What do you want them to play at your funeral?

162 Responses

First ←Older Page 1 2 3 4 5 7 Newer→ Last

  • LegBreak,

    I know it's over, by The Smiths.

    "Oh mother, I can feel the soil falling over my head..."

    Gorecki's a good idea too...

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1162 posts Report Reply

  • Jeremy Andrew,

    Of course as someone, probably Woody Allen, said, I don't want to acheive immortality through my works, I want to acheive immortality by not dying.

    But failing that...

    Straitjacket Fits - Down in Splendour
    - cause she speeds doesn't work so well for a bloke
    Joe Satriani - Always With Me Always With You
    - as a nod to my bogan past
    Flaming Lips - Do You Realise
    - but only if its soon, as a nod to my trying-to-be-more-up-to-date present
    Concrete Blonde - Lullaby
    - cause its pretty & sad
    Pearl Jam - Jeremy
    - no reason apart from the obvious
    Nick Cave - Into My Arms
    - as close as I'll get to something religious

    Hamiltron - City of the F… • Since Nov 2006 • 900 posts Report Reply

  • RiverHowe,

    I get fed up with mournful funerals and want mine to be a fun affair with laughter, dancing etc. a celebration of who I was and that everyone there is still alive. So having looked through my favourite dance music selection I just have to have

    Its Time to Burn from Best of Trance 2001

    followed by

    Ritual Tibetan from the same album.

    During the playing of the latter my body could be dismembered and thrown to the waiting vultures!

    Golden Bay • Since Nov 2006 • 7 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    "Adigio in G Minor" Abaloine (sp)

    Think Platoon and Gallipoli and if you listen really carefully one scene in rollerball!

    I think you mean Samuel Barber's 'Adagio for Strings' which was used to rather sinister/sentimental effect in David Lynch's 'The Elephant Man' but which is something of a cliche of classical misierbalisme. If my memory serves, it replaced the traditional 'Land of Hope and Glory'/'Jersualem' duo as the climax to the Last Night of the Proms in 2001 for rather obvious reasons.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • TroyHoward,

    hmmm... last words also?..

    "Oh my Chaffing Buttocks! Where's My Elephant?"

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 78 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    But now I think of it, if you're looking for funerial Barber, you could do a lot worse than his setting for soprano of extracts from James Agee's prose poem t__Knoxville: Summer 1915.

    The last section is heartbreaking, and both text and music are deceptively simple.

    By some chance, here they are, all on this earth; and who shall ever tell the sorrow of being on this earth, lying, on quilts, on the grass, in a summer evening, among the sounds of the night. May God bless my people, my uncle, my aunt, my mother, my good father, oh, remember them kindly in their time of trouble; and in the hour of their taking away.

    After a little I am taken in and put to bed. Sleep, soft smiling, draws me unto her: and those receive me, who quietly treat me, as one familiar and well-beloved in that home: but will not, oh, will not, not now, not ever; but will not ever tell me who I am.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Tristan,

    This is very strange

    There is this entry
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adagio_(Albinoni)

    And this entry
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adagio_for_Strings

    with no refrence to each other..

    The second is the most famed version but the first i think is closer to the orgrinal.

    and yes you are right it's over used, although when i first listened to it it was during Gallipoli (the first version) and didnt know it was so popular.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 221 posts Report Reply

  • Richard Llewellyn,

    I'm with Jeremy, hard to go past the Fits 'Down in Splendour'.

    Or REM 'Fall on Me"

    Or Primal Scream, 'Moving on Up' - preferably with a full Harlem Gospel choir in attendance.

    Mt Albert • Since Nov 2006 • 399 posts Report Reply

  • Chris Chambers,

    Talking Heads choice to put the situation into perspective is:

    City of Dreams
    "Here where you are standing
    Dinosaurs did a dance..."

    Of course the original BD version of Heaven helps one not slip into getting too spiritual "..it's hard to imagine, that - nothing at all, could be so exciting, could be so much fun.."

    Devonport • Since Nov 2006 • 6 posts Report Reply

  • Tristan,

    argghh i have found i have both adagio in G Minor and Adagio for strings and they are diffrent, I guess in my young head i merged the two and have never seperated the two

    to be fair though they do sound close to one another and they both have almost the same name :|

    Adagio in G = Gallipoli

    Adagio for Strings = Platoon

    but on the bright side I can pick Adagio in G Minor and the movie stars and dead presidents can have Adagio for strings

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 221 posts Report Reply

  • Dave Waugh,

    Given my life (so far) it would have to be either Monkey Gone to Heaven or Where is my mind by the Pixies.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 98 posts Report Reply

  • Cass Hesom-Williams,

    The Beach Boys' "You're So Good To Me" always breaks my heart (in a good way) for some reason. Those in the pews who aren't affected in this way can get up and shimmy in the aisles instead.

