Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: The Music for Occasions

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  • bob daktari,

    my funeral should take about 13 minutes due to my choice of music.... quite possibly a lot less than that

    at the wake people can play what they jolly well please, I won't be attending

    auckland • Since Dec 2006 • 540 posts Report Reply

  • Richard Aston,

    I played Eva Cassidy - Fields of Gold at a friends funeral - young mother of 4 .
    200 people weeping in unison , seemed the only human response to such a death.

    Northland • Since Nov 2006 • 510 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes, in reply to Jackie Clark,

    I will be carried in to this:

    Oh Jackie, I hope you never die. I couldn't stand the thought of having to sit through that selection.
    ;-)

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Richard Aston,

    I played this very slow mantra at a friend's committal service
    Deva Premal - Gate Gate . From the Buddhist heart sutra

    Various translations , the one I used was
    Leaving now
    Leaving now
    Leaving for the other side
    O what an awakening


    sorry about the cheesy video

    Northland • Since Nov 2006 • 510 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Williams, in reply to Sacha,

    Sacha, I've got this CD and I might even seen that clip before... didn't stop me having a very teary moment in the office but.

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Paul Williams,

    something just primal about those visuals

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Harry Musgrave,

    Almost since I first heard it I've thought that I'd like Simple Minds 'Someone, Somewhere in Summertime' at my funeral. Listened to the album recently and thought that 'Big Sleep' might be even better..

    But why stop at one!

    Since Jul 2009 • 28 posts Report Reply

  • Islander,

    -my takiaue will involve family voices, family-generated music - or just the sound of the ever-rolling sea-
    wont be around to care, but my lot know what I love, and that is the sound of them-

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Ana Simkiss,

    At my dad's funeral there was a LOT of music, including a live jazz band & a full on harmonised rendition of "sunrise sunset" from fiddler on the roof (he was a king of am dram in our little town). Most fitting - and still unlistenable! was Jerusalem. It suited a heathen transplanted Englishman.
    I'm going to a funeral on Friday for someone my exact age. If there is no guns n roses we will all be haunted.
    Mine will include the theme from "the Snowman" just to get everyone in the (tragic) mood!

    Freemans Bay • Since Nov 2006 • 141 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark, in reply to bob daktari,

    By golly, Bob, that's a very stern piece of music. Almost fist-shakey. Very you xx

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Morrison,

    I'm going to have to suggest Nina Simone's ' Ain't Got no...I got life'

    Slightly ironic but positive affirmations all round

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUcXI2BIUOQ

    Auckland • Since Jul 2012 • 1 posts Report Reply

  • bronwyn, in reply to Jackie Clark,

    Jackie, your funeral sounds like jolly good fun! (Apart from the Simply Red, I have to say).

    tamaki makaurau • Since Nov 2006 • 86 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark,

    Thankyou Bronwyn, I thought so. And Steve my love? You'd do as you were told.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • bronwyn,

    A touch of LCD Soundsystem fits all types of occasions very nicely, and I'd plump for this one at my funeral, possibly the best combination of melancholy and dance music you'll ever find:

    And as a lapsed Catholic who spent my formative years at an Anglican school, it would be compulsory to have a few hymns. The rather wonderful NZ choral composer Dorothy Buchanan's arrangement of The Lord's My Shepherd is outstanding, and far more moving than the rather dull version usually sung.

    I do remember making a list of songs for my funeral as rather a macabre teenager; including, rather ridiculously, 14 Years by Guns n' Roses despite it being about a break up, purely because I was, yes, 14. But now I'd of course plump for November Rain, if only so all the mourners could enjoy themselves imagining Slash's infamous electric-guitar-in-middle-of-a-field solo.

    tamaki makaurau • Since Nov 2006 • 86 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to bronwyn,

    Apart from

    we all have bottom lines :)

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Dave Patrick,

    This is the first thing people are going to hear

    Then some of this

    Then some good old tear-jerking Les Miserables

    And some more 80's goodness

    There's lots more, but I'm going out to this one

    Rangiora, Te Wai Pounamu • Since Nov 2006 • 261 posts Report Reply

  • Rob Stowell,

    I'd like the velvets 'sweet nothing' at my funeral- fairly long, sweet and mournful, and even if the words are not perfect, the chorus fits nicely :)

    Whakaraupo • Since Nov 2006 • 2120 posts Report Reply

  • JacksonP, in reply to Dave Patrick,

    Then some of this

    You just got the jump on me with that one.

    Although I was going to suggest Tim Buckley, having got into trouble over his son earlier. ;-)

    Auckland • Since Mar 2011 • 2450 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Williams, in reply to Harry Musgrave,

    Harry, you know they’re touring again yeah?

    Incidentally, how’s no one suggested Crowdies Better Be Home Soon

    Or, Dave Dobbyn’s Welcome Home

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report Reply

  • Caleb D'Anvers, in reply to James Butler,

    Totally with you on the Church funeral acoustics, James. If you could, why wouldn't you go out with the full Tomás Luis de Victoria "Officium Defunctorum," all 60 minutes of it, live and loud, in the gaudiest, most Cyclopeian counter-Reformation cathedral you could find? I know I would.

    London SE16 • Since Mar 2008 • 482 posts Report Reply

  • Ross Mason,

    These have to be the first on ones list:

    This one has already been listed but is a compulsory:

    And for the message from the grave:

    Upper Hutt • Since Jun 2007 • 1590 posts Report Reply

  • Chris Waugh, in reply to Paul Williams,

    Dave Dobbyn’s Welcome Home

    Get's me totally teared up, but for entirely non-funereal reasons. That's just perfectly the welcome I want my wife and daughter to get when we get back.

    Dunno if anybody outside China will be able to see this, but here's a favourite of the kind I would like at a funeral.

    Wellington • Since Jan 2007 • 2401 posts Report Reply

  • Megan Wegan,

    Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead. Seriously.

    Welly • Since Jul 2008 • 1275 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    When my sister was a naughty teenager she suggested she’d like Prince’s Darling Nikki at hers.

    That would be interesting -- would the dress code be bikini briefs and raincoats for the gents and underwear with a leer for everyone else?

    As a general rule, inspiring the mourners to hump the pews and collect notes in their arse cleavage is not the level of decorum you want for a memorial service.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Williams, in reply to Chris Waugh,

    That’s just perfectly the welcome I want my wife and daughter to get when we get back.

    Yeah, I similarly imagine a return home to a kiwiana soundtrack. Still, after close on ten years.

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report Reply

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