Funeral song

**nudemetalz** · 10th March 2006, 11:15

Greetings,

After reading (and posting a little) in the "Scared of Dying" thread got me thinking.
Now I don't mean to be morbid as this doesn't have to be.

What is the song that you would like played at your funeral?
Mine is "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" by Pink Floyd. Very powerful and emotive song.

At my Dad's funeral, as we carried out his coffin down the Altar, we did it to "Riders Of The Storm" by the Doors. Boy, you want to hear that echoing all through the church. What a great send-off song !! It was like he cranked up the music himself.
Everytime I hear that song, it gives me a smile. That's what a send-off song should be about.

**Sniper** · 10th March 2006, 11:20

No idea what I want. I want those closest to me to choose a couple to fit in with how they saw my life.

**MisterD** · 10th March 2006, 11:21

It's got to be the Pogues' "Sick Bed of Cuchulainn"....

***Edit***

For those that don't know it: last.fm

**2much** · 10th March 2006, 11:33

Easy:

Brothers in arms - Dire Straits
and
Wish you were here - Pink Floyd

**Fishy** · 10th March 2006, 11:34

Highway to hell - ACDC....

**Paul in NZ** · 10th March 2006, 11:34

Steve Earle - Pilgrim (off the blue grass album he did with Del McCourey Band)

I am just a pilgrim on this road, boys
This ain't never been my home
Sometimes the road was rocky ‘long the way, boys
But I was never travelin' alone

We'll meet again on some bright highway
Songs to sing and tales to tell
But I am just a pilgrim on this road, boys
Until I see you fare thee well

Ain't no need to cry for me, boys
Somewhere down the road you'll understand
‘Cause I expect to touch his hand, boys
Put a word in for you if I can

Or - The last track on the (fantastic) Warren Zevon album "Enjoy Every Sandwich" - Keep me in your heart, which is utterly enchanting..

Shadows are falling and I'm running out of breath
Keep me in your heart for awhile

If I leave you it doesn't mean I love you any less
Keep me in your heart for awhile

When you get up in the morning and you see that crazy sun
Keep me in your heart for awhile

There's a train leaving nightly called when all is said and done
Keep me in your heart for awhile

Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-li-li-lo
Keep me in your heart for awhile

Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-li-li-lo
Keep me in your heart for awhile

Sometimes when you're doing simple things
around the house
Maybe you'll think of me and smile

You know I'm tied to you like the buttons on
your blouse
Keep me in your heart for awhile

Hold me in your thoughts, take me to your dreams
Touch me as I fall into view
When the winter comes keep the fires lit
And I will be right next to you

Engine driver's headed north to Pleasant Stream
Keep me in your heart for awhile

These wheels keep turning but they're running out
of steam
Keep me in your heart for awhile

Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-li-li-lo
Keep me in your heart for awhile

Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-li-li-lo
Keep me in your heart for awhile

Keep me in your heart for awhile

**nudemetalz** · 10th March 2006, 11:36

Wow, that's pretty deep, Paul.
I like.

**Oakie** · 10th March 2006, 11:43

'Jerusalem' (old English hymn), just because I like it

As they carry me out 'Always look on the bright side of life' (from Monty Python's 'The Life of Brian'). Yes, I'm serious. I've already stipulated that to my daughters. It's my final message to friends and family.

MD · 10th March 2006, 11:49

Maybe not what I'd want at mine but still a deep and very biker related-death song. For me maybe OMD Only tears- a real tear jerker if that's what you're looking for.
back to Tull. If you don't know it it's worth a listen.
Story line;
old Biker sad because "his mates are all doing time married with 3 kids up on the ring road..'' Many of us middleagers might relate to his feelings of not wanting to get old and settle down and wanting to keep riding like a hoon blah blah..
'he's the last of the bluebloods, a greaser boy with his Harley Davidson and triumph Bonneville.'Anyway he decides to end his life the way he loved it - on his bike 'so he takes out his bonnneville to do the ton one last time before he takes his leave' as he flys with tears in his eyes he hits the trunk road doing 120 (mph) Sounds like he just rides full tit into his favourite corner. Anyway it's a good song irrespective of the message and a bloody good song if you pay attention to the biker message.

**The_Dover** · 10th March 2006, 11:53

Poison - Nothin' but a good time.

