value for once in their lives in intelligent and respectful silence.

lox

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Bullytanana
Date: 03 Mar 01 - 12:43 AM

I asked Alison Kelley (of the JOHNSON GIRLS)two years ago if she would sing 'WHAT`S THE LIFE OF A MAN`. If you have nothing else to do that day,come along and join the chorus.

Subject: Lyr Add: SLEEP ON BELOVED (Sankey)
From: Gervase
Date: 30 Mar 01 - 07:01 AM

I love the idea of Mozart's Requiem. When I got married a friend sang his Laudate dominum, which is just heart-wrenchingly lovely, so I'd like that again.
And, even though I'm not remotely religious (lapsed left-footer who gave it all up for Lent and never looked back), I love the Sankey hymns, so it would have to be SLEEP ON BELOVED, with all the harmonies...

Sleep on beloved, sleep and take thy rest.
Lay down thy head upon thy Saviour's breast.
We love thee well but Jesus loves thee best;
Goodnight, goodnight, goodnight.

Until our shadows from this earth are cast,
Until He gathers in His sheaves at last,
Until the twilight gloom is overpassed;
Goodnight, goodnight, goodnight.

Until made beautiful by love divine,
Thou in the likeness of thy Lord shall shine,
And He will bring that golden crown of thine;
Goodnight, goodnight, goodnight.

Until we meet again before the throne,
Clothed in the spotless robes he gives his own,
Until we know as we have known;
Goodnight goodnight goodnight.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Liam's Brother
Date: 30 Mar 01 - 08:02 AM

"Goodbye Muirsheen Durkin, I'm sick and tired a workin'..."

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 30 Mar 01 - 08:57 AM

I too would want Dylan's Restless Farewell. I would like my sister to sing it.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Jenny the T
Date: 30 Mar 01 - 09:00 AM

About a year and a half ago, a friend and fellow musician, dearly loved within the Irish music community round here (and by the surrounding community as well), was brutally murdered in her own bed. It was a terrible time, the worst kind of shock imaginable.

Her memorial service, however, was a memory that'll never fade. Hundreds came to say farewell. All her musician friends sat up front behind the pastor. In the center was a chair, empty save for her instrument and a framed photo.

Periodically throughout the service we played one or another set of tunes. When all was over, we played the mourners out the door. The music was powerful, especially considering that we were all weeping copiously.

Later we had her wake, a kitchen session with just the musicians and some of the family. The music poured forth till the wee hours.

That's how I'd like it for myself--let my friends say goodbye with the tunes (and the company) I loved in life. I'll listen hard for them.

Jenny

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: mousethief
Date: 30 Mar 01 - 11:45 AM

"By God, We Thought He'd NEVER Die!"

I'll write it when I'm 105.

Alex

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: kytrad (Jean Ritchie)
Date: 30 Mar 01 - 02:41 PM

One day a newspaper interviewer told me that my obit was already on file...what a shock. I decided that I'd better take a hand in what my epitaph would be. I sang it to close a program (it has a tune); folks didn't like the title, "Epitaph," so I changed it to, "Songs of Life." It's personal, but you can have it too, if you like:

Harp on the willow tree, now it is hung
One man, one faith, one God, to them I've clung;
Sweet were the songs of life- now they are sung,
Harp on the willow tree, now it is hung

Dear little son of mine- child on your knee,
Sing him your songs of life- let him fly free!
Dear little son of mine- child on your knee,
Sing them for you, for him- sing them for me. Jean

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,nancy
Date: 30 Mar 01 - 06:47 PM

Funerals...gah. If I did have one I'd want people to cry.... That's what funerals are for, after all...closure, etc.

First Mendelssohn's Song w/o Words and Recuerdos de la Alhambra, played by J. Bream, then Vivaldi's Stabat Mater. OK...everybody in, seated and hankies out. I'd have somebody with a foine Irish accent read that great O'Driscoll poem that end's up And never was piping so sad, and never was piping so gay,

Then Bok would sing John o' Dreams (sleep is a river, goes on forever). Then a great poem by MacNeice

The sunlight on the garden, hardens and grows cold
We cannot cage the minute within its net of gold,
When all is told
We cannot beg for pardon

Our freedom as free lances, Advances toward its end;
The earth compels, upon it Sonnets and birds descend;
And soon, my friend,
We shall have no time for dances

The sky was good for flying Defying the church bells
And every evil iron Siren and what it tells;
The earth compels
We are dying, Egypt, dying

And not expecting pardon hardened in heart anew,
But glad to have sat under Thunder and rain with you.
And grateful too
For sunlight on the garden.

Now everybody sings Give Yourself to Love (words printed in the program! No slackers!)

Then the Salutation to the Dawn, from the Sanskrit

Look to this day--for it is life
The very life of life
Yesterday is but a dream
And tomorrow is only a vision
But today well spent makes every Yesterday
A dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.

Then EmmyLou sings Poor Wayfarin' Stranger.... and everybody leaves...hopefully all cried out and ready to

PARTY!

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Devilmaster
Date: 31 Mar 01 - 03:13 AM

Personally, it will sooner or later be in my will, but I have already told everyone I know that I want to have a New Orleans Jazz Funeral. Where a dixieland band will do the slow dirge to my gravesite, and when that first bit of dirt is thrown on top,(and the belief that my spirit have travelled on to a better place...) they will pick up the tempo and do the same song but as a celebratory, fast jazz song.

A good example of this is 'Didn't He Ramble' a version which shows both is done by Al Hirt and Pete Fountain. But I have also heard a version of Amazing Grace done like that.

You guys are all invited to be second liners at my funeral. (second liners are dancers that are behind the band)

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Midchuck
Date: 31 Mar 01 - 07:15 AM

"Sam Hall!"

"Now in heaven do I dwell, do I dwell;
Now in heaven do I dwell, do I dwell.
And the truth it is to tell
That it is a bloody sell.
All the whores are down in Hell
God Damn their eyes!

Peter

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 31 Mar 01 - 10:50 AM

My themesong, "Aunt Clara" and a bunch o joyful stuff everyone can join in on.

Bat Goddess

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 31 Mar 01 - 10:53 AM

Oh, and "Changes" by Phil Ochs.

Bat Goddess who is brain dead from waiting around O'Hare

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: kendall
Date: 31 Mar 01 - 10:27 PM

Turning toward the morning. IF my best friend, Gordon Bok will sing it.(Assuming we dont both go down in the same storm.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,1st Times Guest
Date: 01 Apr 01 - 07:53 PM

Hafta be St.James Infirmary Blues Well, when I die please bury me In my high-topped Stetson hat. Put a 20 dollar gold piece on my watch chain, So god'll know that I died standin' pat.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Mr Red
Date: 02 Apr 01 - 08:34 AM

Horses Brawl in the key of GG
well actually G to G minor (as in Blozabella's book)
If you hear the bodhran playing, I've obviously gone downstairs, to meet my redman!

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: alanww
Date: 18 Dec 01 - 06:24 AM

I sang this at my 30 year old step-daughter's funeral, just about managing to do so without breaking down ...

SONG FOR VALERIE

Time passes over more peacefully each day,
Recalling good times to drive sorrows away.

Our Valerie's arising so high in the sky,
With her flaming red hair and her sparkling eye.

She was not too rich and she was not too poor,
But she spread happiness to us and to thousands or more.

Alan

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: The_one_and_only_Dai
Date: 18 Dec 01 - 06:28 AM

spem in alium, believe it or not. that'll make the b*st!rds cry about something...

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: *#1 PEASANT*
Date: 18 Dec 01 - 07:46 AM

For the most complete set of Irish Funeral standards at least as complete as I have ever found check out my book on the Irish Wake. It is available from clickit right here just search for Bladey in the book section. Also available from me direct but I dont take credit cards and they do... to order from me clickit here Notation too. Conrad

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Dec 01 - 08:15 AM

'Chasing the Hearse' a little arent you there, fella?

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Mike Byers
Date: 18 Dec 01 - 08:23 AM

If I had a choice (but I expect I won't) I'd go for "The Sweeps" on whistle and guitar while my friends, glasses of Black Bush in hand, dump my ashes into McShane Branch creek and are later all arrested by the Indiana Department of Enviromental Management.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Fortunato
Date: 18 Dec 01 - 09:12 AM

I walked 47 miles of barbed wire, I use a cobra snake for a necktie
I got a brand new house on the roadside, made outta
rattlesnake hide
I got a brand new chimney made up top, made out of a human skull
Now come on, take a little walk with me, Arlene and tell me:
who do you love?
who do you love?
Who do you love?
Who do you love?

I rode around the town'n use a rattlesnake whip, take it easy Arlene don't give me no lip
Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Who do you love?

The night was dark and the sky was blue, down the alley a ice wagon flew
Hit a bump and somebody screamed, you should'a heard just what I seen
Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Who do you love?

Arlene took me by my hand, she said, "Ooo-eee Chance, I understand"
Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Who do you love?

I've got a tombstone hand and a graveyard mind, I'm just (MY AGE) and I don't mind dyin'
Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Who do you love?
Bo Diddley 1956

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 18 Dec 01 - 10:07 AM

The service shall be when i'm cremated. The urn will be put into a small ammo box for pistol rounds DM 19.
When the box will be carried by 2 captains out of the chapel, the drums will beat the death roll.
While marching to the grave, the fifes will play Jesus, meine Zuversicht (Jesus Christ, my trust and hope), interrupted by the drums beating the band call.
After the sermon, when the urn is lowered into the ground, the fifes will play Ich hatt' einen Kameraden (The Good Companion at Arms), which is inevitable with a German burial in uniform.
When every participant has thrown his three shovels of earth (or make it better an entrenchment tool) into the grave, the fifes and drums will go to Nun danket alle Gott (Now thank and praise the Lord), my absolutely most favourite hymn.
When marching to the next inn to celebrate, the fifes and drums shall play Heia Safari to remember my fine days in Africa and the Blue Dragoons, our platoon song when I was in boot camp.
A lawyer will see that this order will be respected, heirs objecting will be disinherited (bad luck).

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Steve in Idaho
Date: 18 Dec 01 - 11:18 AM

The reality for me, in spite of my prior post, will be the sound of a Marine rifle squad firing over my bones/ash/whatever, and the sound of a Marine Bugler playing Taps.

