# Music by Genre > Bluegrass, Newgrass, Country, Gospel Variants >  What Do You Want To Be Played At Your Funeral?

## Andrew Reckhart

What Do You Want To Be Played At Your Funeral?

 I know it is sort of morbid, but hey at least it's not "Is Thile the Best"!
 I've been to a few funerals recently and the music has been so awful. It got to me, and I started thinking............ "If I were in that casket, what would the last earthly tones be?" What would it be for all of the fine folks here at the Mandolin Cafe?

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## Flowerpot

My wife already knows this. I want somebody to do a nice harmony version of "Angel Band." And if somebody plays dreary organ music, I'll come back and haunt them!

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## glauber

Some kind of jam session would be nice.

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## evanreilly

Play Monroe's "The Dead March"; sing "Gathering Flowers for the Master's Bouquet".

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## makoto

How about "Happy Trails To You?" At my dad's funeral a few years ago I played recordings of "Cool Water" and "Ghost Riders in the Sky" by the Sons of the Pioneers, (his favorite). I refused to let churchy music be played but did not think of "Happy Trails" until after and it was too late. But it will be played at mine...

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## recklessmando

A medley of the biggest BG tunes of 2057 would be fine for me.

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## John Flynn

Amazing Grace. I do a very soulful version of AG on the harmonica and I have been asked to do it at multiple funerals. I think I would like for a good harmonica player to do it at mine.

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## mandopete

Yeah, this is kind of an odd question. When my father passed away a couple of years ago I wanted to have a piece of music that both rflected my thoughts and that was appropriate for the ceremony. With that in mind I chose *Lone Pilgrim* from _Tree On The Hill_ by Peter Rowan & The Rowan Brothers. It's a really nice acapella tune

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## Jim Gallaher

I'd like the fiddle player in my band, Anthony VanPelt, to play "Ashokan Farewell". 

Wouldn't be a dry eye in the house!

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## Peter Hackman

There was an earlier thread on that same theme.
I believe I suggested Brilliancy, because I recorded it,
and because I thought it was the prettiest tune ever, when I heard it on radio in 1960. 

A very beatiful and haunting piece would be the Loneome Moonlight
Waltz, with LOTS of variations and improvisation.



But, really, it would have
to be one of my own pieces, and I know a few appropriate ones.

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## Fred G

I'm thinking "my last days here on earth" would be good. with a string quartet.

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## Andrew Reckhart

I'm thinking 'Wayfaring Stranger'.

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## mad dawg

_Danny Boy_ on pipes, followed by the Beat Farmers' _Happy Boy_; the former for tradition, and the latter because it's sort of the theme song for my life (_sans_ dog guts # ).

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## Andrew Reckhart

Maybe 'When My Time Comes To Go' really up tempo

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## sgarrity

Ashokan Farewell, Midnight on the Water and Will the Circle be Unbroken

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## JimRichter

"The Dead March" would be a great choice (as would Last Days On Earth). For me, I think I would have a solo mandolin arrangement of Evening Prayer Blues (and if Mr. Compton were still around, he'd be the guy I want to do it). 

Jim

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## ShaneJ

I prefer the "Heaven" songs to the dirges. I like "This World Is Not My Home", "I'll Fly Away", "No Tears In Heaven", and such. I'd also like to have one that I wrote played. It's called "I'm Going Home". More of a soulful Gospel tune than bluegrass though.

Here's a verse & chorus....

_Well I'm going to meet ol' Abraham, and Moses'll be there too.
I'll have a talk with Solomon about wisdom and the truth.
I'm gonna rub elbows with Peter and Paul and the other apostles too.
I'm gonna bask in the glory of my Lord, and I'm excited - now how 'bout you?

I'm going home one day to see my Lord up in the air.
I'm going up to the land of Heaven where there's no sorrows and no cares.
I'm gonna sing with my brothers and sisters praises to the Lord all day long.
I'm gonna see my sweet Jesus one o' these days when I go home._

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## Ken Sager

quote:
"What Do You Want To Be Played At Your Funeral?, straight up serious question"

I want a $5-10 limit Hold-em poker game played at my funeral, with a $3/hand rake to pay for the expenses of sticking me in the ground on the cheap. Two tables of 8-10 players would be nice. That might even leave a little extra to buy the pretzels.

