Most requested funeral songs
 

That this was a bit bizarre, especially the #1 song since it just came out and I dont know about S Club 7's appearance on this list...

Top 10 most requested funeral songs are:

1 - "Goodbye My Lover" - James Blunt
2 - "Angels" - Robbie Williams
3 - "I've Had The Time Of My Life" - Jennifer Warnes and Bill Medley.
4 - "Wind Beneath My Wings" - Bette Midler
5 - "Pie Jesu" - Requiem
6 - "Candle In The Wind" - Elton John
7 - "With Or Without You" - U2
8 - "Tears In Heaven" - Eric Clapton
9 - "Every Breath You Take - The Police
10 -"Unchained Melody" - Righteous Brothers.

Rounding out the top 20 include "Danny Boy" (number 11 in the list) tended to and S Club 7's "Reach For The Stars" (number 20).

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061003/...funerals1_dc_2

From the article: "S Club 7's "Reach For The Stars" (number 20) was more usual at children's funerals"

Thanks AlphaFrog I can read but I still hold issue with S Club 7 at any funeral.

Would you rather they play "Dies Irae"?

I've never heard the S Club 7 song, but I looked it up, and the lyrics seem appropriate to me for a funeral.

This is from British funerals. It has probably been out for a while across the pond. (This probably also explains the S Club 7 inclusion)

33girl, thats true I didnt think that there would be more British singers/bands included in this list than others...

Just posted it because I was interested in GC's take on funeral songs...

My take is that there must be a whole funeral world out there that I'm not familiar with. I knew I was in a different world when I didn't see "Our God, Our Help in Ages Past" anywhere on the list.

I sang "The Greatest of These" from the musical Philemon (which is basically a musical adaption of 1 Cor 13:1)...that's about the most contemporary thing I've ever heard at a funeral.

May Angels Lead You In- Jimmy Eat World

At my friend's wake/memorial service they played Hands by Jewel and I Hope You Dance by Leanne Womack, but those were songs that were very pertinent to her. To this day, I still cry when I hear them.

It seems that Here Without You by Three Doors Down would be another good funeral song.

ETA: We also played Blue and Yellow by the Used, Tonight, Tonight by the Smashing Pumpkins, and One Sweet Day by Boyz II Men and Mariah Carey. That last one seems to be a pretty popular choice.

What ever happened to Amazing Grace?

WHOA - Do these people even listen to the songs?

These two in particular are hilarious choices for a funeral.

I have never been to a funeral where they sang anything but church music.

That was my first thought - I have never been to a Christian funeral without Amazing Grace (extra points for having a bagpiper).

i've heard secular music played at wakes / memorial services but not at actual funerals.

this whole thread is making me giggle.

I think Amazing Grace at funerals is a very North American thing. I hear that in the UK, they prefer "All Things Bright and Beautiful" (personally, I find the hymn a little irritating, but anyway)

In terms of secular songs, Sarah McLachlan's "Angel" (don't know if I'd use it. Isn't it about a recovering heroine addict??) used quite a bit, as is her "I Will Remember You"

"Church" music isn't very common at a Jewish funeral, but I kinda see where you are coming from.

Though, my grandmother had "My Way."

They use a different tune from the standard North American one, though. Always makes me think of the Monty Python take-off, Ode to Creation:

All things dull and ugly,
All creatures short and squat,
All things rude and nasty,
The Lord God made the lot.

Each little snake that poisons,
Each little wasp that stings --
He made their brutish venom.
He made their horrid wings.

My favorites:
 

"In the Garden"
"Beyond the Sunset"
"Amazing Grace"

I bust out crying every time I hear Amazing Grace. I cry everytime I hear bagpipes. Put the two of them together, and I'm a MESS. We used to run at Belmont Plateu in Philadelphia, and one time this bagpiper was practicing (I guess when you live in a city, a park is probably one of the few apporpriate places to practice) before the race. Oh man, I was a mess that race. I think it might have been one of my worst times ever.

Back to the topic at hand...

LMBO, I wondered the same thing but substitute "Amazing Grace" for "Precious Lord, Take My Hand."