Steve

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: X
Date: 18 Dec 01 - 12:08 PM

"Ding Dong The Witch Is Died"

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Annegi
Date: 18 Dec 01 - 02:49 PM

Bright Blue Rose - Jimmy McCarthey Neil Gunn's Lament for his first wife Be still my soul Song of the Hebrew Boatmen from the Pearl Fishers

Then everyone can have a 'good greet' as they say in Scotland. My brother was once asked to sing at a cremation and the song requested was 'Blowing in the wind'!!!!

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: gnu
Date: 18 Dec 01 - 03:28 PM

"Look, He's Not Dead !"

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: X
Date: 18 Dec 01 - 03:57 PM

And your little dog too!

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 18 Dec 01 - 05:03 PM

For those in peril on the sea
Failte.....Jock

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,SharonA on vacation, checkin' in
Date: 18 Dec 01 - 05:06 PM

How about "At My Funeral" by the Crash Test Dummies?

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 18 Dec 01 - 05:09 PM

Alanww, was this recent?????

~Susan

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Celtic Soul
Date: 18 Dec 01 - 05:16 PM

I am torn between something Scottish or Irish in a minor key (my own personal favorite music is all minor key and Celtic), or Steel drums with a fast beat, like the soundtrack to "Beetle Juice".

Why the latter? Because I know the former will be a major downer, and I'd rather those I leave behind have something happy to send me off with. :D

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Celtic Soul
Date: 18 Dec 01 - 05:16 PM

I am torn between something Scottish or Irish in a minor key (my own personal favorite music is all minor key and Celtic), or Steel drums with a fast beat, like the soundtrack to "Beetle Juice".

Why the latter? Because I know the former will be a major downer, and I'd rather those I leave behind have something happy to send me off with. :D

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Philibuster
Date: 18 Dec 01 - 05:48 PM

Someone to play taps on a kazoo, while my children empty the garbage bag of my freeze dried remains on the garden...or into some punch. =P

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Bennet Zurofsky
Date: 18 Dec 01 - 05:50 PM

For my own, I don't know.

For others, I have often been asked to sing "May the Work That I Have Done Speak for Me," which is easy to adapt to the facts of the deceased's life and which the entire congregation easily learns and sings along.

May the work that I have done speak for me (2x) If I fall down on this road, Someone else will grab the load May the work that I have done speak for me

May the songs that I have sung . . .

May the battles I have fought . . .

etc.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Desdemona
Date: 18 Dec 01 - 06:07 PM

WOW---this thread is getting long; I guess we're all making careful plans ;-) !

I want mostly Elizabethan lute music--notably John Dowland's "Tarleton's Resurrection" and sundry Anthony Holborne pieces--but would also like the Beatles' "Blackbird" and "Here Comes the Sun".

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: mzkitty
Date: 18 Dec 01 - 06:29 PM

"Lay Down Your Weary Tune" by Bob Dylan. and ""And We Danced" by the Hooters. and more when I think of them...

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Desdemona
Date: 18 Dec 01 - 06:32 PM

Oh, yeah---and "That's What I Like(d) About You" by the Romantics, so everyone can dance!

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,jim b
Date: 18 Dec 01 - 07:35 PM

I am hoping it will not be written for some time

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Snuffy
Date: 18 Dec 01 - 07:53 PM

My mother-in-law, who died in January, was a big fan of Edmund Hockridge. There were nice hymns at the church service, but as we walked into the crematorium there was Edmund Hockridge singing:

Oh, what a beautiful morning,
Oh, what a beautiful day,
I've got a wonderful feeling,
Ev'rything's going my way.

WassaiL! V

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: breezy
Date: 18 Dec 01 - 08:14 PM

Life of a man [the leaf], the raising of the Mary ellen Carter, The Funeral Song-to keep em guessing! and The Joy of Living then BREAD OF HEAVEN.gUESS WE'LL NEED LOTS OF VOICES SO WATCH THIS SPACE!! its o.k. I died playing in a restaurant tonight.Your a bloody rotten audience while I am very good.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: alanww
Date: 19 Dec 01 - 01:00 PM

WYSIWYG She died in a car crash in November 1998 aged 30, but I only recently came across the thread (and perhaps I didn't feel up to posting it before, anyway).

I think is one I would like
It is time to go now, hawl away the anchor ...
at my funeral - that's before all my favourite joyous songs at the wake, of course!

Alan

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Mr Red
Date: 19 Dec 01 - 06:17 PM

Horses Brawl (Branle, Bransle or whatever) and instead of singing I want the folkies leaving the non-denominational humanist room in sets of 8 with a left in front, together, left behind, together (rpt twice) & jump.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Oldtimemusic1
Date: 19 Dec 01 - 10:33 PM

ON ZION'S GLORIOUS SUMMIT STOOD A RANSOMED HOST REDEEMED BY BLOOD THEY SANG THEIR HYMNS IN STRAINS DEVINE I HEARD THEIR SONGS AND STROVE TO JOIN

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Rolfyboy6
Date: 20 Dec 01 - 01:57 AM

I go for "Lay Down Your Weary Tune" for part of the program, but really at heart I remain the Mississippi Valley chicken Slicker I was in my youth. And I want to hear/not hear "Flee As A Bird To The Mountain", "We Are Soldiers In The Army", the unrepentant "Little Sadie", "I'll Be Glad When Your Gone, You Rascal You", and "Oh, Didn't He Ramble". And some part of me wants someone to do rousing versions of "Duncan And Brady" and "Never Let Your Deal Go Down." Jack of Diamonds is a hard card to play.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Canuck
Date: 20 Dec 01 - 05:10 AM

Angel Band
And everybody has to belt out the chorus!!!
You can hear this song on the O brother! where art thou? soundtrack.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Trevor
Date: 20 Dec 01 - 06:07 AM

I went to the funeral of a friend last week. For years he'd said that the Russian national anthem was so dirge-like that he wanted it played at his funeral. His death was sudden and unexpected so it came as a surprise to find out that he had left very specific instructions. As his coffin entered the chapel the organist stopped playing her voluntary and a scratchy recording of the Red Army Ensemble singing the anthem rumbled from an old sound system. And do you know what - we all giggled! Dave had cracked his last joke from the beyond - it was a brilliant moment.

Looking at Rowana's earlier post reminded me that when my father-in-law, who was also a naval officer, died his widow asked for something with a maritime connection to be played. The only thing the organist knew that was vaguely connected with water was 'Oh Shenandoah' and she was blasting away at this while we awaited the coffin in the chapel. She, the organist, was blind and the arrangement was that the undertaker would slam the chapel door hard so that she would know when to start playing solemn music for the progress of the pall bearers. Unfortunately she was so stuck in to 'Shenandoah' that she didn't hear the door closing and the undertaker had to open and slam the door three times before he could carry on.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Lanfranc
Date: 20 Dec 01 - 05:14 PM

Strange that a little-heard Dylan song ("Lay down your weary tune") features so frequently. I would be one of my choices, too. Along with Randy Newman's "Old Man's Song".

When I still went to church and had some vestiges of faith, I wanted "Just as I am" to the tune from "Olivet to Calvary".

Now I want a melodeon to play "Parting Glass" as my ashes are scattered round buoy 9 on Holyfield Lake in the Lee valley, where I sail my Wayfarer when I have time. I then want the melodeon thrown in after the tune is finished! That would be my last good deed for humanity!

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Roger
Date: 20 Dec 01 - 06:52 PM

Whatever else was played I would want peopel to leave to "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" , Eric Idle.

Subject: Lyr Add: OLD DOCTOR WANGO TANGO
From: GUEST,paul
Date: 20 Dec 01 - 09:38 PM

Old Doctor Wango Tango

As a child I received the LP record Captain Burl Ives' Ark as a present. The current version on CD has completely different songs. There were a number of unique songs on this album that I've never heard anyplace else. This is the one I remember best.

As an adult, I sang this to my kitty, Montana Wildhack. She would sometimes growl when I got to the part about giving his animals nothing to eat. Now I sometimes sing it to my mice. They don't seem concerned with this abuse, probably because there are no mice in the song.

Old Doctor Wango Tango
(sung as a slow bassey dirge)

Old Doctor Wango Tango, had a long red nose,
and Old Doctor Wango Tango always wore green clothes.
And Old Doctor Wango Tango had a thin horse Sam.
He had a dog named Bowser, and a cat named Touser,
and a black crow Flippity Flam Flam Flam,
and a black crow Flippity Flam.

Old Doctor Wango Tango, lived on a biscuit a day,
and Old Doctor Wango Tango got very thin this way.
And Old Doctor Wango Tango, gave his animals nothing to eat,
but it would come to pass, they would find a blade of grass,
or a crust or a bone without meat meat meat,
or a crust or a bone without meat.

Old Doctor Wango Tango, rode to the top of a hill,
and Old Doctor Wango Tango found a wind very cold and chill.
Away blew Old Doctor Tango (swish).
Away blew his thin horse Sam (swoosh).
Away blew Bowser (swish), and away blew Touser (swash).
And the black crow Flippity Flam Flam Flam,
and the black crow Flippity Flam. (3 second pause) (swoosh).

Line Breaks <br> added.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: leprechaun
Date: 20 Dec 01 - 11:32 PM

Drop-kick Me Jesus, Through the Goal Post of Life

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Kaleea
Date: 21 Dec 01 - 12:37 AM

Song? I only get one song? Perhaps Devilmaster & I are kindred souls as I have always thought I would prefer the New Orleans way of going out in style. If not then, "Just lay me head on a keg of brandy, it is my fancy . . "

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Ian Darby
Date: 21 Dec 01 - 04:41 AM

"Blaze Away" sung by either Norma Waterson or Josef Locke, "We'll make a bonfire of out troubles, and we'll watch them blaze away...." When me Mam died we played "Jerusalem" and a tape of Morris tunes I'd done on my MIDI stuff, we filed out to a versions of "Lord of the Dance", "Merry Sherwood Rangers" and "Blue Eyed Stranger" as if done by a wired up Albion Band. (Four on the floor Drum and Bass heavy). On my Gravestone I want the words "I told you I was ill". (This has already been seen in a Manchester graveyard, or may be apocryphal, I don't care). Excellent thread.... Happy Xmas.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 24 Nov 03 - 05:51 PM

"I told you I was ill"

is what Spike Milligan (The Goon Show) always said he wanted on his tombstone.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Peace
Date: 24 Nov 03 - 06:05 PM

Go Your Own Way by Fleetwood Mac. Played as loud as the system can handle; lotsa bass, and the odd bit of this and that around for anyone who attends.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: TheBigPinkLad
Date: 24 Nov 03 - 06:08 PM

Benny Hill's "Please let me go round again, Lord"

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Blowzabella
Date: 24 Nov 03 - 06:21 PM

The Good Old Way, sung by The Portsmouth Shantymen - no question

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: PapaWhiskey
Date: 24 Nov 03 - 07:04 PM

We ended my dad's funeral with 'Joy to the World', partly because it seemed to fit and partly because he had an oft-stated aversion to draggy music. Me, I'm okay with draggy music. Please end my funeral with 'Ave Verum Corpus'(KV 618) by Mozart, partly because it seems to fit and partly because no one will expect it.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Gareth
Date: 24 Nov 03 - 07:07 PM

Depends how I go, but the Shanty "Time for us to Leave Her" come near the top of the list in any circumstances.