Seriously,
Ken

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## toddjoles

I'll Fly Away, Angel Band, Will There Be Any Stars in My Crown?, and to top it off Doyle Lawson's version of Go Rest High (I believe it was written by Vince Gill)sung accappella by a quartet.

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## Jim Roberts

Before I am cremated and my ashes spread from an airplane over the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Chico, California I want to have a wake in my honor (honor?) with my best friends carrying me (shuckin' and jivin') in a homemade pine box down Main Street with John Mayhall and Eric Clapton riding on a flatbed trailer playing "Hideaway" from their Bluesbreakers albumn...

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## BigJoe

I've already told my family and my pastor that when my time comes I want a party...a real celebration. #I want picking and a good jam session and not a tear in the place. #I don't want anyone to mourn my leaving. I want them to celebrate that I had been here and am now gone to a better place. #I love the hymns and the Ashokan Farewell and Last Days on Earth, but I'm not going to be here so I don't much care what they play as long as they do. #By the time they get their mandolins and guitars and banjos and fiddles tuned I'll already be playing in the praise band in Heaven and won't much care about what's going on back here. #I look forward to that day (though I'm not anxious to leave yet  ).

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## bsimmers

I want Doyle and his band to sing "There is a God." And then have a mandolin play "Go Hither to Go Yonder." And since I'm calling the shots, I'd like John Cowan to sing "Hear Jerusalem Moan"

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## Rob Zamites

Hmmmmm....

Alright, three tunes played while scattering my ashes off the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland:

 "Drowning..." by Boiled in Lead
 "Today" by Ian Moore
 "Baneasas Green Glade" by Planxty

Plus the required beer drinking fest that will celebrate my life, not mourn my death.

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## kudzugypsy

i always thought that "Further Along" would be a good one - it has a positive outlook that one day, we'll understand this thing called life - and "walk in the sunshine"

...a great version was on a rare early 70's byrds lp (their last i think) with clarence white singing the lead...ironicly he was killed that same year. it seems they sang that at his funeral....or was it gram parsons funeral...oh well.

we played a graveside service last year...."the last roundup" - it was the guy's wish.

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## GVD

If I had a choice I'd have John Prine sing _Please Don't Bury Me_ for starters.

GVD

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## Dando

i had made a cd of a lot of my most favorite gospel stuff to be played at my wake. it is in my file cabinet with other instructions awaiting my departure.

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## Hans

Well, as long as we're dreaming, I'd like Bruch's violin concerto #1 and Scottish Fantasy and, as long as we ARE #dreaming, I'd like it played by Heifitz and backed by Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra!

Can't have that? 

OK, I'll take Jim Kweskin's jug band. #

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## Rich Michaud

Will Maria Muldaur be playing in Jim Kweskin's band like in the old days?

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## Spruce

"Last Words" by Mark Graham, of course....

_The curtain of darkness is falling 
And my friends are all here at my side 
Are those the sweet voices of angels 
As I rise on that heavenly tide? 
All hearts overflowin with sadness 
And those words left so often unsaid 
Then I heard a voice whispering softly 
"Could I have all your stuff when you're dead? 

Could I have your TV and your pickup 
And I've always admired your shoes 
Could I have that old dinin room table 
And there's a couple of chairs I could use 
Well, I know that you're headed to glory 
And like a star up to heaven you'll shoot 
When they write the last page of your story 
Could I try on that seersucker suit" 

It was the voice of my dear brother Thomas 
He was kneelin down close by my side 
His breath had just come from a funeral 
For a mouthful of teeth that had died 
Well, I prayed my last prayer for salvation 
I was feeling the touch of God's hand 
But I could still hear the voice of my brother 
As they struck up that old angel band 

"Could I have your old ski boots and surfboard 
And maybe that 4-poster bed? 
Would you mind if I took a few records 
Just Nirvana, the Stones and... the Dead? 
Well, you know that you can't take it with you 
To your heavenly home up on high 
When you pass through those gates and they hand you your wings 
Could I have all your stuff when you die?" 

