#SONGS PLAYED AT FUNERALS FULL#

‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’ is next, with’ The Lord is My Shepherd’ and ‘Jerusalem’ also in the top 10.īut, when SunLife asked people what ‘send-off’ music they’d like at their own funerals, there was just one in the top 10 – ‘Lord of all Hopefulness’ - which came in at number six and doesn’t even feature in the top ten songs actually played at funerals. ‘Amazing Grace’ is the most popular funeral music overall, knocking last year’s number one - ‘Abide with Me’ – off the top spot. Duke of Edinburgh could be in hospital for six weeks, says expertĪccording to SunLife’s 2021 Cost of Dying report, less than a third of people make their preference for a funeral song known – in most cases (71%) the funeral song is chosen by someone else – most often the person organising the funeral.Īnd actually, the most common ‘send-off’ music played at funerals is a hymn, not a song.Joggers should wear a mask when running, says expert.(Full top 30 listed at bottom of the release) Read More Related Articles In second place is John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’, followed by the Liverpool football anthem, ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ by Gerry & The Pacemakers. However, if we were to choose our own funeral music, ‘My Way’ would not be the top choice we’d rather have the comedy song ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life’ sung by Eric Idle in Monty Python’s Life of Brian. SunLife’s report reveals that, after ‘My Way’, the most popular song is ‘Time To Say Goodbye’ by Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli, followed by Vera Lynn’s ‘We’ll Meet Again’ and then Eva Cassidy’s version of ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’. Here is a moving performance by the Irish Tenors.‘My Way’ is the song most likely to be played at a funeral according to SunLife’s 2021 Cost of Dying report with one in every 25 funerals playing Frank Sinatra’s 1969 hit.

This song has been a feature for Celtic Woman, Sean Keane, Dolores Keane, The Celtic Tenors, Dan McCabe, Celtic Thunder and Tommy Fleming- and many others, Was Annie Moore from Ireland, who was all of fifteen years' They opened Ellis Island and they left the people through.Īnd the first to cross that threshold of that Isle of hope Isle of Tears As the first person to be processed at the newly opened facility, she was presented with a $10 gold piece.Ī song of what's left behind in Ireland and one of hope in the future of an new land of America. When a little girl Annie Moore left the shores of Cobh (called Queenstown at the time) Ireland, and arrived at the shores of New York, she was the first person through the newly opened Ellis Island, in 1892. Here is a wonderful version by Celtic Woman When troubles come and my heart burdened be When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary 'I glimpse eternity' it is a moving funeral song, opening with the lines Written by Rolf Løvland and Brendan Graham, this is an uplifting song of lyrics, starting out 'so weary', which has been sung by some of Irish leading singers and groups - such as Brian Kennedy, Westlife, and international stars such as the 12 Tenors and Josh Groban. The tune is an adaptation of an old traditional air Carrigdhoun.Īlthough one of the great Irish love anthems, the song, in time-honoured Percy French fashion, is spiced with more than a glimmer of humour which adds to the exquisite pathos of the song.įor some, this is the perfect funeral song, encompassing mourning, exile, the beauty of Ireland, romance and humour. The lyrics of The Mountains Of Mourne were written by Roscommon man Percy French. This magnificent musical and lyrical meshing produced one of the great love poems in the Irish canon, and a song which graces many a farewell to loved ones.

Patrick Kavanagh set the lovelorn lyrics of Raglan Road to a traditional air The Dawning of the Day, and slowed the composition right down. It is thus a song of nostalgia and love, and a likely choice for any Dubliner’s funeral. The strongly nostalgic tone of the lyrics are made even more poignant because of the changes which have overtaken Dublin in such a remarkably short time over the last few decades, some good, some not so good. More Bertoldt Brecht than Molly Malone, the impassioned lyrics of The Rare Ould Times song evokes an old Dublin that has long disappeared.

#SONGS PLAYED AT FUNERALS FULL#

“My mind’s too full of memories, too old to hear new chimes, I’m part of what was Dublin, in the rare ould times.” It makes the perfect threnody for a funeral. The extraordinary and lasting popularity of the song comes from the marriage of Colum’s verses to that melody. Writer Pádraic Colum reworked these verses, adding several almost ethereal lyrics of his own. The verses were then combined with a melody either collected, re-worked or written by musicologist Herbert Hughes.

Songs played at funerals