Gareth

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Amos
Date: 24 Nov 03 - 07:26 PM

We hired a Dixie combo to play at my mother's funeral, after all had had their say -- they played her taps and then The Saints, although it was in the middle of a Connecticut greenwood. :>)


A

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Margret RoadKnight
Date: 24 Nov 03 - 07:27 PM

"Well May the World Go" (Pete Seeger)
and
"My Brown Yarra" (Frank Jones)
"... toss my ashes off of Princes Bridge,
or strap me inside a broken frig,.
drop me down in the murky drink
and let me lie where I sink..."

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Margret RoadKnight
Date: 24 Nov 03 - 07:30 PM

Lanston Hughes requested Duke Ellington's
"Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me"

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Florentine Pogen
Date: 24 Nov 03 - 07:36 PM

"Elvis has just left the building"..........by Frank Zappa.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Obie
Date: 24 Nov 03 - 07:43 PM

Prine's "Please Don't Bury Me " would fine with me.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Rapparee
Date: 24 Nov 03 - 07:48 PM

When the bring the coffin or whatever into church (I'm certain there will be a church ceremony no matter what I would say) I want the priest in black, like in the old days. As they bring what's left of me up the aisle I want the "Dies Irae" sung in Gregorian Chant, in Latin. There will be a funeral mass, of that I'm certain, so I want the songs to get progressively more joyful: "Morning has broken" "St. Patrick's Breastplate" "Rainbow Children" -- that sort of thing. And for the communion hymn I want the musicians to get down on "Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog." For the recessional let's do "The Saints." Out at the cemetery, I want the whole bunch to bellow out "Ode To Joy" and then "Bottle of Wine." Or reverse 'em, but those two and accept no substitutes. Do the buryin' early enough and a fiddler could do "Whiskey before breakfast."

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,David
Date: 24 Nov 03 - 08:37 PM

Under the wide and starry sky
Dig the grave and let me lie
Glad did I live and gladly die
And I lay me down with a will

This be the verse you 'grave for me
Here he lies where he longed to be
Home is the sailor, home from sea
And the hunter home from the hill

(Robert Louis Stevenson)

I'd also like a decent choir to sing John Rutter's carol "What Sweeter Music"

David

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Leadfingers
Date: 24 Nov 03 - 09:21 PM

My Dad always said"Dont mourn my dying,celebrate my life" So we did.
We got the whole family into my nephews pub and had a bloody good pissup.Thanks Dad.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Robin2
Date: 24 Nov 03 - 11:29 PM

I personally want to hear "Rise Up, Lazarus"

Also, what do I want to hear said at my funeral?

"Look, she's moving!"

Robin2

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Cluin
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 12:05 AM

The worms crawl in; the worms crawl out
The ants play pinochle on your snout
And when you turn a ghastly green
The pus runs out like whipping cream.




That'll do.... donkey.

Subject: Lyr Add: GONNA SIT DOWN ON THE BANKS OF THE RIVER
From: Max
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 12:36 AM

GONNA SIT DOWN ON THE BANKS OF THE RIVER

by Reverend Gary Davis
©Chandos Music

I'm gonna run through the streets of the city
Where my Lord have gone on before
I'm gonna sit down on the banks of the river
I won't be back no more

All my crying will be over
I won't have to cry no more
I'm gonna sit down on the banks of the river
And I won't be back no more

We're gonna have a good time when we all get there
Gonna crown Him Lord of all
I'm gonna sit down on the banks of the river
God knows I won't be back no more

Hallelujah!
Well, well
Oh, well
Oh, oh, yeah!
Oh, God knows

Well gonna be where no lies be told on me
When I get on the other side
I'm gonna sit down on the banks of the river
Well I won't be back no more

Tell God all about my troubles
That I had in this world here below
I'm gonna sit down on the banks of the river
Hey!

I'm gonna fly from mansion to mansion
When I get on the other side
I'm gonna sit down on the banks of the river
Well I won't be back no more

Gonna meet my mother and my father
And my sisters and my brothers too
Yeah!
What?

I'll be where I won't have to say no more goodbyes
And won't have to part no more
Yeah, sit down on the banks of the river
Lord I won't be back no more

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Padre
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 01:03 AM

There are two that I want:

"Adoro Devote" with the Swahili words as translated by Edmund Palmer:

"Dundee" with words by Charles Wesley -

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Joe_F
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 09:38 AM

"The Night before Larry Was Stretched" (one of the advantages of being hanged is that you can go to your own wake)

My mother said, "When I die, put on the Dreigroschenoper". So I did.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Obie
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 11:14 AM

or "Isn't It Grand Boys."

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: HuwG
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 01:00 PM

"Calon Lan"


And, since I intend to be cremated (though not for a few decades yet), "Smokestack Lightnin'"

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,guest
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 01:16 PM

Has be "Will you Miss Me" Guthrie or "She moves through the fair."

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Bearheart
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 01:44 PM

Friends and family gathered someplace beautiful-- outside, weather permitting-- singing and playing their memories of me-- the songs and tunes we've shared.

And sing this one:
"I will arise and go now and go to Innisfree, And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made. Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honeybee, And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I will have some peace there, For peace comes dropping slow, Dropping on the veils of the morning, To where the cricket sings. There midnight's all aglimmer, and noon's apurple glow, and evening's full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day, I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore. While standing in the roadway or in the pavement grey, I hear it in the deep heart's core." (W.B. Yeats)

Because that is heaven to me.

Then spread my ashes somewhere on a piece of the green earth I love, under a tree, beside a river.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Mack/Misophist
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 02:25 PM

I'll Be Glad When You're Dead, You Rascal, You preferable not the Louis Armstrong version.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: ToulouseCruise
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 02:51 PM

While I have never thought about it myself, my father has told me he would like to hear the song "Amazing Grace" played... he is now 82, and while is in good health, one never knows what may happen. I have only been singing for a couple years, and I have no idea what I would do if my family suggested that I should at his funeral... it would be an honor to do it, but I don't know if I could hold myself together... then again, should it be something I suggest myself? there's 13 kids in the family (yes, thirteen), so I do not know how much my siblings would be involved... hopefully plenty of time to think this one over..

so while it is a bit of thread creep... what do u all think?

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Zany Mouse
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 06:21 PM

No contest of this one. I would like: "Wish Me Luck As You Wave Me Goodbye" - then off to the pub for a good sing! I'll be there in spirit to enjoy.

ZM

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Robin2
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 06:52 PM

ToulouseCruise,

Amazing Grace was my dad's favorite too, and the one he requested, along with "Danny Boy". Family left the music up to me, and I took it as an honor to make sure Dad had a good sendoff! Although I didn't play, two of my good friends played at the service, and then my son sang Amazing Grace. Tough gig, but he pulled it off with just a little quaver. At the gravesite we had a piper play it again, as Dad requested.

Now I can't hear the song without misting up.

Robin2

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Gareth
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 07:11 PM

Mmmm ! Mind you there might be a problem with the 20 minutes per service allocated by the average British Cremetorium !

I still wish for my service to be :-

"Stop Engines"

Splash

"Resume normal speed"

Gareth

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: fiddler
Date: 26 Nov 03 - 08:13 AM

I'll go with LF above.

Recently atended a funeral with the corpse in his box in fishing kit and we sung Fiddlers Green and a slow shanty - magic - If I fished I would - then the pub for a sing and an eat.

Celebrate is the best way!!!

A

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Strollin' Johnny
Date: 26 Nov 03 - 12:38 PM

Spaw - Lay Down Your Weary Tune, a great choice - wonderful imagery (and thanks for the lyrics a while back). It's in my repertoire now :-)

My own choice is 'The Funeral Song' (Brian Bedford).

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 26 Nov 03 - 01:04 PM

Not sure what it's called - but it won't be collected, or possibly written, until around the year 2050.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Merritt
Date: 26 Nov 03 - 01:43 PM

Don't Get Around Much Anymore ~ Russel and Ellington, 1940

- Merritt

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 27 Nov 03 - 01:35 AM

I'l add one more to my earlier post. Riggy singing Home Lads, Home.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Peggles
Date: 27 Nov 03 - 02:29 AM

What a great thread. As I plan to be cremated I'd dearly love to have Josef Locke singing "Blaze Away" but that might be a bit too traumatic for the family so will settle for Gracie Fields version of "Wish me Luck as You Wave me Goodbye"

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: muppett
Date: 27 Nov 03 - 05:44 AM

I'd like to have a song I think is called 'Isn't it grand boys'?
the chorus goes 'and always remember the longer you live, the sooner you'll bloody well die'.

Another song I'd like would be 'happy smily people by REM

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 27 Nov 03 - 07:10 PM

I like to swap 2 verses of Parting Glass around 0 it gives better feel to me - look at it and you may guess which 2

Robin

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Sooz(at work)
Date: 28 Nov 03 - 08:13 AM

Tut tut Jonny (I saw your other post) Funeral Song is Keith Marsden!

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,S.Milligan
Date: 28 Nov 03 - 09:01 AM

Peggles, you could also follow up with a chorus of "The Oak and the ASH"!!

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Strollin' Johnny
Date: 28 Nov 03 - 10:15 AM

Sooz, I always confuse those two, like I always want to call Miranda Sykes Belinda. It's an age thang! (Good song though, no matter who writ it!)

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Li T'ieh-kuai
Date: 28 Nov 03 - 10:24 AM

What's a Funeral??

Li T'ieh-kuai

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Hsi-wang-mu
Date: 28 Nov 03 - 10:40 AM

Li T'ieh-kuai    Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Phil
Date: 29 Nov 03 - 04:17 AM

Great thread!!
"I'm a man you don't meet everyday" = The Pogues
P

Subject: Lyr Add: ONLY MEMORIES REMAIN
From: GUEST,reggie miles
Date: 29 Nov 03 - 11:05 AM

I had recently completed this song when I was asked to sing at the grave side of a friend's brother. My friend wanted me to sing a Willie McTell song "Pearly Gates". I sent him the words to "Only Memories Remain" and asked if he thought it would be appropriate. Just before I began to sing he gave me the option so I ended up singing it and sang "Pearly Gates" later at the wake. He also had everyone join in on another Willie McTell favorite of mine "Dyin' Crapshooters Blues".