But the angels consulted St. Peter 
And flew me back to my hospital bed 
My life was a new day a-dawning 
And the angels took Tommy instead._

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## barry k

" will you miss me?" and "The Singer"

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## Hans

Dang right Rich! While I'm dreaming, she could play along with Heifitz too!

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## mandolooter

something that will go good with the party my friends will be havin...it'll be a smokey, bottle strewn affair, Im sure! Another one bites the dust? Won't matter much to me so long as they enjoy it they'll be fine...

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## Ken Berner

"Who Will Sing For Me" for one, "Amazing Grace" done a'capella at the end of the service. Others; "Canaan Land (Where The Soul Never Dies)", "Will The Circle Be Unbroken", "Keep On The Sunny Side", "Angel Band", "Old Country Church" and "I'll Be Waiting On The Far Side Banks Of Jordan".

Certainly, a jam for my friends left behind, would be very nice

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## Rob Wallace

No brainer here..."How Can I Miss You When You Won't Go Away" by Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks.

Hoping none of us hear our selections anytime soon.

Rob

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## Coy Wylie

Back in March a good old friend passed away. He had owned a music store in our town for a generation, hosted jams bi-weekly for years, and played and sang in many a band. He lived a good long life and went to his reward. 

At the funeral home the night before the funeral, his body was laid out in the chapel for visitors to see. Up in the balcony we had a great upbeat jam session and the music filled the chapel. 

The next day the church was filled to overflowing for the funeral. At the family's request, several of us sat in a semi-circle at the front of the auditorium (like a jam) and played a few gospel numbers he had enjoyed singing including "Family Bible." The really cool part was his old 50's shaded-top D-28, the well-worn old workhorse, sitting on an empty chair in the middle... sort of the bluegrass version of the riderless horse. 

The service concluded with twin fiddlers playing Ashokan Farewell. It was truly a memorial service. I want one like it.

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## Dan Cole

Wayfaring Stranger or this one from Blue Highway:

SOME DAY
(Words by Olive Stockton; Music by Tim Stafford)

Some day when my last line is written
Some day when Ive drawn my last breath
When my last words on earth have been spoken
And my lips are sealed in death:

Dont look on my cold form in pity
Dont think of me as one dead
It will just be the house I once lived in
My spirit by then will have fled

Ill have finished my time here allotted
But I wont be in darkness alone
I will have heard from heaven
The summons to come on home

And when my body is in the grave
Dont think that Ill be there
I wont be dead, but living
In the place Jesus went to prepare

And after all is said and done 
Know that my last earnest prayer
Was that my loved ones be ready
Some day to meet me there

© Daniel House Music, BMI

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## John Rosett

"she was bitten on the udder by an adder" by homer and jethro. 
"well she never died so suddenly before
and i guess she'll never do it anymore..."

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## swampstomper

I've already put it in my will and testament --- Harbour of Love by the Stanley Brothers, sung by my brothers (since I plan to go first).

I sang at my mother-in-law's funeral a few years back and my wife selected The Darkest Hour is Just Before Dawn and Going Up Home (aka Troubles and Trials). Did I mention one ingredient of a happy marriage is joint obsession with Stanley Bros. gospel music?

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## Jestr

In this order. 
Just a closer walk with thee (yeah it's a standard, but I love it.)
Vigilante Man (gotta have some Woody)
Maggot Brain 
Please Please Please (It'd be my last joke.)

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## Tim Saxton

I want My Last Days on Earth played buy some real close friends.

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## tree

"What'd I Say, Parts 1 and 2" by Ray Charles,to test that I'm actually dead - 'cause once that intro gets rollin', I might just get up and start groovin' with The Genius. #If I stay put, then maybe somebody could do Walls of Time.

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## mandopete

> ...followed by the Beat Farmers' _Happy Boy_


Hubba, hubba, hubba, hubba, hubba!

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## Garrett

Jimmy Martin singing "Drink up and Go Home". That song contains my entire philosophy of life.

