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October 2, 2006

Dress Sexy At My Funeral

The Bereavement Register (what, you don't subscribe?) tells us who's rocking gravesites in the UK these days. (Via BBC via Rock Daily).

TOP POPULAR FUNERAL SONGS
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
Go ahead and make your James Blunt jokes, but how awesome would it be to have the theme to Dirty Dancing play at your funeral as a joke?

Seriously, though -- has anyone given it any thought? What indie rock song do you want people to hear at your funeral? And what do you want on your tombstone? (Aside from a picture of Rick James?)

Posted at 4:23 PM




46 Comments

not indie, but i always wanted tom waits singing ol' 55 at my funeral

Posted by: nathan at 10/02/06 5:27 PM  | Reply
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7. With or Without You - U2

Well, that's a little fucked up.

Posted by: Cameron at 10/02/06 5:33 PM  | Reply
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"Every Breath You Take" - HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Posted by: Austin at 10/02/06 5:36 PM  | Reply
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On my tombstone:

"Give me a Leonard Cohen afterworld/
so I can sigh eternally"

Song: "Street Spirit" Radiohead or possibly my theme song "Baby Got Back"

Posted by: Jen at 10/02/06 5:40 PM  | Reply
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Song: "Pyramid Song" by Radiohead
Tombstone: "Come one... does anyone really miss me?"

Posted by: dom at 10/02/06 5:45 PM  | Reply
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my funeral was totally lame. my friends didn't even come. didn't end up needing a gravestone though. get it? get it?

Posted by: Jesus Christ at 10/02/06 6:21 PM  | Reply
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I would want Rilo Kiley's "Better Daughter/son" to play at my funeral. It has that kind of Irish funeral dirge kind of vibe. But, it says the f-word a couple of times and I don't think my family would care for that.

For my epitaph? I have it picked out already. "Beloved Co-worker, so-so Father." That is, assuming that I have kids one day. Either that or the tagline for "A Fist Full of Dollars" which says "He is, perhaps, the most dangerous man who ever lived."

Posted by: Tanner at 10/02/06 6:23 PM  | Reply
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The Rat by The Walkmen or

Johnstown, Illinois by Tom Waits

Though I'm not really sure why... they just make sense to me.

Posted by: schlomo at 10/02/06 6:53 PM  | Reply
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Heaven- Talking Heads

Posted by: dt at 10/02/06 7:09 PM  | Reply
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If my husband plays a James Blunt song at my funeral, I'm gonna come back and haunt his ass. That is the most idiotic thing I've seen all day.

Best tombstone request I've seen: "There is no such word as 'snuck'."

Posted by: Memememe at 10/02/06 7:09 PM  | Reply
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indie perhaps only in spirit, Tom Waits' "Come on Up to the House" would be my first choice.

"Please Tell My Brother" by Golden Smog (Tweedy) wouldn't be a bad choice, either.

Posted by: drake at 10/02/06 7:15 PM  | Reply
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probably 'eat my dust you insensitive fuck' by catherine wheel

Posted by: balumpus at 10/02/06 7:37 PM  | Reply
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song - "time" by David Bowie
tombstone -"brb"

Posted by: gypsymazz at 10/02/06 7:43 PM  | Reply
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Mine will be Asleep by The Smiths.

Posted by: Bohemian Problem Drinker at 10/02/06 8:27 PM  | Reply
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I was at a bar at the weekend when one of my friends said "man, I've been sat here so long I'm starting to chafe..... that is going on my tombstone!"

true story.

Posted by: Andy at 10/02/06 8:34 PM  | Reply
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Tom Waits- Anywhere I Lay My Head

Posted by: Scott at 10/02/06 9:11 PM  | Reply
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"Chicago Seemed Tired Last Night" by The Hold Steady and "Bastards of Young" by The Replacements.

Posted by: Kim at 10/02/06 9:20 PM  | Reply
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I had an ongoing joke that my funeral would cosist only of people sitting in a room listening to "Road to Nowhere" by the talking heads.

Posted by: Joey at 10/02/06 9:47 PM  | Reply
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I have three songs...

"Satisfied Mind" -- Jeff Buckley version

"Faded" -- Afghan Whigs

"In the Fade" -- Queens of the Stone Age (Lanegan vocal, though)

Posted by: dimpleandasmirk at 10/02/06 9:51 PM  | Reply
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maybe thriller. i just like the picture of someone sobbing while doing the thriller dance.

Posted by: matt at 10/02/06 10:13 PM  | Reply
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The Tucson Weekly does a survey each week of a different individual, asking the same music-related Nine Questions of each participant. One of the questions is "What song would you like to have played at your funeral?" Here's a link, which leads to more links, and so on, and so on...

http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/archives/index?searchPhrase=nine+questions&submit=Search+Now%21">http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/archives/index?searchPhrase=nine+questions&submit=Search+Now%21">http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/archives/index?searchPhrase=nine+questions&submit=Search+Now%21

enjoy.

Posted by: jaspermacbeth at 10/02/06 10:15 PM  | Reply
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Positive K's "I Gotta Man".

After that, some booty bass.