ONLY MEMORIES REMAIN

As I walked the early morning streets
They seemed emptier today
Tryin' to reach inside
To find which words were right to say
But the words weren't there
The falling rain must've washed them all away
Wish you were here to hear this
But only memories remain

The times we shared, good and bad
Now echoes of the past
We said we'd meet next Thursday
To get together at long last
But it wasn't meant to be
Things just happened way too fast
I got the phone call this morning
Another friend of mine had passed

Many believe the human soul is eternal
And that the memory of each life will live on forever
As long as we, the living, never allow those memories to slip away

So it falls to each one of us to make the most of the time we share while we're here together
Because it's by these deeds that those we leave behind will recall us again to where only memories remain

Wasn't it just yesterday?
Our lives entwined as one
Sharing love and laughter
Damn it that was fun
There will never be another
To fill your place beneath the sun
I hope we meet again someday
When my time 'round here is done

Silently we gather
Reflecting hand in hand
About how each life matters
How we touch our fellow man
Here's to you my brother
Until your next refrain
Wishin' you were still here with us
But only memories remain

Yes, here's to you my brother
Until we meet again
Wishin' you were still here with us
But only memories remain

Only memories remain

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Cllr
Date: 29 Nov 03 - 12:21 PM

Something really old, written at the turn of the twenty second century say 2104, Cllr

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: voyager
Date: 29 Nov 03 - 12:39 PM

Cast Your Fate to the Wind
Dying Crapshooters Blues
I Shall Be Released
Cast Your Fate to the Wind (reprise)

voyager
PS - You're all invited!

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Cllr
Date: 29 Nov 03 - 01:21 PM

oops started reading more of the thread and Mr Mcgrath had got the idea before St ill great minds think a like Cllr

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Hillheader
Date: 29 Nov 03 - 03:16 PM

The Parting Glass
It's a Wonderful World
My coffin will be brought into the crematorium to the strains of Carrickfergus.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Firecat
Date: 29 Nov 03 - 07:07 PM

Well, I don't intend to die until at LEAST 2064 (I'll have got to 80 then!) but I love the following songs:-

"Lament" from Evita
"Castle On A Cloud" from Les Miserables
"Will You Wait For Me" by Kavana
"You Have Been Loved" by George Michael
"Say Goodbye" by S Club

And for a finale

"Bring Me To Life" by Evanescence!

No doubt these will change as I get older.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Topcat
Date: 30 Nov 03 - 08:36 PM

Sally Garden sung by Clannad is perhaps the most moving and evocative. It is as deeply moving as the last scene in the film Gladiator when that awesome effect of passing over is presented with such quality. When my wife died along with instructions for the painted box-wood casket was her request for Clannad.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Alice McSweeney
Date: 18 Feb 04 - 12:43 AM

Ralph Funaro wrote this one which is my favorite.It epitomized my dad,and when performed @ his funeral, left not a dry eye in the congregation.
My New Life Has Begun

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=2683&alid=-1


Countless letters of gratitude to Ralph Funaro, composer of the most popular Christian funeral song requested in the Northeast, are indicative of its power. WBZ-4 Boston incorporated it in the 2001 Edgewater Memorial Service broadcast. It has also been aired on channels 7, 5, 68, 56 and 27 (New England) along with many radio broadcasts. More poignantly, it has consoled thousands of the grieving faithful with its powerful message which embodies the essence of Christianity.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Catherine Jayne
Date: 18 Feb 04 - 07:06 AM

Recently due to various personal reasons I have been thinking about what I would like as a funeral! I want to be cremated and I don't want people to mourn my death. I want people to gather in a pub (size of pub depends on how many people I have pissed off at the time of death!) I want food to be availiable and lots of beer...and Gin for Morty and Dead Horse! I want people to laugh, tell jokes, tell stories, sing and play music. I want my passing to be a celebration of life and wheel of life, death and rebirth.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Compton
Date: 18 Feb 04 - 12:26 PM

Ideally a song not written yet!

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Chief Chaos
Date: 18 Feb 04 - 05:04 PM

I want a viking funeral with all that entails.
On the shore a good band singing "Smoke On The Water"
to be followed by "What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been"

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: freightdawg
Date: 18 Feb 04 - 07:03 PM

Don't know that this will ever get back to the Mrs. Freightdawg, but if I could plan my own funeral it would be like this:

While people are being seated the organist would be playing Kansas' "Dust in the Wind." Few would catch on, and those that did would hopefully bust out laughing, knowing what a twisted, sarcastic sense of humor I had. Then move on with the sounds of John Denver's "Eagles and Horses." This would remind people that I was a free spirit. My obituary would be read in between JD's "Rocky Mountain High" and "I Guess He'd Rather Be In Colorado," two truly biographical songs saying what I would like to be said. Then, in memory of the love of my life there would be JD's "A Song For All Lovers." Just before the preacher gets up to wax eloquent about my life there would be a rendition of "Life's Railway to Heaven," and the Isaacs'"Is Not This The Land of Beaulah." Then, just when everyone was thinking that this was a real serious event, the service would be dismissed with a rousing rendition of "Forest Lawn" and everyone would file past my now lifeless body to inumerable rounds of Mac Davis' "It's Hard To Be Humble."

"Oh Lord its hard to be humble,
when your perfect in every way,
I can't wait to look in the mirror;
I get better lookin' each day.
To know me is to love me,
I must be one hell of a man;
Oh Lord, its hard to be humble,
But I'm doing the best that I can."

Then everyone could go out, hoist either a beer or an iced tea, and remember what a cantankerous old galoot I really was, regardless of what the preacher said.

Freightdawg

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Alaska Mike
Date: 18 Feb 04 - 07:40 PM

A medley of my "All Time Greatest Hits".

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: SueB
Date: 19 Feb 04 - 01:40 AM

Maybe Sara and Maybelle Carter - "I'm leaving you this lonesome" song", or maybe "Are you tired of me, my darling"

or maybe "Streets of Glory", the version with the verse "I'm gonna tell God how you treat(ed) me" followed by the verse "God's gonna set this world on fire"

or maybe Sippie Wallace, "Up the Country Blues"

actually now that I think of it, a whole set full of blues would be good, with a lot of Rory Block thrown in -

wow, this is hard. thank goodness I'm going to be cremated.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Rain Dog
Date: 19 Feb 04 - 08:38 AM

I would like to have two by Tom Waits

Come on up to the house

and

Time

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Mrs.Duck
Date: 19 Feb 04 - 08:47 AM

Slight aside heard on the radio last week about an undertaker arranging a funeral for a very elderly lady called Sally. She had always been a fan of Gracie Fields so not surprisingly the family chose 'Sally' as her parting song - however the man working the CD got so choked with emotion that he neglected to turn the machine off at the end of the song so the poor old dear passed through into the furnace to the strains of 'Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye'!

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Feb 04 - 08:58 AM

I plan to have a nice quiet back ground as the mourners enter, Glen Miller with Moonlight Serenade, then while seated, The Pilgrim by Kristofferson, finally, as the lift me shoulder high, Glen Miller again, with 'In the Mood'. I have been inspired by scenes of New Orleans Jazz funerals.. I wanna dance all the way to the here-after!

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Bobjack
Date: 19 Feb 04 - 08:59 AM

Don't care because I am not likely to hear it.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Rain Dog
Date: 19 Feb 04 - 09:03 AM

Bobjack you might be able to hear it.

But if you do you will be unable to tell anyone.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Bobjack
Date: 19 Feb 04 - 09:08 AM

Raindog. You are just trying to frighten me aren't you.

Subject: Lyr Add: DOWN TO A RIVER (ALAN'S SONG) (C Kaldor)
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Feb 04 - 10:23 AM

"Glory, Glory, Hallelujah (When I Lay My Burden Down)" - recorded by Doc Watson and others. I sang it at my father's funeral in 1987.


A beautiful song by Connie Kaldor

DOWN TO A RIVER (ALAN'S SONG)
Connie Kaldor © SOCAN         
        

There are dinners, there's music
There is laughter there were tears
There are memories that go back
Over the years
There are the marks made in a life
Like only good friends do
Now I must choose to make a mark
For the things I loved in you

    I'll go down to a river
    And plant a tree
    Something strong, wild and living
    Those are my memories
    And I'll go up to a mountain
    And sing to the stars
    Can you hear me
    Where ever you are.

And there's phone calls and there's crying
And there's clutching to the chest
And there's singing songs and throwing dirt
And laying down to rest
And there's carving words on stone
And making church bells ring
But the river when it freezes over
Still thaws and runs each spring

    Chorus

Do you hear the ones who loved you
And who were glad they knew you well
Do the hearts you left that miss you
Ring like a bell

    Chorus

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Sttaw Legend
Date: 19 Feb 04 - 10:35 AM

"Always look on the bright side of life"

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Crane Driver
Date: 19 Feb 04 - 10:37 AM

Anything I can join in with .....

Andrew

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: TheBigPinkLad
Date: 19 Feb 04 - 01:26 PM

Anything by Chubbie Brown.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Li'l Aussie Bleeder.
Date: 20 Feb 04 - 01:48 AM

"Good-bye Cruel World"

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Rasener
Date: 20 Feb 04 - 01:24 PM

I want to be created (oh sorry I meant cremated).
I want my ashes scattered on the pitch at Villa Park, preferably after Aston Villa have beaten Birmingham City.

The songs that I would like are:-

We are the champions - Queen ( and hopefully Freddy would come back and sing it live)

Three Steps to Heaven Eddy Cochran

Stairway To Heaven - Led Zeppelin

Bat Out Of Hell - Meatloaf

Walking Song - Kate and Anna McGarrigle (As they walk around the pitch paying homage to my urn)

Blowin In The Wind - Peter Paul And Mary (As my ashes are strewn on the pitch)

Then they can all go and have a nosh in the Executive Lounge and get absolutely Pi**ed.