**Ixion** · 10th March 2006, 11:54

Originally Posted by Oakie

'Jerusalem' (old English hymn), just because I like it

As they carry me out 'Always look on the bright side of life' (from Monty Python's 'The Life of Brian'). Yes, I'm serious. I've already stipulated that to my daughters. It's my final message to friends and family.

Ah, I like that one. I think I'll stipulate that one too. Might as well go out taking the piss. Add it to what I've already stipulated - Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries. I've already told 'em what I want on my tombstonbe = "Well, bugger me. Who'd have thought it"

**Hitcher** · 10th March 2006, 11:58

Always look on the bright side of life.

Or Crazy Frog...

**MSTRS:Me** · 10th March 2006, 12:07

Since the grief at my passing will be of stupendous proportions, to properly reflect the sombre & mournful mood (or indeed to create that mood) - The Ballad of Hollis Brown by Nazareth

**Paul in NZ** · 10th March 2006, 12:19

Originally Posted by nudemetalz

Wow, that's pretty deep, Paul.
I like.

The Warren Zevon one is a gut wrencher when you know he knew he was beyond help.

This article by Samantha Bennet is VERY interesting and explains the title of the album..

A singer's poignant curtain call

Thursday, November 07, 2002

The announcement was made while I was on vacation, and somehow I missed it. So I was mystified by the reverential tone of the promos for Warren Zevon's appearance on "The Late Show with David Letterman" last week.

Zevon is dying of lung cancer, which has spread to his liver. It's too far along to be operable. He was diagnosed in August and made the official announcement Sept. 12.

Warren Zevon, for those unfamiliar with his work, is a brilliant singer-songwriter who first came to prominence in the '70s, has released nearly a dozen albums and counts among his friends and admirers such high rollers as Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Letterman and author and columnist Carl Hiaasen. He's one of those artists who is highly respected by his peers but not a regular on any Top-40 radio playlists. He is best known for the hit (heard mostly around Halloween) "Werewolves of London" and the offbeat classics "Lawyers, Guns and Money" and "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner."

"I might have made a tactical error," he told Letterman dryly the night before Halloween, "in not going to a physician for 20 years. It was one of those phobias that didn't pay off."

Since being diagnosed, Zevon has been making the most of the time he has -- probably measurable in weeks. He has been spending time with his two grown children and writing and recording as many songs as possible. It's a poignant burst of creativity and living up against the ultimate deadline.

He is only 55 years old.

I'm not qualified to write an appreciation of Warren Zevon. I'm neither a professional music critic nor even a big fan. I have only one of his albums, "Excitable Boy," though it's one I listen to often. He has played many times at Rosebud, and when I saw that he was coming here, I always had the impulse to go see him. I regret now that I didn't take the chance when I had it.

And that's really what I'm more interested in here. Not the gifted, rather twisted songwriter and performer the world is about to lose, but the unusual circumstances of a man who knows he is about to die and tells the world.

Anyone who knows his music at all knows he was always winking at death. "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" is the name of one of his releases, and his latest album of new material, released before he was diagnosed, is eerily titled "My Ride's Here." He wrote songs about killers, vengeful ghosts and violence. (He also wrote beautiful love songs.) And now, Death is coming for him, and he is getting ready with his characteristic sense of irony.

What would you do if a doctor told you you had three months to live? (After you got a second opinion, naturally.) We're all going to die, and that's hardly a news flash. But we skate through our lives under the comforting assumption that we've got plenty of time. "I could walk out of here right now and be hit by a bus," people say, by way of illustrating the capricious suddenness of death, but no one who says that really believes that's going to happen, certainly not today.

What would it feel like to walk through fallen leaves, knowing that you'll never see new ones grow again?

Zevon, who battled with alcohol in his younger days and saw two marriages end, decided two things were important enough to do in his last weeks: be with his children and add to his musical legacy. He wasn't particularly prolific through his career, but now he is furiously writing and recording songs, as if to finish a long life's worth in his short time.

Letterman asked Zevon how his life has changed since his diagnosis. Like any condemned man, the singer is enjoying his last meals. He has learned how much you have to "enjoy every sandwich."

That seems like a good lesson, because everyone's sandwiches are numbered.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Samantha Bennett can be reached at sbennett@post-gazette.com