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## Tom C

Oh Burry me beneith a willllow, a weeping willow tree.......
Then a really swinging Swing 42. -gotta leave on a happy note.

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## Wesley

Anything but Amazing Grace ! 

Precious Lord Take My Hand
I will do my last singing in this land - Rev Gary Davis
Pilgrim - Steve Earle
Who will sing for me - The Three Pickers
While I'm on my journey {don't you weep after me}- The Weavers
Be Thou my vision

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## David M.

Dang, Willard. That almost brings tears to my eyes. Nice post.

I'd want Angel Band. Or, "Won't You come and Sing for Me"

_I feel the shadows now upon me
And the angels beckon me
Before I go dear sisters and brothers
Won't you come and sing for me

Sing those hymns we sang together
In that plain little church with the benches all worn
How dear to my heart how precious the moments
We stood shaking hands and singing a song

My burden is heavy my way has grown weary
I have traveled a road that is long
And it would warm this old heart my dear brother
If you come and sing me one song

chorus

In my home beyond the dark river
Your sweet faces no more I will see
Until we meet where there's no more sad parting
Won't you come and sing for me

chorus_

Love that song. Hazel did it right when she wrote that one.

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## mandocrucian

*"Tango 'Til They're Sore" - Tom Waits (Rain Dogs)*

_"Lonely At The Top"_ - Randy Newman
_"Dirt In The Ground"_ - Tom Waits (Bone Machine)
_"The Harder They Come"_ - Jimmy Cliff
_"Earth Died Screaming"_ - Tom Waits (Bone Machine)

<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>_"Get Off of My Cloud"_ - Rolling Stones
_"Strange Affair"_ - Richard Thompson
_"Black Muddy Water"_ - Grateful Dead</span>

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## tree

Randy Newman - awesome! #How 'bout "I'm Dead (But I Don't Know It)"?

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## Dave Gumbart

Interesting question. Not that I think about it much at all, but just a week or so ago I had on Matt Flinner's Latitude cd. One tune, with Todd Phillips on bass, is a duet between Matt and Jerry Douglas on the dobro. The tune is Altitude, and has some mournful qualities, but more than that, it's simple (well, not that I could play it) and beautiful. And I thought - "you know, that would be a nice tune to play at my funeral." And to live a simple life and enjoy the beauty in it would be a life well lived.

And whatever gathering may take place after the services, there had better be some Professor Longhair....

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## mandodebbie

I want my body donated to Science...hmmm... Mandodebbie the Bride of Frankenstein!

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## Bob Sayers

"He went to sleep and the hogs eat him
Now paw's gone forever."

(Stanley Bros.)

Bob

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## futrconslr

Wayfaring Stranger
Powr in the blood
are you afraid to die

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## f5loar

Being a musician for hire the local funeral homes know who to call for those authenitic ancient tones. Aside from the standards already mentioned I got an unusal request to play "Dixie" on the banjo as the casket was being lowered into the ground. I hope to have a full band send me off.

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## LeoR

My 16 year old son played Ashokan's Farewell solo at my father's funeral on a borrowed violin. He did a fine job and his Grandpa would have been proud.

That song touched everyone that day - time stood still.

I think I would want the same.

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## drivenmandoman

Blanche and Ellis Nichols were an older couple that lived in Indepence, VA and they opened up their kitchen to pickers(good, bad, new, or veteran) every Tue. night for years. I've seen people just learning their first chord to Carnegie Hall professionals all playing together. When Ellis died, Wayne Henderson (guitar) and Helen White (fiddle) played the Green River Waltz at the graveside. Most beautiful thing you ever heard.

I personally like "Swing Wide The Gate" .

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## floyd floar

I would like " Don't monkey with my widder" (Doc and Chet)

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## John Ritchhart

"What do you want to be played at your funeral?" I was thinking touch football. Boys against the girls.

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## jeffshuniak

i like you, jbrwky....thats great...:D ...

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## acousticphd

> I want a $5-10 limit Hold-em poker game played at my funeral, with a $3/hand rake to pay for the expenses of sticking me in the ground on the cheap.


Ken, I will be there and chip in heavily, and I will also play something pretty for you on your Old Wave A5, which I'm imagining you will have left me in your will.