What a way to go :-)

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: andi
Date: 20 Feb 04 - 05:33 PM

I want to be cremated and scattered in the Cape Breton Highlands.
At the service I want to hear
Neil Gow's lament, Played by Ian MacDougall
Finnegan's Wake...As done by Rankin Street
Ivy's Wall, Bruce Guthro
to name a few.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: dianavan
Date: 20 Feb 04 - 11:13 PM

Cremation, please. BIRD ON A WIRE sung for me please. For my brothers, sing SWING LOW, SWEET CHARIOT (our favorite song as kids). What a sad thread. Never thought about this before. I may change my mind.

d

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Lil Dog Turpy
Date: 21 Feb 04 - 12:41 AM

Not a song, but at my mothers funeral last year my brother played the Attingham Waltz by Helen Torpy

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: matai
Date: 21 Feb 04 - 01:26 AM

I could spend the rest of my life having a great time at all your funerals. if any of you get to mine could you please sing Joan Baez 'Love Song to a Stranger'
....if love means forever expecting nothing returned/ i hope i'll be given another whole lifetime to learn........

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Firecat
Date: 21 Feb 04 - 03:47 PM

actually, I've found another two that I'd like:-

Say Goodbye by S Club and Hello by Evanescence

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,smokinbill
Date: 21 Feb 04 - 08:48 PM

"St. James Infirmary" is a good one. "Satisfied Mind" is also an excellent choice. Mabye Woody's "So Long, It's Been Good To Know Yuh" (with new verses, I suppose).

Just last week I wrote a song touhcing on this very topic.
The song is called "Green Lake Road."
You can listen to it in .mp3 format at my site, Smokin' Bill's Digital Depot. I'm fairly new at songwriting, so I'd appreciate any feedback from the esteemed likes of all ye Mudcatters.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Hrothgar
Date: 21 Feb 04 - 09:58 PM

Just noticed your post, Gareth.

Do you think you could use Cyril Tawney's "Six Feet of Mud?"

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From:
Date: 21 Dec 04 - 08:57 PM

I would want a son by Joseph Arthur called "In the sun"

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Scooby Doo
Date: 31 Dec 04 - 01:53 PM

Everybody Hurts by REM.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Nick
Date: 31 Dec 04 - 03:11 PM

My mum wants 'Smile (Though Your Heart Is Breaking)' sung by Rod Stewart. She's only been a Rod fan once she got over 80.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Peace
Date: 31 Dec 04 - 03:13 PM

I was hoping to have something I write in thirty or forty years as the song at my funeral.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: MaineDog
Date: 31 Dec 04 - 03:17 PM

"I'm Going to a Better Land" -- Sacred Harp, and perhaps a few others
MD

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: harpgirl
Date: 31 Dec 04 - 03:55 PM

My friends and I have recorded our wishes in a book together but have I mentioned I want "Dyin's Crapshooters Blues...and Delia and Old Time Riverman and Aeroplane and Paper in My Shoe?

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Paranoid Android
Date: 31 Dec 04 - 09:12 PM

Cremation acc. by "Great Balls of Fire"

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Cruiser
Date: 31 Dec 04 - 09:46 PM

I'm not too sentimental about such things and don't want a funeral. I plan on being cremated so I don't take up more space or arable land on this crowded earth. They can dispose of my ashes in any acceptable, legal way.

However, should I grow sentimental in my old age, I would want my ashes scattered with a spray of desert wildflowers across a high mountain desert wilderness near a favorite spring of water. A fiddler in the background playing the lilting, slow air "The Methlick Style"(in E-flat) would be nice.

Cruiser

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Bill the Collie
Date: 02 Jan 05 - 09:28 PM

At my cremation it was going to be:
"With my deerstalker hat and my folthediddledee, I was the lover of Lady Chaterlee" But I haven't heard it since yon time so it might be extinct by now.
A few years back, I thought maybe "Sail on" by Dick Gaughan but Mrs BtC said she doesn't like it and as I'll be gone anyway she says...

I think now that a gig by the George Formby Appreciation Society in our house would be nice; but first I'll have to find out if they also know all the words to "Nellie the elephant"

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,punkfolknotdeadyet rocker
Date: 02 Jan 05 - 09:56 PM

only the greatest song ever written
is good enough to see me off into the firey furnace..

i must get round to recording an appropriate kareoke backing
before its to late..


A Windmill In Old Amsterdam:
-------------------------------
A mouse lived in a windmill in old Amsterdam
A windmill with a mouse in and he wasn't grousin'
He sang every morning, "How lucky I am,
Living in a windmill in old Amsterdam!"
Chorus:
I saw a mouse!
Where?
There on the stair!
Where on the stair?
Right there!
A little mouse with clogs on
Well I declare!
Going clip-clippety-clop on the stair
Oh yeah

This mouse he got lonesome, he took him a wife
A windmill with mice in, it's hardly surprisin'
She sang every morning, "How lucky I am,
Living in a windmill in old Amsterdam!"

Chorus

First they had triplets and then they had quins
A windmill with quins in, and triplets and twins in
They sang every morning, "How lucky we are
Living in a windmill in Amsterdam, ya!"

Chorus

The daughters got married and so did the sons
The windmill had christ'nin's when no one was list'nin'
They all sang in chorus, "How lucky we am
Living in a windmill in old Amsterdam!"

Chorus

A mouse lived in a windmill, so snug and so nice
There's nobody there now but a whole lot of mice.

(Dicks & Rudge)

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Scoville at Dad's
Date: 02 Jan 05 - 10:03 PM

Never thought about it, but my mother wants "Who Will Sing For Me?" and Howie Mitchell's "Dipper of Stars".

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,punkfolkreflectingaboutmortalityrocker
Date: 02 Jan 05 - 10:17 PM

my dad wanted and got "Peanut Vendor" Stan Kenton

sound clip:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/clipserve/B000003DA1001005/026-2583809-4346002

that saw me old man off up the chimney quite nicely..

not sure yet what my dear old mum wants..
probably "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine"- Frankie Vaughan
or "Ace of Spades" - Motorhead..

my wife can have whatever tune she wants
as long as she shuts up long enough
to let the vicar get on with the ceremony uninterupted..

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Dewey
Date: 03 Jan 05 - 04:51 AM

My Way, Frank Sinatra (LOL)

Actually, I don't think the song fits well at a funeral, but I must confess I do love its over-all message of self-reliance and determination. It would be my ultimate fantasy to have Frank himself sing for me, but he's too dead to sing.

Love that song!

Great Wisdom in It!

Dewey

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Rusty Dobro
Date: 03 Jan 05 - 07:48 AM

Must be 'When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease' by Roy Harper, then both of my friends can file out to the instrumental coda from 'Layla' by Derek and the Dominoes. Adnams Ale will feature largely shortly thereafter.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Lanfranc
Date: 03 Jan 05 - 08:07 AM

In my various social capacities I attend rather more funerals than I would wish. The choice of music varies from the sublime to the ridiculous, but one time when the sobs from the attendees were audible was when one elderly gentleman chose to say farewell at the funeral of his wife of sixty-odd years with an old recording of Kathleen Ferrier singing "What is life to me without thee" from Gluck's "Orpheo". Not a dry eye in the house!

For me? "Lay down your weary tune" will do nicely!

Alan

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 03 Jan 05 - 09:09 AM

Let's see, last summer we put together a set of songs for father's remembrance special event:

1. When You and I Were Young, Maggie

2. Gone, Gonna Rise Again

3. Lonesome Dove

4. Nobody's Knows You When You're Down and Out

5. Come Along Home

My point is to spend some time thinking about the person and his/her life and what songs would reflect that.

We also selected several people to tell specific stories and then had an open time for more spontaneous memories.

I've written my own song, "Pastures of Memories,"
but who knows what friends and family will come up with after I reach that farthest shore.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Com Seangan
Date: 03 Jan 05 - 03:42 PM

Great reading through the thread - gives a little insight to the personalities behind the pseudonyms !!

I'd just love if Regina Nathan coulkd make it to the Mass and give "Hail Queen of Heaven" (an old time hymn). And maybe one of my sons to recite "Young and Old" by Charles Kingsley. I taught it to all my kids when they were small. Never liked Kingsley much as a person (mainly because he was so biassed against Ireland!) but he got some feeling into that little poem in the Water Babies.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: katlaughing
Date: 14 Mar 05 - 06:47 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Alaska Mike
Date: 14 Mar 05 - 06:51 PM

I would like a medley of my greatest hits.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Capo da Monty
Date: 14 Mar 05 - 07:32 PM

There can ONLY be one:   

LOVE and MEMORIES by JACK HUDSON.

Cannot reproduce the lyrics here for copyright reasons but anyone who has heard Jack singing this at a gig will know what I mean.
(No I'm NOT suggesting his gigs are funereal!!)

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Chris B (Born Again Scouser)
Date: 14 Mar 05 - 07:34 PM

You won't be there. What do you care, already?

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Dave'sWife
Date: 14 Mar 05 - 07:40 PM

I drive the 'Dave' of MrsDave quite nuts with this. As it happens, I have an illness that at times has threatened to make this subject matter pertinent. Anyhooo..it's always after one of these bouts, after I've recovered and am all fine that I say....

"You know, I would like....... played at my service"

And since my choice is ALWAYS different than the last time, Dave screams:

"ARRGGH, make up your mind woman or please God let me die first!"

Since I cannot bear the thought of him dying first, I figured I'd post my current choice:

For a Dancer
by jackson browne
and..

Ripple
Grateful Dead
(not because I'm a Deadhead..that would be Dave! But, it's lovely song and much more suited for a memorial than wedding. Why DO couples play this one at weddings anyway??)

last year my choice was 'Homeward Bound' - Paul Simon

Before that it was that old Mowing Song...

the one that goes:

The sun has gone down
and the sky it looks red..
and down on the pillow,
where I lay my head.
I lift up my eyes for to see those stars shine
and the thought of my True Love still runs in my mind...

(Roger Eno has nice version with a harmonium but he only sings one verse!)


hey, what's that Sacred Harp song that goes:

Fare thee well, I'm Going Home..
My savior come to take me home..etc etc.
And I don't care to stay here long....

?????

That would be a right fine song to sing at a service but then, we don't know any Sacred Harp singers. best to stick to folk tunes.

If I remember to find the lyrics to some of these, I;ll post them. I missed this thread the last time it swung around. Lest anybody think I'm overly maudlin in actually thinking about this..I'ver buried more than one friend a year since the age of 14 and it's getting tiresome not knowing what they would have liked us to sing! I'm 41 now and darn it..I want Ripple and For a Dancer if I predecease my pals. I'm gonna print this out and staple it to my Life Insurance policy!

