Again, depending on what sort of funeral you have, you may feel it appropriate to have music at the beginning, during and/or at the end of the ceremony. As with poetry, the choice is yours. To get your grey matter working, here we have the top ten listings taken from a survey by the Co-op of over 30,000 funerals between 2008-2009. It’s divided into popular music, hymns, classical and quirky.
Top 10 popular songs
| 2009 position | 2005 position | Song | Artist |
| 1 | 1 | My Way | Frank Sinatra / Shirley Bassey |
| 2 | 2 | Wind Beneath My Wings | Bette Midler / Celine Dion |
| 3 | 9 | Time to Say Goodbye | Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli |
| 4 | 3 | Angels | Robbie Williams |
| 5 | 8 | Over the Rainbow | Eva Cassidy |
| 6 | – | You Raise Me Up | Westlife / Boyzone / Josh Grobin |
| 7 | 4 | My Heart Will Go On | Celine Dion |
| 8 | 6 | I Will Always Love You | Whitney Houston |
| 9 | 7 | You’ll Never Walk Alone | Gerry and the Pacemakers |
| 10 | – | Unforgettable | Nat King Cole |
Top 10 hymns
| 2009 position
|
2005 position | Hymn |
| 1 | 1 | The Lord Is My Shepherd |
| 2 | 2 | Abide With Me |
| 3 | 3 | All Things Bright and Beautiful |
| 4 | 4 | Old Rugged Cross |
| 5 | 5 | Amazing Grace |
| 6 | 7 | How Great Thou Art |
| 7 | 6 | The Day Thou Gavest, Lord, Is Ended |
| 8 | 8 | Jerusalem |
| 9 | – | Make Me a Channel of Your Peace |
| 10 | 9 | Morning has Broken |
Top 10 classical music
| 2009 position
|
2005 position | Piece | Composer |
| 1 | 1 | Nimrod from Enigma Variations | Elgar |
| 2 | 5 | Pie Jesu from Requiem | Faure |
| 3 | 2 | Ave Maria | Schubert |
| 4 | 6 | Nessun Dorma | Puccini |
| 5 | – | Canon in D | Pachelbel |
| 6 | 7 | Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring | Bach |
| 7 | 4 | Air on a G String | Bach |
| 8 | – | Going Home from the New World Symphony | Dvorak |
| 9 | 8 | The Four Seasons | Vivaldi |
| 10 | 3 | Largo from Xerxes | Handel |
Quirky choices – a selection
| Song |
Artist |
| Another One Bites the Dust | Queen |
| Disco Inferno | The Trammps |
| Bat Out of Hell | Meatloaf |
| Spirit in the Sky | Doctor and the Medics |
| Ring of Fire | Johnny Cash |
| Songs of Praise | TV theme |
| Only Fools and Horses | TV theme |
| Z Cars | TV theme |
| Benny Hill | TV theme |
| Top Gear | TV theme |
| Radio 4 Shipping Forecast | Radio theme |
| Channel 4 Horse Racing | TV theme |
| Emmerdale | TV theme |
| Coronation Street | TV theme |
If alternative inspiration is something you are looking for, then a German electronic dance label “Get Physical”, has recently put together a compilation album called Final Song #1 – possibly the only album ever dedicated to funeral/memorial music choice. By asking numerous DJ’s and music producers for their personal choice of “final song”, the album has some outstanding old and new tracks on it covering many different genres from dance, indie and even chilean folk?!