As for mine: Tim O'Brien playing "Bury me not on the lone Praire" on fiddle, then playing and singing "Keep your lamp trimmed and burning". Maybe Peter Ostrouschko's "Teelin Bay Waltz". Then lot's more music, and dancing.

This all sounds pretty fun - maybe I should be trying to live each day more as if I was at my own funeral...

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## Jakykong

No questions asked - something gospel. What i don't know yet. If i died tomorrow, probably not likely to be a folk/western song :-D (not why i took up the mando :-P actually mando's cause of tuning ... i love the GDAE tuning, same on the violin) 
At least for the moment, i'm tuned in on classical and (oddly enough) new age or maybe soft rock...
But regardless of the genre (not that it really matters, i'm not in the coffin for the music :-P) definately something gospel.

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## Dagger Gordon

Weather's gotta be an issue for the graveside, as I don't want someone's nice fiddle or mandolin getting rained or snowed on. So as usual in Scotland, I would expect to be piped into my grave.

As I'm not religious, where my funeral would take place is a bigger issue for me than the music. I've been to a couple of humanist services, one of which featured a woman singing an unaccompanied version of 'Ae Fond Kiss' by Robert Burns. I have to admit, it was tremendously effective.

I don't think anyone has suggested having recordings of themselves playing to be played at their own funeral, but I actually think it would be good for people to listen to your music as they remember your life.

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## Jim Yates

My wife sang MY BUDDY at our friend Claire's funeral twenty years ago. A great funeral song. 
Her brother has played FLOWERS OF THE FOREST at a few funerals.

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## Joel Glassman

"Its a Beautiful Morning" The Rascals

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## flairbzzt

Floyd- You took my song!

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## violmando

Have your heard Faure's Pavane played by the MMQ; that's my favorite piece--it's so peaceful, but I doubt it would be played that well at my funeral!

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## Joe Parker

"Please Don't Bury Me" by John Prine

JPP

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## Pete Martin

A fiddlin friend of mine passed away recently and we played at his funeral yesterday. One of the toughest things I've ever done. We played tunes he loved to play.

First tune we ever played together was Fishers HP. When we played it I almost couldn't make it through... 

RIP Phil Goodwin, you were a good man, we will all miss you.

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## Karen Kay

Karen has asked for "You Can't Always Get What You Want" by the Stones. "Learning to Fly" by Pink Floyd is next.
RT

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## siren_20

"Last Goodbye" by Jeff Buckley
"Everything's Not Lost" by Coldplay
"Laurie de Tullins" by Chris Thile
"Django" by MJQ
"Hungaria" by Django and QHCF... end it on a happy, bouncy note.

About a year and a half ago I organized a memorial concert for a dear musician friend who had passed away. It was the hardest thing I'd ever done, getting that many musicians organized under such great strain in such a short period of time. Ultimately, the healing power of music shined through and everything fell into place as if guided by unseen hands. It was a fitting sendoff, all of us got up at the end and played a song that he'd wrote called Down Like Rain. I'll share the chorus with you:
"Down like rain, down like rain,
Your grace comes down like rain
Down like rain, down like rain,
Your grace comes down like rain."
It was a beautiful thing to be a part of. Not a day goes by I don't remember him, his music, and the lessons about musicianship that he taught me by living and loving through music.

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## mandogrrl

It's somewhat macabre, but I think about this fairly often.

I like: I'll Fly Away, Pilgrim by Steve Earle, Where the Soul of Man Never Dies played and sung by my mando teacher,
Crossing the Bar by Salamander Crossing. 

Hopefully we will all have many more years to ponder this question.

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## Dave Caulkins

Heh, I don't think this is morbid - I actually think this is one of the best topics since I signed on this site years ago, the depth of this question is more than revealing... (maybe I'm morbid... hmmm?)

All I can say is:

No gospel.

No chestnuts.

No vocals.

To me, human life is too fragile and far too esoteric to be captured in words. I want my closest and dearest musicians (my wife included) to capture my life in simple notes. Improvise, damn you, like I made you do in life. Chop chop, slackers... heh! I don't want to go out on a downbeat note, particularly, just be remembered for who I was and wasn't. I don't know who I will be at my passing, but I can assume that I'm fairly consistent.