I don't find this depressing. I think its good to talk about this in advance. I've already told my husband to see to it that I am nothing more than ashes before any of the Old-time Irish in the family get any wild ideas about a 3-day Wake in NYC. That would be enough to make me haunt somebody.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Dave'sWife
Date: 14 Mar 05 - 07:49 PM

oops..My nick here is Dave'sWife, not MrsDave.. MrsDave is my old IRC Chat handle. I haven't been on IRC Chat in years! WHat was I thinking! From my Nick's, you'd think I've been married forever, but nope..just 8 years. So, I drive the 'Dave' of "dave'swife' crazy with my everchanging choices.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Chris Green
Date: 14 Mar 05 - 08:11 PM

I was once at a cremation where "Colours of Day" was sung as the coffin went into the furnace. The congregation singing "So light up the fire and let the flame burn" struck me as apposite, to say the least!

On reflection, I think it would probably be "The Unquiet Grave" - without a doubt the best song about letting go of people who've died that I've ever heard.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Andy Jackson
Date: 14 Mar 05 - 08:35 PM

Any song I can join in with will do for me!!

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Dave'sWife
Date: 14 Mar 05 - 08:48 PM

Ok..I've gone and gotten the Lyrics to my two current faves:


FOR A DANCER by Jackson Browne

Keep a fire burning in your eye
Pay attention to the open sky
You never know what will be coming down
I don't remember losing track of you
You were always dancing in and out of view
I must have thought you'd always be around
Always keeping things real by playing the clown
Now you're nowhere to be found

I don't know what happens when people die
Can't seem to grasp it as hard as I try
It's like a song I can hear playing right in my ear
That I can't sing
I can't help listening
And I can't help feeling stupid standing 'round
Crying as they ease you down
'Cause I know that you'd rather we were dancing
Dancing our sorrow away
(Right on dancing)
No matter what fate chooses to play
(There's nothing you can do about it anyway)

Just do the steps that you've been shown
By everyone you've ever known
Until the dance becomes your very own
No matter how close to yours
Another's steps have grown
In the end there is one dance you'll do alone

Keep a fire for the human race
Let your prayers go drifting into space
You never know what will be coming down
Perhaps a better world is drawing near
And just as easily it could all disappear
Along with whatever meaning you might have found
Don't let the uncertainty turn you around
(The world keeps turning around and around)
Go on and make a joyful sound

Into a dancer you have grown
From a seed somebody else has thrown
Go on ahead and throw some seeds of your own
And somewhere between the time you arrive
And the time you go
May lie a reason you were alive
But you'll never know

and the other one I want:
"Ripple"

Words by Robert Hunter; music by Jerry Garcia.
("Ripple" composed and written by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter. Reproduced by arrangement with Ice Nine Publishing Co., Inc. (ASCAP))
If my words did glow with the gold of sunshine
And my tunes were played on the harp unstrung
Would you hear my voice come through the music
Would you hold it near as it were your own?

It's a hand-me-down, the thoughts are broken
Perhaps they're better left unsung
I don't know, don't really care
Let there be songs to fill the air

(Chorus)

Ripple in still water
When there is no pebble tossed
Nor wind to blow

Reach out your hand if your cup be empty
If your cup is full may it be again
Let it be known there is a fountain
That was not made by the hands of men

There is a road, no simple highway
Between the dawn and the dark of night
And if you go no one may follow
That path is for your steps alone

(Chorus)

You who choose to lead must follow
But if you fall you fall alone
If you should stand then who's to guide you?
If I knew the way I would take you home



Here's a link to some 40 pages of serious discusiion of the Lyrics to 'Ripple'

The Annotated "Ripple"

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Dave'sWife
Date: 14 Mar 05 - 08:53 PM

Omigod I made my first Clickie!

....And it's to an appropriately lengthy discussion of the thousands of poosible interpretations of one songs lyrics!


Do I get a prize?

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Pauline L
Date: 15 Mar 05 - 01:29 AM

I don't care what songs people sing at my funeral, or whether they sing any songs then.

Give me the roses while I live trying to cheer me on
Useless are flowers that you give after the soul is gone

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Raggytash
Date: 15 Mar 05 - 05:20 AM

Haven't had the time to read all the thread, but when the rollers start at the crematorium I want Gracie Field singing .......


.......... Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye
          Cheerio here I go on my way

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 15 Mar 05 - 07:56 AM

I don't want to have a funeral. just bagged and burned. the time to say nice things to and about people is when they're alive.

I get bored at weddings too.

The idea of all these buggers who wouldn't as much as buy you a drink when you were alive, all sitting there in the crem, having a hootenanny.....no doubt with a pie and chips and a raffle in the middle for free entry to next weeks funeral.

then the vicar starts up, We are her today to remember and pay homage to the life of ....shit I've forgotten the words...

Well ....I suppose at least you wouldn't be there.

Big Al Whittle

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,GUEST,Chris B (Born Again Scouser)
Date: 15 Mar 05 - 08:40 AM

'I Never Liked Any Of You, You Sanctimonious Bastards'.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Jim
Date: 15 Mar 05 - 12:09 PM

If you hear somebody knockin' on your door
If you see something crawlin' across the floor
Baby, it'll be me, and I'll be lookin' for you

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: 14fret
Date: 16 Mar 05 - 04:17 AM

Anything but bloody folk music. Probably Nilsson's 'Let the good times roll' and 'Driving blind' by Little Feat.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Smoke gets in your eyes
Date: 16 Mar 05 - 05:18 AM

Until March 1st I had a shop next to a funeral direcotrs and daily went in for a chat. They told me they had a job keeping a straight face when "smoke gets in your eyes" was requested.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: just john
Date: 16 Mar 05 - 10:53 AM

...

I want to go simply when I go
They'll give me a simple funeral there I know
With a casket lined in fleece
And fireworks spelling out "rest in peace."
Oh take me when I'm gone to Forest Lawn

Oh lay me down in Forest Lawn they understand there.
And they have a heavenly choir and a military band there.
Just put me in their care, I'll find my comfort there,
With sixteen planes and a last salute, dropping a cross in a parachute.

I want to go simply when I go.
They'll give me a simple funeral there I know,
With a hundred strolling strings
And topless dancers with golden wings.
Oh take me when I'm gone to Forest Lawn

....

Rock of ages cleft for me
For a slightly higher fee.
Oh take me when I'm gone to Forest Lawn


...<\i> -- Tom Paxton

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: just john
Date: 16 Mar 05 - 10:57 AM

(By the way, I sincerely think "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" packs quite a wallop when done right.)

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 16 Mar 05 - 11:13 AM

Buffy Sainte-Marie's "Starwalker" would be fine. I love that song.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: DannyC
Date: 16 Mar 05 - 12:06 PM

"The Joy of Living" - McColl

Farewell Ye Northern hills...

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 16 Mar 05 - 12:27 PM

I'd like the full New Orleans Jazz Funeral treatment, including:

"Just A Closer Walk"

"Glory Glory Hallelulia/When I Lay My Burden Down" (which uses the same tune as "Will The Circle Be Unbroken")

and more, certainly including this classic, which is credited to Louis Armstrong on the internet lyrics page where I found it, but which is really (I think) traditional:


Didn't he ramble.... he rambled
Rambled all around.... in and out of town
Didn't he ramble....didn't he ramble
He rambled till the butcher cut him down

His feet was in the market place..his head was in the street
Lady pass him by, said..look at the market meat
He grabbed her pocket book..and said I wish you well
She pulled out a forty-five..said I'm head of personnel

Didn't he ramble...I said he rambled
Rambled all around...in and out of town
Didn't he ramble...oh didn't he ramble
He rambled till the butcher shot him down

(instrumental break)

He slipped into the cat house..made love to the stable
Madam caught him cold..said I'll pay you when I be able
Six months had passed ..and she stood all she could stand
She said buddy when I'm through with you
Ole groundhog gonna be shakin yo' hand

And didn't he ramble...he rambled
Rambled all around...in and out of town
Oh didn't he ramble......he rambled
You know he rambled...till the butcher...cut him down

I said he rambled..lord...'till the butcher shot him down

(The above two verses are new to me ~ in my experience, at funersla whereI've heard it, only the chorus is sung; the verse are done instrumentally-only.)

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Rustic Rebel
Date: 16 Mar 05 - 12:44 PM

I can't commit to a song yet since I have a hundred year life plan ahead of me. Might be a good song yet to come!
I do want to be cremated though and "Please don't bury me", John Prine, is at the top of my list.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 25 Mar 05 - 11:42 AM

GONNA SIT DOWN ON THE BANK OF THE RIVER (above) has been entered for indexing in the AFRICAN-AMERICAN SPIRITUALS PERMATHREAD as a possible spiritual.

If lyrics of any spirituals are added to this thread, please take a moment to post that TITLE and this thread's ID number (or full URL) in the AFRICAN-AMERICAN SPIRITUALS PERMATHREAD, so it can be included when the index is updated.

Thanks!

~S~

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: PoohBear
Date: 25 Mar 05 - 01:12 PM

NO Funeral - just one hell of a wake, please, lubricated with lots of Guinness. And scatter my ashes in the Pacific Ocean off the centeral Oregon coast. Every upbeat folk song you can think of but please be sure to include the following:
Calypso by John Dever
Nautical Wheeler by Jimmy Buffett
Flower of Scotland by The Corries
Finnegan's Wake
PB

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 25 Mar 05 - 01:58 PM

the joy of living!

surely the whole bleeding point is that your dead.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,*Laura*
Date: 26 Mar 05 - 01:46 PM

I want Monty Python's 'Always look on the bright side'
and - I think this would be brilliant - 'Another one Bites the Dust'.
But my mum has said if I die before her she refuses to play 'Another one bites the dust' at my funeral. :-(

xLx

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: gnu
Date: 26 Mar 05 - 02:49 PM

Hehehehe. Ohhhh, Laura. Thanks for the laugh. Excellent!!!

