Funeral Song Meme

Thanks again (for nothing) DP (and RN Wannabe). I actually followed this meme from its inception:

BlogMD started it; one of those he passed it to was Frectis (new to me), who tagged At Your Cervix, thence to Ripple (and RNW), and finally to me. And all in one day (even though I'm taking an extra day before posting.) Hey, guys...we need a life.

The question is: What five songs would you like played at your funeral.

Let me begin by saying that I don't really care what happens at my funeral. I ain't gonna be there. It's the ultimate expression of the sentiment that funerals are for the living. I come by this sentiment honestly, by the way. My father's answer to the question, "Dad, do you want to be buried or cremated after you die?" has always been, "Surprise me."

Also, the traditional Jewish funeral -- which I assume will be the context of the festivities -- is usually short and frankly, five songs would be just too much; the service would run way too long. So I choose to read the meme as requesting a list of five acceptable options, as opposed to a playlist. With that as a preface:

1. Changes in Latitude (Changes in Attitude) by Jimmy Buffett (explanation: this is our family "vacation" song; the first song to get blasted out of the player as we head off to wherever we're going, to get us into the mood. In the setting of my funeral, it would be a way to let my kids send me off on my final journey.)
2. Pachelbel's Canon; just about my favorite piece of music, and appropriately "funereal".
3. Judy Collins singing the Beatles' In My Life; she does it as a ballad that is, well, heavenly.
4. The last movement of Beethoven's 9th Symphony; also one of my favorite pieces of music. I like the idea of a Joy-ful funeral (as long as the double bass players don't go out to a bar and get drunk, after fastening the last pages of the conductor's music with string so he can't get to it until they get back.*)
5. The Impossible Dream from Man of LaMancha (suggested by my spouse, because "It fits you," and I couldn't come up with five.)

Finally, since I'm not really into internet tag, I'll do the same thing I did before: anyone who wishes to, consider yourself tagged. Count off in the comments, up to five.


* The last movement of Beethoven's 9th symphony features the melody played by the double bass, which is so soft they need like 12 of them to play it loud enough to be heard. They only play at the beginning and very end of the last movement, so there's a huge stretch in the middle with nothing for them to do. The story goes that once, all the bass players snuck out to a local watering hole and proceeded to get smashed. Suddenly realizing they were going to be late getting back, the section leader reassured them: he had tied the last few pages of the conductor's musical score (before their entrance) with twine. When they finally made it back on stage, though, the conductor was furious; and with good reason:

It was the end of the 9th, the score was tied, and the basses were loaded.