If I had to have words... I suppose "Goin' Down to Die" by Glenn Danzig is about as close as I could come right now (no, I don't want a metal band playing it... I want it acoustic with a frickin' mandolin...)... Yeah, I'm a weird mandolinist (just weird, actually)... Heck, I'm coming back to haunt everyone so what do I care (you clammed on the fourth measure... boo!)

Dave

PS: Tom Russell's "Ballad of Ed Abbey" is probably the most touching eulogy I have every heard put on a recording,... IMHO... He's been a personal hero to me for much of my existance...

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## epicentre

My wife and I both agreed no funeral. Cremation, then a memorial service (party). Very first tune I learned on the mando was St. Anne's Reel, so a good fiddler friend of mine will do that, and a piper buddy (late of the Argyles), has promised Amazing Grace.

My wife wants Blessed be the Tie that Binds since that was the hymn of her nursing school.

I told her I would like "Saints", but she said that would be just too much fun.....

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## Jack Roberts

Hymns. Old hymns. No guitar, no drums, no banjos, no mandolins, just hymns. And I would like to have "Nunc Dimitis" recited.

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## yankees1

Big Rock Candy Mountain, End of the Line ( Traveling Wilburys), I'll Fly Away, and I Did it My Way ( Sinatra). My funeral is all planned even with a video of me speaking to guests ( who I know will be there). More surprises but I won't tell !! A funeral that everyone will remember!

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## Bill Bradshaw

I'm insisting on Billy in the Low Ground. All my friends know they are supposed to play that one for sure.  I bring it up pretty much at every jam.

Bill Bob Bradshaw

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## Barry Platnick

twister, pictionary and charades

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## George R. Lane

I have no plans on leaving anytime soon, maybe never.

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## Psyberbilly

> I'd like the fiddle player in my band, Anthony VanPelt, to play "Ashokan Farewell". 
> 
> Wouldn't be a dry eye in the house!


My mom used to do Civil War re-enactments with me and a group of re-enactors and loved "Ashokan Farewell" , I played solo on mandolin at her funeral . As for myself , I would like Mary Fahl's version of " I'm Going Home " and Marty Stuart's instrumental " The Pilgrim ".

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## Mike Snyder

Pink Floyd- Atom Heart Mother-Funky Dung

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## Dan Cole

Ozzie Osborne "see you on the other side"?

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## Mandolin Mick

I plan on making a CD of me playing My Last Days on Earth by Bill Monroe and sacred music to be played at my funeral. Me on the mandolin and also playing the backing on guitar and bass.  :Smile:

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## Denny Gies

Any kind of bluegrass, with mandolin leads of course.

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## Bernie Daniel

> I plan on making a CD of me playing My Last Days on Earth by Bill Monroe and sacred music to be played at my funeral. Me on the mandolin and also playing the backing on guitar and bass.


Playing at your own funeral backed up by yourself, speaking at your own funeral?   Amazing ideas -- all things are possible with modern technology -- except of course coming back to life (at least for now).

Funeral songs: "Its all over now baby blue" (B. Dylan) followed immediately by "Red Rubber Ball" (The Cyrkle)?

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## Steve Davis



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## JeffD

Easy question. I have known this for years and years.

I would want the song "Hills of Galilee". OK I can't get Hazel Dickins. But the song would be enough.

I can't hear this tune without a strong emotional reaction. This old music has a way of saying things directly, without layer upon layer of obfuscation. The lack of nonesense in that chorus is startling, and forces us to cut through all the rationalizations and sit with something we don't, perhaps, really want to sit with.

But hey , you didn't come to my funeral for entertainment.


"We are traveling home, we are traveling home.
One by one, we're traveling home,
Across death's river, our friends have gone.
And must follow them, one by one."

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## allenhopkins

_Finnegan's Wake,_ last verse.  And I hope to re-enact it.