    Wellington City • Since Nov 2006 • 1 posts Report Reply

  • Hayden Judd,

    The fact that I am just about to see the fruit of my loins bought into this world I'm thinking of something for them to hear, and undoubtedly has to be Fleetwood Mac and "Don't Stop".

    Aland • Since Nov 2006 • 9 posts Report Reply

  • Peter Darlington,

    Oh Yeah, Crass would be good too.

    "Don't believe in Jesus
    Don't believe in God
    I won't go to Heaven
    I don't give a sod!"

    That's beautiful man.
    *sniffs*

    Nelson • Since Nov 2006 • 949 posts Report Reply

  • mark baker,

    Hmmm.

    Lots of music, which would model off what we did for my Mum ten years ago (though of course the music wasn't thie same as this...)

    The obvious:

    Live, Lightning crashes (creates sombre mood)
    Crowded House, Four Seasons in one day (makes people reflective about their own lives)
    REM, Everybody Hurts (makes 'em cry)
    Hunters and Collectors, I Believe (way dirtier than ray's original, brash horns and bellowing lyrics, a lifelong fave)
    ...and as a closer, yes I am of that generation: Rock and Roll, the Zepp; the live version I think...ironic but totally amped final thought from me to the gathered masses!

    The wake afterward has to be all Irish or Irish influenced, and nobody gets in the door without a snort of Bushmills 12yo. Musically, thinking the Pogues (I know, predictable), and our own much lamented Banshee Reel...

    Papakura • Since Nov 2006 • 20 posts Report Reply

  • mic weevil,

    "asylum escape songs" by Renee Louise Carafice

    auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 52 posts Report Reply

  • Nick Howells,

    Someone else mentioned what I've always fancied - 'Mothership Connection'..
    Either that or some piece of epic electronic space opera soundtrack by M83 (ideally as my coffin is blasted into space).

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 20 posts Report Reply

  • Kim Griggs,

    Talking Heads' "Road to Nowhere". My (many) religious rellies would be outraged ............"but it's all right"

    And for the weepy bit, I'd like someone to read 'Heaven' by Brian Turner

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 19 posts Report Reply

  • Leopold Bloom,

    When I die, bury me with my boots on
    And my blig black Steson hat
    And dollar piece on my watch chain
    To show the gang I died standing pat.
    Six gamblers to carry my coffin
    Six chorus girls to sing me along
    And stick a jazzband on the hearse tailboard
    To raise all hell as we rattle along

    That should about cover it...

    Upper Hutt • Since Nov 2006 • 3 posts Report Reply

  • Stuart Coats,

    I would get someone to recite the lyrics to "The Gambler":

    The gambler he broke even but in his final words I found an ace that I could keep

    And then the entire congregation would recite the chorus back.

    Then I'd get Peter Sledmere to recite the whole of 2 Out of Three Ain't Bad, and then the choir comes in with Libera Me from Faure's Requiem. Go from the ridiculous to the sublime, I say

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 192 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark,

    What an erudite crowd! Hmm, I wonder if I'm going to turn into one of those old ladies who goes to peoples' funerals even when they don't know them. Oh, hang on. I smoke, so I won't make old bones. In that case, let's have "the otherside" by Breaks Co-op. - hold your head up high and don't rely on anyone else; "sound advice" - you'll never know how much I miss you - by the Breaks; oh, and something Elton John, maybe Love lies Bleeding or Funeral for a Friend; and definitely, to finish, You are so Beautiful. Get 'em wailing, wot?

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • stephen walker,

    The Birthday Party?
    has to be Sonny's Burning
    (Hands up who wants to die!!!)
    Nick is a funural natural.

    nagano • Since Nov 2006 • 646 posts Report Reply

  • reece palmer,

    Matches (a drinking game) from either end of the hole, either that or the could roast marshmallows over the crematorium.

    the terraces • Since Nov 2006 • 298 posts Report Reply

  • reece palmer,

    I'll be dead so I really don't give a toss.

    the terraces • Since Nov 2006 • 298 posts Report Reply

  • Carl Hayes,

    The Flaming lips "Fibre Optic Jesus" song wouldnt go astray...

    "Thank you Jack White for that FIIIBBBRRREE OOPPTIC JEESUS THAT YA GAVE ME..."

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1 posts Report Reply

First ←Older Page 1 2 3 4 5 7 Newer→ Last

Post your response…

Please sign in using your Public Address credentials…

Login

You may also create an account or retrieve your password.