Top Funeral Songs or Dirge for Today
As ever, we like a list here at Irish KC, however lacking in authority it may be. We especially like looking at them to see if anything Irish is represented, because how else can you tell what Irish culture is in this world of the three-minute attention span where you get to choose your own identity and then define it? Or because, like Tom, we’re petty.
The BBC today reported on the most requested songs to be played at funerals and services of remembrance in the UK. It’s a list of god-awful songs that includes those by James Blunt, Robbie Williams, Jennifer Warnes, Bette Midler, and Elton John.
Perhaps surprisingly there is only one Irish song in there despite the reputation the Irish have for being rather good at death and bereavement, but then this list is one drawn up by the English, who clearly just don’t get death. I mean seriously, Candle in the feckin’ Wind?
Mark Roy, founder, of The Bereavement Register, who organized the survey, said: The top 20 really shows how far we have come in terms of saying goodbye. Gone are the dirges of yore. He’s right. They’ve been replaced by the dirges of today.
Of course it was U2 that had the Irish song in the Top Ten, with With or Without You, which oddly for U2 is not even funny. Had it been Some Days Are Better Than Others or Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of, then you’d be talking laughter with dignity.
Please don’t play James Bleedin’ Blunt at my funeral.
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
See Also:
• 10 Songs I learned in School in Ireland
• Top 100 #1 Albums in UK Charts
• Irish Inventions and their Inventors
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