Thats what i am thinking too

A few years back, during undergraduate days, one of my brothers was musing about his idea of an ideal funeral for him when that time came. He wanted to be cremated, have his friends gather near a fast running creek near where he grew up, pop a bottle of champagne, scatter his ashes over the waters of that creek, and everyone lift a glass to his memory as they played a recording of the Canto in D.
I thought this was pretty good but suggested for mine I would like everyone to gather in the party room of our chapter house, pop a fresh brew, play Louie, Louie on the juke box, and flush my ashes down the john.
Stricken, he looked hard at me and allowed as to how I had ruined his funeral.
I asked, you are kidding, right? Naw, he answered, I like your idea a whole lot better!
So, when that day comes, and not too soon I hope, there will be a gang of us having a unique send off.

dekeguy, that's awesome

when i was an undergrad, unfortuneately, one of my brothers biological older brother died in a car wreck.

They played amazing grace, but here is something you might not know, protestants and catholics have different lyrics for that song. I don't think in the first part, but after that I was lost and could not sing them. Just thought I should share that.

Sarah McLachlan's "I Will Remember You"

That is what I would have thought. I remember when a good friend of my aunt's died, this was the song they played at her funeral.



I'm the same way! My grandmother died 10 years ago, and that was the song they played at her funeral. Her death had a huge impact on me, so to this day its hard to hear the song (i have to plug up my ears, but i still cry).

So i kinda thought as a way to heal, i'd get the first few bars (musical notes and all) of Amazing Grace tattooed on my lower back. Don't know if i'll actually do it though! lol

This thread is making me think that I need to call up my lawyer and make an addendum to my will of things I do NOT want played at my funeral.

Haha, some djs were talking about this list on the radio this morning and I told my husband, "If you play any of these songs at my funeral, mark my words, I will come back and haunt you!!"

Very true. Also, what about Ave Maria?

I've also heard of one case where "Seasons of Love" from Rent was played.

Agreed. It's been played at most funerals I've attended, including my grandma's this past summer, but that could have been because of sentimental value to our family.

A fireman in my town passed away back in February, and they had a memorial service that was incredibly moving. A bagpiper played "Amazing Grace", "Death of a Chieftain" and a song I didn't recognize. "In the Garden" was sung by all.

After the chaplain's message, the firemen came down the aisle, two by two & carrying a flower. Each pair paused a moment at the casket, saluted, put the flower in the vase, then left. The whole time the 60+ firemen did that, "I Will Remember You" was played, then the bagpiper played one more song as everyone filed out.

On the moving factor, it was a 15 out of 10 !!!

I agree. My grandmother and I shared the same dislike for Amazing Grace. When she passed last year, my aunt and cousins were putting together the program for her memorial service, they insisted on Amazing Grace even though they knew how much she hated it. That pissed me off, so I went behind their back, destroyed their CD (it was burned) and replaced it with "Nearer my God to Thee".

I've probably been to more funerals than all of you combined this year. I don't know why people think it's necessary to have freaking Amazing Grace at a funeral. I don't know why there's a need for depressing songs, for that matter.

The best songs I've ever heard at a service? Praise and worship songs. When we remembered my friend at his service earlier this year, Darlene Zszech's "Shout to the Lord" was the final song they played and that brought more comfort to me than any song ever did.

My paternal grandparents' funerals had this song called "Walk With Me." I haven't heard it since.

My maternal grandfather's funeral ended with "My Way." Considering how he died, I thought it was...interesting. Appropriate in a really not appropriate way.

I want "All Apologies" by Nirvana to be played at my funeral

That song officially went off my 'list', or at least the one with lyrics, after I discovered the history and profession of the author... which he continued even after "seeing the light".

The bagpipe version would still be okay - but I can't stand hearing the lyrics of the hymn now without think of the where, when, and why it was written :(

Amazing Grace and Eagles Wings are the two I've always heard at funerals. I think Eagles Wings might be a Catholic thing? "And He will raise you up on eagle's wings..." I don't care for Amazing Grace, but I love Eagle's Wings.

We sing Eagle's Wings at my ELCA church.

Whoever said "Seasons of Love" - If you're going with contemporary music, I believe it's a good choice...a little "copycat", as that's one of the times it appears in the show, but still a good choice.

If you are talking about the gospel song, I know that song and love it.

So do we. Boy, do we ever. Over and over. Week in, week out.

When I first heard it, all I could think of was John Ashcroft singing "Let the Eagle Soar."

This thread is depressing. :(

I bet the author of this thread is really wishing she never made such a gay thread.