_Mickey Maloney he raised his head 
When a bottle of whiskey flew at him 
It missed him falling on the bed
The liquor scattered over Tim
Tim revives see how he rises 
Timothy rising from the bed
Whirl your whiskey around like blazes 
Thanum an Dhul, do ye think I'm dead?_

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## J.Albert

"What Do You Want To Be Played At Your Funeral?"

This:
http://soundcloud.com/fishrrman/no-grave

- John

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## J.Albert

"Aside from the standards already mentioned I got an unusal request to play "Dixie" on the banjo as the casket was being lowered into the ground."

"If they carry me back on that long southern track
I hope you will answer my plea
When they lower me down in that sweet Georgia ground
Have someone play Dixie for me"

- John

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## Shelagh Moore

_"How can I miss you when you won't go away"_  :Disbelief:

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## Brent Hutto

I might be tempted to go with this catchy tune.




> Here today and gone tomorrow
> Lifes too short to borrow sorrow
> Lifes too short for me to worry over you
> You are gone, you are missin
> Other lips you are kissing
> Lifes too short for me to worry over you
> 
> And Im leavin (and Im leavin)
> And Im grievin (and Im grievin)
> ...


But basically my wife ought to have whatever she wants to hear at my funeral. It'll be way too late for me to enjoy it by then!

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## Trevor Thomas

The Queen song "Another one bites the dust!".  :Mandosmiley:

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## mandolino maximus

> But basically my wife ought to have whatever she wants to hear at my funeral. It'll be way too late for me to enjoy it by then!


I thought about it quite a bit and ended up there, too.  At first it was Keep on the Sunnyside (saw the Whites do it live and that meant something to share).  Realized that would be emotionally devastating to the wife though.  Then went with Sunny Side of the Mountain which was ligher and very raucuous as recorded by our favorite group.  And that would be emotionally devastating to her for another reason.  I guess it's not about me at that point.

"Let Me Go, Blubber" by Homer and Jethro?

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## bobby bill

> I thought about it quite a bit and ended up there, too. At first it was Keep on the Sunnyside (saw the Whites do it live and that meant something to share). Realized that would be emotionally devastating to the wife though. Then went with Sunny Side of the Mountain which was ligher and very raucuous as recorded by our favorite group. And that would be emotionally devastating to her for another reason. I guess it's not about me at that point.


Keep trying.  How about Sunny Side of the Street?

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## farmerjones

i dunno, there's lot's to choose from and i won't be there to partake, so whatever. 
But i would like 6 crap shooters for my pawl bearers, like in the song.  :Smile: 
I've played at alot of funerals and i think the funeral jam would definately happen. If the gang wants to do something that's fine, but im not going to obligate anybody.

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## Brent Hutto

> i dunno, there's lot's to choose from and i won't be there to partake, so whatever. 
> But i would like 6 crap shooters for my pawl bearers, like in the song.



Kind of like the Highwayman's song...




> When I am dead, aye, and for my grave
> A flashy funeral pray let me have
> Six highwaymen for to carry me
> Give them broadswords and sweet liberty

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## re simmers

I will change the words of a Stanley Brothers tune to "I'm Not Dead, I'm Only A Sleepin."   I don't know who I want to sing it because I plan to outlive everyone I currently know.   :Wink: 

Bob

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## Hayduke

Here's one I heard at a funeral a couple of years ago: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LhUVuCms5M

"We bid You Goodnight."   Chilling.

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## JEStanek

Either this

or Elzic's Farewell, or Who will sing for me, and definately Lift High The Cross.

Jamie

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## bgjunkie

I would have to say Some Day by Lonesome Highway, followed by By the Mark by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings.  I am sure I could come up with a few more if I really thought about it, but my wife already knows about these.

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## Ivan Kelsall

*ZZ-Top* playing _"Sharp Dressed Man"_,
                                                                   Ivan :Grin:

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## mandolino maximus

> Either this
> 
> or Elzic's Farewell, or Who will sing for me, and definately Lift High The Cross.
> 
> Jamie


I like that choice of Snowden's (Genuine Negro) Jig, there JE.

Ain't Nobody Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone would work for me.

