Posted on 05/07/2019 5:13:40 PM PDT by marshmallow
Traditional favourites are squeezed out as mourners opt for more personalised tributes
Hymns have been completely squeezed out of the top ten musical choices at funerals, with mourners instead opting for contemporary songs such as Ed Sheeran’s Supermarket Flowers, a new entry to the list.
Frank Sinatra’s My Way again topped the latest chart drawn up by the UK’s biggest chain of funeral directors, but for the first time since the biennial exercise began in 2002 not a single traditional hymn made it into the top ten.
Data from Co-op Funeralcare, whose funeral directors arrange up to 100,000 ceremonies a year, revealed a dramatic shift in choices of music at final farewells as mourners reject the traditionally sombre funeral in favour of more personalised send-offs.
Hymns such as The Lord’s My Shepherd and Abide With Me – previously strong contenders in the funeral chart – have been elbowed aside as Sheeran and Westlife are catapulted into the top.
Supermarket Flowers – Sheeran’s tribute to his late grandmother, written from the perspective of his mother – enters at No 6, while Westlife also jumps into the top 10 with You Raise Me Up at No 8.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
I asked my wife to play “How Great Thou Art” at my funeral until I realized it isn’t about me.
Sometimes I think Ripple lyrics might fit that scene.
will there be a dance competition at the funeral?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZPC5b2z2Ag
My friend hired an Elvis impersonator to sing ‘Unchained Melody’ at her funeral...decades ago.
I’d have them play ‘It’s a Wonderful World’.
Not just that, of course; but there’s a place for the quirky personal and what the deceased appreciated and enjoyed, in funerals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21LGv8Cf0us
I want the most rip-roaring, boogie-woogie edition of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot that’s ever been done!
Otherwise it is just assuring your grieving family that your on the ‘Highway to Hell’.
LOL!
I’ve always wanted a band following the hearse playing, “When The Saints Go Marching In”, like in New Orleans:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyLjbMBpGDA
And on my tombstone, “What was that all about?”
I don’t know; a funeral seems to serve numerous purposes. For the person who died, if they actually planned it, it could be a ‘Goodbye, here’s looking at you’; and an expression of appreciation of certain things they enjoyed in life.
For the people left behind, it’s remembrance, consolation (of all kinds) and a ritual distraction that puts space between pain and moving on.
Not everything in life, or death, has to be ‘dead serious’; and not everyone wears their deepest spiritual beliefs on their sleeves - in life OR in death.
It WAS odd; but beautiful - one of my favorite tunes. Maybe it was a favorite of hers with her husband:
I like this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLHyJ7pWdt0
Short of a few ragtime numbers on Hawaiian guitar, “Lovers Never Say Goodbye” by the Flamingos is my first choice.
I love that song.
I want that to be the song playing at the end of my memorial service as people file out. I want everyone to know how much they meant to me, how much I love them, and that I want them to notice the beautiful things in this world and not be sad.
Amen.
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