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Siobhan
Date: 03 Apr 05 - 03:46 PM

My choice would be the music from the film 'True Confessions'. Especially the scene near the end where the two main characters played by Robert De Niro and Robert Duvall who are brothers meet to make peace with each other. The music was an instrumental slow air version of 'Carrickfergus' which I thought was very poignant..It was playing as one was telling the other he was dying. Unfortunately its about the only part of the film that was any good.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: mandoleer
Date: 03 Apr 05 - 04:48 PM

When I organised my mother's funeral, I had to disregard one of her wishes (to be transported in a cardboard box in a Transit van - too hard to get sorted in a couple of days in what for us was deep snow!), but I did make sure that there was no priest at the cremation ceremony. This meant I had to write and do the oration, and I chose music from one of her favourite bands for a time of reflection after I had spoken. Most of those present would have been horrified if they'd known what the band was - http://www.metalstorm.ee/bands/view_albums.php?band_id=anathema
Anathema are now more Goth, but then they were Death Metal (appropriate?). The track I used, 'Dreaming: The Romance' is one of the most beautiful bits of music I've heard. Wouldn't mind it myself, or Arvo Part (with an umlaut on the Part)'s Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten. Can't stand BB, but love the Cantus. And then a short session, and on to the pub for a longer one.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Rasener
Date: 03 Apr 05 - 04:51 PM

Lanfranc
Kathleen ferrier and what is life, must be one of the saddist songs ever sung, especially at a funeral. No wonder there wasn't a dry eye.

In all seriousness it will figure at my funeral, together with Everytime we say goodbye by Ella Fitzgerald. Maybe it could be finished off with Cry me a river :-)

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Stephen L. Rich
Date: 03 Apr 05 - 09:59 PM

"Yes! We Have No Bananas" -- just for the sake of doing one last weird thing.

Stephen Lee

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 03 Apr 05 - 10:13 PM

Now We Take This Feeble Body- Arr. R. Nathaniel Dett. It's a spiritual on my Opera Ebony CD. The CD track could just be played.

~S~

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Peace
Date: 03 Apr 05 - 11:08 PM

"Summer of '69" by Bryan Adams. Cranked loud--reverb, lotsa bass and lotsa treble.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Dipsodeb
Date: 04 Apr 05 - 04:09 AM

We were discussing this the other day strangely enough and I want to be carried in to Blackbird (Beatles) I want My daughter to sing I will always love you (Whitney) she sings it beautifully and always makes me cry.. how she would get through that I don't know. Finally I want to end with I Love to Boogie (Bolan) Then on to a great party with a provided list of all my other favorites.....by which time it will be just as well i'm not there LOL
~Debs~

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Rasener
Date: 04 Apr 05 - 04:58 PM

Just got back from my best friends funeral in Redditch UK today.

Tom Lewis was at his bedside when he died and sang a song to him.

When he got back to Canada, he recorded it and sent it on CD to his wife. It was played at the funeral.

I would like to personally thank Tom for unselfishly looking after his wife and daughter, whilst touring around the Midlands. I won't embarrass you Tom :-)

Les Worrall

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Peace
Date: 04 Apr 05 - 05:00 PM

I am sorry to learn of this, Les. Accept my condolences, please.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,bfdk
Date: 04 Apr 05 - 06:00 PM

I'd go for

Runrig's "The Old Boys"

followed by

Nick Keir's "Next Time Round" ;-))

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Fiss
Date: 05 Apr 05 - 04:30 AM

Chris B, born again Scouser, is "I Never Liked Any Of You, You Sanctimonious Bastards" an existing song? I couldn't find it in the Mudcat archives, but it sounds like it might have been suitable for the funeral of a friend of mine.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Lancashire Lad
Date: 05 Apr 05 - 04:56 AM

Who Knows Where the time goes for a few tears
followed by Drink Old England dry.....for a long and roudy wake

LL

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Young Buchan
Date: 05 Apr 05 - 06:28 AM

I'm tempted to say A Million Green Bottles Hanging on the Wall, but given the way that most folksingers in England seem to slow ballads down these days, the whole of Lord Bateman would probably have much the same effect!

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 15 Sep 06 - 07:00 PM

When the coffin starts its slow glide into the incinerator,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqRnaSRyELA This amazing instrumental is what I want to hear played.

Unfortunately Roy Buchanan won't be able to do a command performance, but I do have the single, which I bought in 1972.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 15 Sep 06 - 07:02 PM

mmmm screwed that up, let's hope the cremation goes off without any hitches

This amazing instrumental

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,thurg
Date: 15 Sep 06 - 08:38 PM

I'd have them bury me dacent and raise a loud cry. I don't want St. James Infirmary sung, but I'd like the instructions followed to a T, including, On my hearse a jazz band playing ("Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone" would be an appropriate selection), To raise a little hell as we roll along. And a chorus girl to sing me one last song ("Let's Go Get Stoned" - Amboy Dukes version, please). And don't forget the straight-laced shoes and box-back coat. Thank you.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Dartford Warbler
Date: 15 Sep 06 - 08:45 PM

Richard Thompson's "Meet On The Ledge". Though not sure what recorded version I would have?

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: katlaughing
Date: 15 Sep 06 - 09:21 PM

Murray, great video!

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,oldhippie
Date: 15 Sep 06 - 09:55 PM

The Trumpet Vine - Kate Wolf

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Sep 06 - 11:35 PM

Something someone writes about 30 years from now.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: ifor
Date: 16 Sep 06 - 12:03 AM

the great welsh hymn
calon lan
ifor

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Sandy Andina
Date: 16 Sep 06 - 03:04 AM

"There She Goes"

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: JamesHenry
Date: 16 Sep 06 - 04:07 AM

"See You Later Alligator" Bill Haley

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Dr Price
Date: 16 Sep 06 - 06:12 AM

Our good friend Murray came from Bracknell in leafy Berkshire, but he loved South Wales. He died of lung cancer, and his will requested that we sing the miners' "gutter choir" union marching song When The Coal Comes From The Rhondda at his funeral. We journeyed across the Severn Bridge, and sang with gusto to our dear pal in the coffin:

You men of Tonypandy who dig the veins of coal
(With my little pick and shovel, I'll be there!)
The boss may own the colliery, but he'll never own your soul
(With my little pick and shovel, I'll be there!)

When the coal comes from the Rhondda,
When the coal comes from the Rhondda,
With my shovel and my pick and my little lamp and wick,
When the coal comes from the Rhondda, I'll be there!

The funny thing was that Murray was an arch-Conservative, but he really liked that song!

I take my name from Dr William Price, genius, visionary and self-styled Druid who lived in Caerffili and Llantrisant in the 19th century. Given that Dr Price opened the way for cremation, how about Fire by The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown?

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Jim McAdams
Date: 16 Sep 06 - 10:53 AM

"A man's a man" by Rabbie Burns and on my headstone "a man of independent mind, he looks and laughs at a' that"

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: foggers
Date: 16 Sep 06 - 11:55 AM

Haven't decided on mine yet, but we followed the wishes of my dear and wicked old dad 17 years ago, and as he slid into the incinerator, the congregation was treated to "Smoke gets in your Eyes".... that is going to be a tough one to follow...

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Rapparee
Date: 16 Sep 06 - 12:11 PM

I've posted some before, but today I'm thinking the "Time, Gentlemen, Time" might be good.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Fat elk
Date: 16 Sep 06 - 07:59 PM

I want an old Easter hymn called 'Up from the grave he arose' at mine.

Failing, 'Stars in my Crown' by Waterson:Carthy

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: PNB
Date: 16 Sep 06 - 08:30 PM

John Prine's, "Please Don't Bury Me"

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Johnhenry'shammer
Date: 17 Sep 06 - 12:08 AM

"Tomorrow is a Long Time" by Bob Dylan and "Oh, Freedom"

"...before I'd be a slave, I'd be burried in my grave. And I'd go home to my lord and be free."

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: stallion
Date: 17 Sep 06 - 05:26 AM

Alright Now - Free

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Sep 06 - 03:18 PM

"Hurry Sundown" by Earl Robinson and E. Y. "Yip" Harburg. Written for the Preminger film but declined. Recorded circa 1966 by Peter, Paul and Mary.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: sharyn
Date: 18 Sep 06 - 02:42 PM

First of all, one song is not enough. I want "What's the Life of a Man" and "Boat of Silver" by J,B. Goodenough. And I agree with Chanteyranger about "Home, Lads, Home." And someone will have to sing "I Bid You Goodnight" and the Shape Note hymn that begins "And Am I Born to Die." And someone should sing "Morning Shanty" -- but get it right, please: listen to the timing on my recording and don't add verses! I want to be cremated and if anyone wants to keep vigil while the body is burning you can sing whatever you want or sit in silent meditation. I hope someone organizes a memorial service where there is good food and music and people can tell stories about me.

My Mom wants opera arias at her funeral. "No hymns," she said. I told her if she didn't specify which ones I would play Leporello singing Don Giovanni's list of conquests!

Sharyn

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Rasener
Date: 18 Sep 06 - 03:02 PM

A week today for my dad, we will have at the end of the service

The Carnival Is Over by The Seekers

Should be a few tears there. Hope my Mom can cope with it.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Bob Hitchcock
Date: 18 Sep 06 - 05:14 PM

I read that Peter Sellers requested "In the Mood" by Glenn Miller for his funeral, because he hated the song so much. If I use the same logic, please have someone sing "Having my Baby" by Paul Anka when I go to that great gig in the sky.

Oh, and on my headstone put the same inscription as Spike Milligan, "See, I told you I was sick"

Bob.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Sep 06 - 07:59 PM

Somebody already mentioned the epitaph from Robert Louis Stevenson's headstone, that ends "Home is the sailor, home from sea / And the hunter home from the hill". Does it have a tune?

I just found another bit of poetry that I'd like set to music and sung for me, rather long, but what *I* would like. (My family would HATE it *LOL*)

BB,
NightWing

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Cats
Date: 19 Sep 06 - 02:37 PM

As I'm being dissected and given away to any body who needs a spare part or any lab that needs me for an experiment, I'm not having a funeral. I'm having a really good sing instead. So, as long as someone sings, Beaulah, Bright Morning Star, Canaan's Land, All the verses of Northfield [including Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer ~ try it, it works], then anyone can sing whatever they want as long as it is a cracking good sing and not morbid. No black, no tears, lots to eat and drink. You're all invited.
By the way, when Jon's mum 's coffin went through the curtains at the crematorium, she had played exactly what she asked for ~ come on baby, light my fire!!

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Popinjay
Date: 20 Sep 06 - 02:38 PM

"What song do you want at your funeral?"

Around 'ere that sort of question's a threat.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Jenn
Date: 22 May 07 - 08:17 PM

"So Long and Thanks for all the Fish" from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Because that's just hilarious, considering that I hate fish.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Rosalie
Date: 22 May 07 - 08:56 PM

"Exit" from Sacrd Harp
"Death like an overflowing stream
Sweeps us away, our life's a dream
An empty vale a morning shower
Cut down and whithered in an hour."

