Putting the FUN in funerals!

[Statto]

That's fucking incredible. If it'd made me laugh any harder than it just did they'd have been planning my own funeral.

Edit: this was re: Gladiators 

Edited January 15, 2024 by Statto
Glads.

[Arch Stanton]

21 minutes ago, ReturnOfTheMack said:

Funerals... I've seen some odd stuff in my time running graveyards.

A personal fave was when a guy who was a proper film buff wanted to have the main theme from his favorite film- the Russell Crowe starring 'Gladiator'- playing as his family left the cremation service.

There was a miss communication somewhere and his family left to the theme song to the TV show 'Gladiators'

This is fucking brilliant!! Holy shit 

[Surf Digby]

I think I've been to more funerals for people that died young from disease or freak accident than died of old age. That's a really depressing statistic, 

[Carbomb]

4 hours ago, ReturnOfTheMack said:

Funerals... I've seen some odd stuff in my time running graveyards.

A personal fave was when a guy who was a proper film buff wanted to have the main theme from his favorite film- the Russell Crowe starring 'Gladiator'- playing as his family left the cremation service.

There was a miss communication somewhere and his family left to the theme song to the TV show 'Gladiators'

Incredible. All of the arrows.

[Jazzy G]

15 hours ago, SuperBacon said:

What do we reckon would've been the most inappropriate song to sing?

Off the top of my head, something completely the opposite to a death, Dancing Queen or something. 

Alive & Kicking by Simple Minds? 

[Carbomb]

Another One Bites The Dust

[Loki]

Ebony and Ivory?

[Chili]

Does everyone know someone with a 'when I die, wanna get cremated and I'll have the countdown theme play' story. I've met more than one person who has used that or seen that at a funeral. Always think it happened once and people are chinny.

The worst song to play at a funeral is probably 'Fields of Gold' by Sting, as playing that you'd discover that person had a really bland music taste and would forever taint your memory.

That or Sigur Ros.

[deathrey]

Surprise, you're dead! By Faith No More

[BomberPat]

3 minutes ago, Chili said:

Does everyone know someone with a 'when I die, wanna get cremated and I'll have the countdown theme play' story. I've met more than one person who has used that or seen that at a funeral. Always think it happened once and people are chinny.

Stephen Fry claimed on an episode of QI that it's a really popular choice, but it wasn't one of his scripted bits, and a lot of the stuff he claims in that light tend to have an air of a pub reckon about them. I wouldn't be surprised if it stems from a joke that's been passed around so long it's become treated as fact, or that pub bores have thrown around in the hope you think it's their witty original idea. It probably has to have happened at least once by now, but I doubt it's widespread at all.

Similar to the Gladiator/Gladiators mix-up, there was an old story that somebody wanted Bryan Adams' "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" played at their wedding, but the band got confused as to why they were asked to play "that song from Robin Hood", so as the bride walked down the aisle, they broke out into a spirited performance of "Robin Hood, Robin Hood, riding through the glen..."

[Gus Mears]

Yeah, Pat's right. Your chances of originality are slim to none in a crowded field where everyone gets a turn.

My Dad had One Step Beyond playing while he got broiled and they had it preloaded in the crematorium jukebox along with anything else you could think of, including a relatively obscure classical piece by Mahler when they wheeled him in.

[Chest Rockwell]

I was given the job of choosing some jazz my dad would have liked for his cremation so I went very on the nose and picked Horace Silver - song for my father. 

Originality really isn't particularly important in this scenario is it?

[johnnyboy]

56 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

Another One Bites The Dust

A lad I knew died tragically young from cancer and he was a massive fan of Freddie and Co.  As the curtains closed and people started filing out the bass notes started over the speakers.  Causing some of us to have to hold in laughs at a funeral is exactly the send off he would have wanted.

[Harry Wiseau]

the most lilkely candidate for a funeral original that i've been in the room for was at the funeral for a guy (Big Rob) who was a regular in the pub i used to work in. His main job was running a cafe which made him loads of money, a lot of which he had invested in and became the silent partner of a very popular swingers  sex club in Birmingham, he often regaled us with stories of varying depravity laced with comic moments and was generally a lovely chap. Anyway he died after i'd left the pub, i went along after having a few pints beforehand (it's what he would have wanted) and the funeral was a suprisingly somber one, horse drawn carriage for the coffin, proper old school funeral until the song came on and he''d chosen Gang Bang by Black Lace from the Rita Sue and Bob Too soundrtack.  Less people than you'd think sang along.

[Rule One]

When it was my Grandads funeral, we wanted 'Hit me with your rhythm stick' by Ian Dury and the Blockheads but the Church wouldn't let us use it due to sexual connotations. The crematorium played it no fuss and as it was the parting song half the family that were there looked confused and the rest of us were laughing because it was final in joke between him and us.

I was pissed off at the very same Church months later though as I attended another funeral there and they allowed 3 songs full of swearing where half of the attendees were young but ours was too 'sexual'.

Body In A Box by City and Colour is a beautiful song but it's a very blunt title.