By Living In A Box

"Going Underground"

Or, if I opt for cremation, Bruce Springsteen - "I'm On Fire".

If only for the thought of the 'I am the god of hellfire and I bring you 'Fire!!' opening line cutting through the silence, as the coffin slips behind the curtain and your auntie Marjorie slips below a pew.

By Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.

"Do it now, do it now, take a long last bow, make a stand, take my hand, and blow it all to hell!"

by the following but I would probably want these at the wake;
Dirt in the ground - Tom Waits
Bird on a wire - Johnny Cash
Ooh La La - Faces
Carrickfergus - Van Morrison & The Chieftans
Hell ain't a bad place to be - AC/DC
Memory lane - Elliott Smith

probably the Robin Williamson version.

I was thinking of posting a thread about this, but thought it may be too morbid. My choices would include "Digging Up The Dirt"-Peter Gabriel, "Underground"-Tom Waits.
Touch wood, hope it's not for a while yet, but being serious, I would probably choose "Underneath The Stars"-Kate Rusby and "The Acrobat" (theme tune to Johnny Briggs") played beautifully on the trombone (my favourite instrument) as my coffin is carried in.

'Wrapped in Grey' by XTC. I want them all blubbing like good 'uns, dammit.
My brother-in-law wants 'Atmosphere' by Joy Division fading into 'Atmosphere' by Russ Abbott, and I think has it written into his will. A friend's jazz-loving dad will have a (I think) Count Basie Orchestra piece as he heads to the cremation door. Said tune stops half way through, someone shouts 'let's start from the top', and they do. At which point, his coffin conveyor belt will back up too.

I want Oh Shit! by the Buzzcocks played at my funeral.

Who Knows Where The Time Goes, Fairport Convention, the version from Unhalfbricking. Autumnal

Hejira - Joni Mitchell. My favourite song from my favourite record.

...disturbingly awry with my liver. As a consequence I do think about the business of funerals from time to time. I am determined that there will not be a repeat of my Grandfather's funeral, where an unwillingness by my parents to make decisions, or take responsibility for the service, resulted in those who had come to pay their respects being subjected to a pan pipes version of Wind Beneath My Wings.

I would like I Want To Live In A Dream by Clearlake for the remembrance part of the service. The first time I heard it, I thought: ‘At last I've found my theme song'. And then Moonlight Drive by The Doors and something rocking by The Gun Club as everyone files out - Give Up The Sun seems appropriate.

Has to be, really. Hope and regret bonded together by one of the consummate early Fairport line-ups. Yes, yes, I know I keep name checking the old farts, but how many songs reduce thousands to synchronised tears on a yearly basis, shivering outside in an oxfordshire field at near midnight? I have now started attending funerals where this is the, if you will, play out music.

'I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire' by the Ink Spots.

The Beatles "In My Life" and The Smiths "Asleep" are my current funeral songs. I want the lyrics printed in the order of service at my funeral. My wife has been informed. Yes I am a maudlin bastard. ;)

would be good for a cremation :-) The box would head for the burner as the final Oedipal climax would leave everyone open mouthed.

Well I didn't wake up this morning,
So I believe I won't have to dust my broom

for Going In Out In A Blaze Of Glory by the Alarm to be played at my cremation.

Near here in Isleworth, there's an Egyptian-styled mausoleum that belonged to The Earl of Kilmorey. You can visit it on those great London open days. It's very small, with coloured glass stars in the ceiling and two coffins. The Earl (who legend has it, wore a cape made of rat fur) had a huge estate there and transported the dead body of his young wife from his former London home to this, which he had built for her. He had a tunnel built from the main house to the tomb, and on occasion would instruct his staff to rehearse his funeral. They would then carry out a full dress rehearsal and carry him along the tunnel to the tomb.
I'm rather thinking along the lines of employing a turbaned, Screamin' Jay Hawkins lookalike to burst from the coffin singing I Put A Spell On You, at my official send-off, (having been quietly interred elsewhere previously).
Of course, he may want to invoice in advance.

Specifically the version used in the 1933 Betty Boop cartoon "Snow White". It's been my preferred expression of joi de morte for going on three decades now.

"Now, when I die, bury me in my straight-leg britches,
Put on a box-back coat and a stetson hat,
Put a twenty-dollar gold piece on my watch chain,
So you can let all the boys know I died standing pat.
And give me six crapshooting pallbearers,
Let a chorus girl sing me a song.
Put a red hot jazz band at the top of my head
So we can raise Hallelujah as we go along."

"Free Bird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd

If I leave here tomorrow
Would you still remember me?
For I must be travelling on, now,
'Cause there's too many places I've got to see.
But, if I stayed here with you, girl,
Things just couldn't be the same.
'Cause I'm as free as a bird now,
And this bird you can not change.
Lord knows, I can't change.

Bye, bye, its been a sweet love.
Though this feeling I can't change.
But please don't take it badly,
'Cause Lord knows I'm to blame.
But, if I stayed here with you girl,
Things just couldn't be the same.
Cause I'm as free as a bird now,
And this bird you'll never change.
And this bird you can not change.
Lord knows, I can't change.
Lord help me, I can't change.

How can anyone top that ?

The Mansions of the Lord by the US Marine Corps Glee Club

, no seriously, my wife tells me I´ll be buried under the porch around the back of the house with the minimum of fuss.

they told me, on the other side of the fence, that your wife had told them you were going away for a while...........

"When I'm dead and gone" might cheer em up, as they all weep inconsolably. "Malt and barley blues" at the wake thereafter.

At funerals you're either trying to hold it together or pretend to be more upset than you actually are. This would provide a welcome release for both.

Climbing to the moon - The Eels
The Scarlet Tide - Elvis Costello

And retropath might appreciate this:-

I left my heart in New South Wales by Dave Swarbrick.

First heard this at a Fairport Birthday bash in Brum and it is one of the most beautiful tunes i have ever heard period.

Still makes a few bob signing copies of self same obituary. I have one.

Not seeing them on this tour but will be seeing them at the Acoustic festival which is now in Alrewas in May - might even stop for a crepe at The Heart of the Country on the way home!!

Mixed feelings. I suspect Mrs R is only allowing tonight under sufference!

My music collection will go with me in a funeral pyre with the sound of the Oysterband's "Shouting End Of Life" playing.

All my old magazines will go the same way too.

Not that anyone I know of would want my musical tastes...quick before it all goes up in smoke!

This will be the last chance to annoy anyone (assuming they get to outlive me - I'm in no hurry to go...) who's ever said I have crap taste in music!

I like the thought of New Order's Elegia (full length version - all 17 minutes) playing as they await my box. That'll have the buggers in tears...of rage as it goes on and on and keeps them from the bar.

Oh Shit's a good choice but maybe if I went for the Buzzers it would have to be Somethings Gone Wrong Again (Fast Cars to be held in reserve if I die in a road crash), or Useless ("It's a useless situation then you fucking die" is an apt line at this juncture).

As the box heads for the fiery furnace I think Secret Garden's Nocture would be a fitting finale - all 30 words of it which somehow says it all:

Now let the day
Just slip away
So the dark night
May watch over you
Nocturne

Though darkness lay
It will give way
When the dark night
Delivers the day

And then Monty Python's Look on the Bright Side Of Life as they leave for the pub...

by Van der Graaf Generator, just to remind people that, if they think mortality is bad, immortality would be even worse. That should cheer things up no end. Probably.