I would like my corpse to be animatronicized so that my head may bob while the mourners encircle the coffin and grind away the pain.

Posted by: pony at 10/02/06 10:17 PM  | Reply
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"Where is my mind?" - Pixies

"Never gonna cry again" - The Eurythmics

"Someday Soon" - The Doors

Posted by: Kyle at 10/02/06 10:23 PM  | Reply
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I always thought it would be hilarious to have your funeral song be "Wang Chung Tonight". At my brother's funeral they played "There is a Light that Newver goes Out" by the Smiths, which was fitting since he was a bouncy, Smiths loving homo.

Posted by: annabanana at 10/02/06 10:45 PM  | Reply
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If anyone plays "Every Breath You Take" at my funeral, I'm gonna stalk their ass from the grave.

Posted by: Laura at 10/02/06 11:04 PM  | Reply
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"It's the End of the World as We Know It" - R.E.M.

Though it's cliche, and no one quotes Semisonic these days, except high school yearbooks. Epitaph: "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."

Posted by: some guy at 10/02/06 11:47 PM  | Reply
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That song always reminds of this time I was in a whorehouse with two mates. My Russian sex slave was playing classical music, which I thought was rather cool. Through the left wall, I could hear my mate's chick playing Michael Jackson. But then, through the right wall, my other mate's girl was playing "I've.... had.... the time of my liiiife... and I owe it all to youoooooo...". I was laughing so fucking hard I almost couldn't bust a nut. Completely true story.


Posted by: collie weed at 10/02/06 11:52 PM  | Reply
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We're actually going to be scattering some ashes of a buddy (one who turned me on to Stereogum a while back actually) this weekend at one of his favorite camping spots.

We're going to play Iron and Wine's "Each Coming Night" and "Ab's Song" on his iPod speakers as part of the ceremony.

He always listened to Sam Beam while camping, and it should be a nice touch.


Posted by: Rocco at 10/03/06 12:02 AM  | Reply
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Wagner - "Flight of the Valkyries"
Metallica - "Battery"

Posted by: Chris at 10/03/06 12:24 AM  | Reply
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"ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space" by spiritualized

i think it makes sense, plus it's beautiful enough to make everybody who's still alive feel better :)

Posted by: laini at 10/03/06 2:13 AM  | Reply
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I'll have Jessica Simpson's version of Robbie Williams's "Angels." Why not? I won't have to hear it.
I'd like my epitaph to read, "She was a really nice girl, but it just didn't work out."

Posted by: So... at 10/03/06 2:36 AM  | Reply
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what?no sarah mclachlan?

i choose akron - gone

Posted by: disasterhead at 10/03/06 2:55 AM  | Reply
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Modest mouse - "Gravity rides everything" definitely at my funeral.

Posted by: Miguel at 10/03/06 3:55 AM  | Reply
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definitely that queen song "another one bites the dust". i've actually requested it as my funeral song! its the coolest funeral song ever! also my tombstone will read "sticks and stones may break my bones but i'm jesus". straight from cartman's mouth.

Posted by: celia at 10/03/06 5:27 AM  | Reply
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pearl jam "alive" or "see you later aligator"

Posted by: Alex at 10/03/06 7:19 AM  | Reply
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We'll Meet Again, the Johnny Cash version.

Posted by: boybacon at 10/03/06 8:44 AM  | Reply
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Belle & Sebastian-get me away from here, I'm dying.

Posted by: scott at 10/03/06 10:27 AM  | Reply
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Weird Al - "Like a Surgeon"

Posted by: the management at 10/03/06 10:28 AM  | Reply
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when my friend thom died, we played iron maiden's "run to the hills" at his house...
his wake had songs by karate and i forget who else...

my friend scott always jokes that he wants "ballroom blitz" played at his funeral.

Posted by: jen at 10/03/06 11:26 AM  | Reply
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I want Aqualung's 'Strange and Beautiful' - I have since June 2002.

Posted by: Nilina at 10/03/06 1:54 PM  | Reply
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jah calling- bad brains

you can't put your arms around a memory- johnny thunders

killed by death- motorhead

last chance for a slow dance- fugazi


Posted by: frankie at 10/03/06 1:59 PM  | Reply
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It's hard to follow-up frankie's post but...
Lay Me Low by Nick Cave
The Twist by Chubby Checker

Posted by: Sarah at 10/03/06 2:19 PM  | Reply
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Funeral tune: Highway to Hell - AC/DC
Epitaph: "He lived as he died: Drunk"
Well either that or "Sometime thinker, problem drinker, we are richer for having lost him"

Posted by: Neilo at 10/04/06 9:48 AM  | Reply
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I've Gone Straightedge - Minor Threat

Posted by: Zelda at 10/04/06 9:52 AM  | Reply
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I don't know about funeral songs, but when they spread my ashes, the song should be "Dust in the Wind", by Kansas.

Posted by: A.S. at 10/04/06 9:50 PM  | Reply
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Its got to be 'Ne me quitte pas' by Nina Simone at the funeral. I ain't gonna have me no stone coz I'm going to fertilize a tree.

Posted by: John at 11/09/06 5:31 PM  | Reply
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