Vast choice for your final notes – Lineker is an optional extra
NO longer do people opt for hymns, choral or classical music for a funeral or cremation service as a matter of course. These days, the choice can range from the sublime to the ridiculous in popular music. In recent columns, readers have suggested what they might want to have played at their final outing. Alan Stephenson for instance says: “My choice to be played is It Could Happen To You by Diana Krall.”
And it indubitably will, Alan.
According to the Funeral Guide website, the Last of the Summer Wine theme song is popular because: “The programme was praised for showing that later life can still be full of adventure.”
The choice is vast. For a reflective period in the midst of a crematorium service, musician friend the late Bernie Walton had Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay by Otis Redding, which I found totally appropriate and dampened the eyes.
My oldest friend Dave, with whom I was in a rock band in Manchester, had always been an Elvis fan and made the charts in his own right. When Loving You played, as his wife and daughter entered the crematorium, I thought he had never sounded better. Only later did I discover the Elvis Presley version had been used. Dave would have been pleased at the mistake.
Jolly tunes, sad tunes, appropriate and daft tunes have all been selected in recent years and, according to surveys by funeral directors, among the most popular are
An inappropriate one,
except for dearly departed with a great sense of humour, might be Ding Dong The
Witch Is Dead
Wonderwall by Oasis, Tears In Heaven by Eric Clapton, Angels by Robbie Williams, We’ll Meet Again by Vera Lynn, Dancing Queen by Abba, You Raise Me Up by Westlife, Another One Bites The Dust by Queen, You’ll Never Walk Alone for Liverpool fans and Always Look On The Bright Side of Life by Eric Idle.
Somewhere Over The Rainbow is a classic request. Listen to the uplifting version by Hawaiian Israel Kamakawiwo’Ole with ukulele