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## Rex9633

I play mandolin, and I play bluegrass on the mandolin, but I'm also a big ELVIS fan. So here goes;

1. Peace in the valley-Elvis
2. How great thou art-Elvis
3. American trilogy-Elvis

Thank you, Thank you very much!

Rex has left the building.

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## Rattman2

The Garcia and Grisman version of Friend of the Devil.  That one always bring a tear to my eye and puts a lump in my throat.

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## Jim MacDaniel

No tears at mine - I want my wake to be held at a pub with an upbeat seisiún as the focus and soundtrack, then my survivors will sprinkle my ashes from Ladies' View above Killarney National Forest. (The latter is already in my will, and thanks to this thread I'll be updating it with the former  :Mandosmiley:  )

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## kmiller1610

Raining at Sunset

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## John Ritchhart

And all the harm that e'er I've done,
Alas it was to none but me...

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## stevenmando

Well i am not  a religious person but used to be, gave up that nonsense some time ago but i think i would like *Iris DeMent* ( when my mornin comes around) seems kind of made for the moment.

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## Ed Goist

I think I'd like them to play the top 10 Billboard hits of 2059.  :Grin:

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## JeffD

> And all the harm that e'er I've done,
> Alas it was to none but me


This is a very good choice.

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## baptist mando55

If you are not a spiritual person that is your buisness but you should call it nonsense. whether you believe or not ever knee shall bow and ever tounge confess

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## journeybear

I don't really care what happens at my funeral, except for this: It is going to be in my will that my casket be delivered to the service and/or graveside five minutes late. I am a big procrastinator, and I have a song about this called "Five Minutes Late."  I've been late my whole life; I don't care how whoever is in charge manages this, but I intend to be late to my own funeral. I am dead serious about that.   :Wink: 

Well, that's really all. But for the purpose of this thread, I will make a small request. I don't have a certain song in mind, as long as it is sung by Sarah McLachlan, my all-time favorite pop singer. If she could get her old backup singer Camille Henderson - they were amazing together - to join her on some harmonies, that would be great, and also Sara Hickman, who has probably the warmest voice I have ever heard, and Heather Nova, whose soaring voice is as close to what I imagine a rock angel would sound like, and if Alicia Keys could join them that would be even better. (In fact, for backup singers let's bring in Mariah Carey, Beyoncé, and Christina Aguilera too, as long as they check their egos at the door. And please girls, no fighting over me - I'll already be dead.) I'll leave it up to Sarah and her exquisite taste to decide what to sing - she'll want to sing "Angel," naturally, but I would humbly suggest "Hold On," and her sexiest song, "Steaming" - and if Heather wouldn't mind contributing some of her more ethereal songs, like "Maybe An Angel" and "Paper Cup," that would be great, and "Island" and "Blue Black," might as well pull out all the stops. Sara could do "Take Me With You When You Go," thematically appropriate, and could lighten the mood considerably with "Radiation Man." Also, I would love it - I mean, I would have loved it - if Lucinda Williams could be there, to sing "I Envy The Wind" and "Sweet Old World." Oh, I almost forgot - let's get Patti Rothberg in as well, to do "Remembering Tonight." She knows I love that song. Might as well have a send-off that the living can enjoy, and I would like my last act in this world to be devoted to giving these performers, whose music I love, a little more recognition, and a thanks for their contribution to my musical enrichment and enlightenment. Lastly, if they wouldn't mind, I would like David Grisman and Sam Bush to play some nice background music for the mourners as they file in and mill about before the ceremony, and then afterward, to jam out on "Minor Swing" as people leave, second line style, so people would have some exuberant mandolin music ringing in their ears.  :Mandosmiley: 

Hey, might as well dream big! I should really apply myself to the task of making such a name for myself in this life that these greats would be happy, even honored, to take the time to send me to the next.  :Mandosmiley:

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## baptist mando55

> If you are not a spiritual person that is your buisness but you should call it nonsense. whether you believe or not every knee shall bow and every tounge confess


 it should have read you should not call it nonsense excuss my typing

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## Bob Clark

I'd like music that has not yet been written and won't be for decades to come. :Grin:

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## MikeEdgerton

I feel a lockdown coming on.

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