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: guitar
Date: 23 May 07 - 10:53 AM

If I was being burnt I would like light my fire or if I was being flung into the ground, the song hole in the ground, and when everyone is leaving the chruch the song you're still going to die, or a hot time in the old town tonight (billy connolly version)

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST
Date: 23 May 07 - 12:15 PM

Disco Inferno.....



...... BUrn baby burn...


..............*dances like john Travolta

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: guitar
Date: 23 May 07 - 12:33 PM

Oh that's what I want written on my headstone in very small letters.

piss off you're standing on my balls

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: guitar
Date: 23 May 07 - 01:03 PM

I sang at my father funeral the songs I sang where the old man (the fureys) and fields of Athenry, (he didn't support Celtic by the way) (And neither do I)

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Chris B (Born Again Scouser)
Date: 23 May 07 - 01:03 PM

'Please don't bury me' by John Prine

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 23 May 07 - 03:44 PM

Fire, you're gonna burn!...by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 23 May 07 - 06:45 PM

"Rosin the Bow" at the service.

Anything at all at the wake, as long as it's cheerful.

But I especially want John Barden to close the session with "Here's a Health to the Company", as I have a feeling I may not be able to do it myself after the cremation.

Don T.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Lucius
Date: 23 May 07 - 11:24 PM

IÕm torn it either Jealous Daddy's Death Song by the Holy Modal Rounders: ÒAnd if any of you punks try to misbehave, I'll haunt your asses to an early grave. I'm telling you telling you boys, don't you monkey with my widow when I'm gone.Ó or ÒThe Burial WaltzÓ but the Fugs: "Bury me in an apple orchard that I may touch your lips again..."

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,The black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 24 May 07 - 07:43 AM

"Duke of Marlborough's Fanfare"(Think that's the title?) from "All right Jack" by Home service.
It would sound so much better live than a recording but the liklihood of finding suitable musicians.....

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: dj bass
Date: 24 May 07 - 08:26 AM

Queen: Don't Stop Me Now

I like the thought of my survivors trying not to laugh at it.

dj

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Dan Schatz
Date: 17 Jun 07 - 01:12 AM

"Going On" by Lois Lyman.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Frivolous Sal
Date: 17 Jun 07 - 04:15 AM

"Rolling Home" and
"How Can I Keep from Singing"

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 17 Jun 07 - 06:50 AM

TTO: Fiddlers' Green

Dress me up in my best suit and drop me
at the church near that big fac-to-ry
D'you know what's for dinner?
That's right! I'm the winner
and you'll have me someday as Soylent Green.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,john f weldon
Date: 17 Jun 07 - 07:12 AM

-Ding Dong the Witch is Dead!
-Jump (Dudley Moore)

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: goatfell
Date: 29 Oct 07 - 08:15 AM

the songs I want are LIGHT MY FIRE, HOLE IN THE GROUND AND FOR ALL THOSE THAT ARE STILL LIVING AND GOING TO MY FUNERAL 'YOU'RE STILL GONNA DIE

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: topical tom
Date: 29 Oct 07 - 10:20 AM

Here Could I Go But To The Lord?        


Artist: Harris Emmylou
Song: Where Could I Go But To The Lord
Album: Angel Band
        Buy Emmylou Harris Sheet Music
Buy Emmylou Harris CDs

Living below in this old sinful world
Hardly a comfort can afford
Striving alone to face temptations call
Where could I go to the Lord

Where could I go where could I go
Seeking a refuge for my soul
Needing a friend to help me in the end
Where could I go to the Lord

Neighbors are fun I love ‘em everyone
We get along in sweet accord
But when I pass the chilling hand of death
Where could I go to the Lord

Where could I go where could I go
Seeking a refuge for my soul
Needing a friend to help me in the end
Where could I go to the Lord

Life here is grand with friends I love so well
Comfort I get from God's own Word
But when my soul needs manna from above
Where could I go to the Lord

Where could I go where could I go
Seeking a refuge for my soul
Needing a friend to help me in the end
Where could I go to the Lord

Where could I go where could I go
Seeking a refuge for my soul
Needing a friend to help me in the end
Where could I go to the Lord
Where could I go to the Lord

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 29 Oct 07 - 06:27 PM

It won't be written for at least 30 more years.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Jim Carroll
Date: 30 Oct 07 - 03:56 AM

My friend, collector the late Tom Munnelly, was ill for some time and planned his funeral down to the last detail (see recent thread).
His first choice as the funeral assembled was Frank Profitt's 'Going Across The Mountain'.
As a lifelong Marx Brothers fan, his 'order of service' notes had the quote 'Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend, inside a dog, it's too dark to read'. As we left somebody remarked 'Its nice to hear a Marxist quote in church'.
Tom was an atheist and had a non-religious service, but in recognition for his contribution to the community and to Ireland in general, the priest allowed the use of Miltown Malbay church. In acknowledgment Tom thanked him 'for the use of the hall'.
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: theleveller
Date: 30 Oct 07 - 04:14 AM

Anything as long as I can join in.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,Neil D
Date: 30 Oct 07 - 10:51 AM

"Did You Ever Have The Feeling" by Jimmy Durante

                        and


    "Hello, I Must Be Going" by Groucho Marx

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Jim Lad
Date: 30 Oct 07 - 11:43 AM

The Garden

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Irene M
Date: 30 Oct 07 - 04:20 PM

"Quitting Time" by The Roches

"Quatre Heures Du Matin" by Pierre Bensusan

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Jay777
Date: 10 Jul 08 - 02:35 PM

Only one?

Tom Paxton's Whose Garden was This?; Green Fields of France (any good version); ending on a lighter note with Melanie Safka's I Don't Eat Animals. I'd hope people might think more about the songs' meanings than my departure...

There are some beautiful, sad, songs which are traditionally considered more suitable for funerals, but you have to ask yourself: do you really want songs that could reduce people to sobbing their hearts out at your funeral? I don't. But if they want to shed a tear over the state of the planet or war, fine.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: stallion
Date: 10 Jul 08 - 06:07 PM

albatros - Fleetwood Mac - as people go in and sit about
All Right Now - Free - as the curtain opens and my shell disapears

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,MikeS
Date: 10 Jul 08 - 07:19 PM

'Jollity Farm' sung by Vivian Stanshall & the Bonzos

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: jacqui.c
Date: 10 Jul 08 - 07:28 PM

No funeral - cheapest possible cremation and do whatever with the ashes, then spend money on a party for all my friends - there you can sing whatever you want to see me off.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: kendall
Date: 10 Jul 08 - 07:29 PM

Tune for November by Gordon Bok

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: frogprince
Date: 10 Jul 08 - 08:41 PM

This one would do nicely:

WHEN I GO


Come, lonely hunter, chieftain and king, I will fly like the falcon when I go
Bear me my brother under your wing, I will strike fell like lightning when I go
I will bellow like the thunder drum, invoke the storm of war
A twisting pillar spun of dust and blood up from the prairie floor
I will sweep the foe before me like a gale out on the snow
And the wind will long recount the story, reverence and glory, when I go

Spring, spirit dancer, nimble and thin, I will leap like coyote when I go
Tireless entrancer, lend me your skin, I will run like the gray wolf when I go
I will climb the rise at daybreak, I will kiss the sky at noon
Raise my yearning voice at midnight to my mother in the moon
I will make the lay of long defeat and draw the chorus slow
I'll send this message down the wire and hope that someone wise is listening when I go

And when the sun comes trumpets from his red house in the east
He will find a standing stone where long I chanted my release
He will send his morning messenger to strike the hammer blow
And I will crumble down uncountable in showers of crimson rubies when I go

Sigh, mournful sister, whisper and turn, I will rattle like dry leaves when I go
Stand in the mist where my fire used to burn, I will camp on the night breeze when I go
And should you glimpse my wandering form out on the borderline
Between death and resurrection and the council of the pines
Do not worry for my comfort, do not sorrow for me so
All your diamond tears will rise up and adorn the sky beside me when I go

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: frogprince
Date: 10 Jul 08 - 08:43 PM

(That's by Dave Carter).

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Beer
Date: 10 Jul 08 - 10:29 PM

Every Grain of Sand as recorded by;
Bob Dylan

Or " Don't come crying at My Funeral Because your Not Invited".....by ?
Beer (adrien)

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,albert
Date: 11 Jul 08 - 01:01 PM

Calon Lan ..traditional welsh hymn
and Chimes of Freedom as sung by the Byrds
albert

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Folkiedave
Date: 11 Jul 08 - 01:36 PM

A good friend who died recently asked that the coffin did disappear and the curtains close until everyone had left the church.

We went out to Buddy Holly's Rave On.

Another mate went out to No One Stands Alone (Blue Murder).

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Andy, Port Erin, I-O-M
Date: 11 Jul 08 - 01:54 PM

Its an instrumental by Floyd Cramer "I can just imagine", then perhaps "Rocky Road Blues" by Gene Vincent - seems to encapsulate my life!

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 11 Jul 08 - 02:04 PM

What a task! I've heard so many, heartfelt, sad, inspiring and humorous "last songs." I think I would like to leave them smiling, not dolorous. Only something bright, not maudlin, will do. I considered "Rosin The Beau," but thought it unwise to taunt the grim reaper with a toast. Therefore, I propose "Swingin' On A Star."

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Lord Batman's Kitchener
Date: 11 Jul 08 - 02:28 PM

I don't think it much matters, I won't be there to hear it.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 11 Jul 08 - 03:27 PM

TO LB's Kitchener:

Ah, then, but perhaps you will - from somewhere in the ether. Believer or not, we can only wait and see....

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: Tootler
Date: 11 Jul 08 - 03:56 PM

I'm with LBK on this.

The funeral is for those left behind, so it's up to them to choose the music - or not as the case may be.

Subject: RE: What song do you want at your funeral?
From: The Sandman
Date: 21 Nov 20 - 05:38 AM

1) A vale of tranquility as the curtain comes down,
The stars brightly greet us as the silence surrounds,
Each song that we sang, fond memory records,
Like the stars in the night sky all of one accord.

Chorus: Farewell my friends once more,
As the night gets spent and our voices blend,
Farewell my friends once more.

2) The hours quickly passing, now the fire gets low,
The embers still glowing as we stir up the coals,
So we sing the last song, each chorus a bond,
In harmony united all singing one song.

Chorus

3) The fiddler cast spells as she bowed away time,
We drank down the music far stronger than wine,
But the memories live on from the chalice of song
Of this night spent together before we move on.

Chorus

4) United together, combining as one,
Let us part in agreement, through the power of song,
All people in peace, our voices concord,
Like the stars in the night sky all of one accord.