It's your funeral...

[ManlyBanisters]

OK, so this is clearly inspired by SP's Funeral Threads thread but a few people have posted about their own funeral ideas...

How would you like your send off to go?

What music would you have?

If you could have anyone, who would you like as your eulogist? Someone you know? Someone famous? Someone here?

Any poems? Quotations?

Anything special / bizarre? (I dunno fire-eaters, kangaroos on stilts, drum and pipe band, whatever.)

What do you want done with your remains? Burial / cremation / other (à la Hunter S Thompson rocket setup :biggrin, are you even bothered?

 

[Not_Punny]

Oh, I sometimes think about this... but not as often as I compose award acceptance speeches. :tongue: (Think Newberry... I'm just not good enough for a Caldicott)

- - - - - - -

I don't know. I'll probably have it kind of blah because I know my kids will be having a really hard time. I will leave them letters, but those will be delivered in private.

If I didn't have kids, I'd have a merry old wake. But it's my kids that hold me back from getting too far out.

 

[Osiris]

Horse drawn hearse with two Clydesdales in full dressage, The Rebirth Brass Band playing Feel Like Funkin' It Up.

Instead of a reception of crying, I want a full on barbecue with a full bar and a live band.

 

[B_Italian1]

I haven't thought of any of that yet. I know that I don't want to go six feet under. I was in the most amazing mausoleum quite some time ago, and that's where I'd like my final resting place to be. Maybe not that particular one because I think it's filled. But I'd like to be in a mausoleum. It had marble floors, beautiful stained glassed windows, and paintings on the ceiling. There were drawers where each of the bodies was placed and a nameplate on the front of each drawer. It was very peaceful, relaxing, and not depressing at all.

 

[2322]

I'd like chanting Buddhist monks with incense, a recitation of Bilbo's Last Song (which I read at my grandfather's funeral), and to be piped to my grave to Amazing Grace.

In the realm of fantasy, I would love to have what is arguably the most beautiful song ever written sung by the single person who sings it best. To that end, I would love to have Jessye Norman sing Richard Strauss' Beim schlafengehen (Going to sleep). There's no other way to put it. As one commenter stated:

This is the best... this is just the best. Death has no power when sleep comes in such beauty.

Now I am wearied of the day;
all my ardent desires shall
gladly succumb to the starry night
like a sleepy child.

Hands, stop all your work;
brow, forget all your thoughts;
all my being now
yearns to sink into sleep.

And the unchained spirit
wishes to fly up freely
into night's magic sphere
to live deeply and a thousandfold.
​

The lyrics are a poem by Hermann Hesse.

I don't want a dry eye in the house :biggrin1:. Take 5 minutes and listen to that and see. It's a piece I love to listen to when I need to remind myself of the beauty of which mankind is capable. At the end of all things I hope the aliens who land here find a copy of it and marvel as we can.

 

[SpeedoGuy]

Friends, family and professional colleagues in attendance. Colorful video scenes on bunch of big screen TVs featuring pictures of the Rockies and Alps. Music by Enya. Everyone dressed in their finest. A moving eulogy. Photos of me at my best displayed on large easels.

And afterwards, one hell of a good party.

 

[Northland]

OK, so this is clearly inspired by SP's Funeral Threads thread but a few people have posted about their own funeral ideas...

How would you like your send off to go?

What music would you have?
Twelve Gates To The City-traditional version, followed by Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie and a personal favorite; Peace In The Valley- and of course everyone would have to join in singing Without You by Harry Nilsson:
No I can't forget this evening
Or your face as your were leaving
But I guess that's just the way the story goes
You always smile but in your eyes your sorrow shows
Yes it shows

No I can't forget tomorrow
When I think of all my sorrows
When I had you there but then I let you go
And now it's only fair that I should let you know
What you should know

I can't live
If living is without you
I can't live
I can't give anymore
I can't live
If living is without you
I can't give
I can't give anymore

No I can't forget this evening
Or you face as you were leaving
But I guess that's just the way the story goes
You always smile but in your eyes your sorrow shows
Yes it shows

I can't live
If living is without you
I can't live
I can't give anymore
I can't live
If living is without you
Can't live
I can't give anymore...




If you could have anyone, who would you like as your eulogist? Someone you know? Someone famous? Someone here?
Anyone other than that pompous whiny voiced windbag Larry Block (Lawrence Block to the reading public). Maybe that Bill Richardson fellow can do it now that is political season is over with.
Any poems? Quotations? "Life is while life is and then life ain't; but, that's life, so stomp mewling over it and live it while you can."

Anything special / bizarre? (I dunno fire-eaters, kangaroos on stilts, drum and pipe band, whatever.)

What do you want done with your remains? Burial / cremation / other (à la Hunter S Thompson rocket setup :biggrin, are you even bothered?

'twon't really matter I suppose what gets done with me. I am hoping for the right turn of events so I can be donated for medical research- if I am found too late for that, then cremation would be the best option with my ashes conveniently scattered with sparkles over the entire City of New York. Additionally, a friend of mine is already aware of this, my memorial service is to be held in the nude.

 

[Ethyl]

Can you hold a funeral for someone who dies and becomes foam on the waves? 10 pts for anyone who knows what i'm talking about.

I won't care what happens to me after death so I suppose that's why I haven't given it much thought. I'd rather not have my ashes flown to Hawaii and thrown to the wind (think Portugal or Corsica), my body frozen only to be revived by some idiot who wants to tinker with it in some ungodly fashion, or a somber-assed gathering full of dying flowers.

The viking way might be nice - my body in a boat, set on fire, and pushed out to sea. I have a penchant for alchemy. Maybe I should donate my body to science. Who's into taxidermy? I'd make a great doorstop. :biggrin1:

 

[Meniscus]

There are 3 songs I want played:

Mazzy Star's "Before I Sleep"
YouTube - Mazzy Star music clip BEFORE I SLEEP

Scott Matthew's "In the End" (from the movie Shortbus)
YouTube - Justin Bond and the Hungry Marching Band - In the end

Cowboy Junkies - "Those Final Feet"
Amazon.com: Those Final Feet: MP3 Downloads: Cowboy Junkies [This is a clip only.]

Place my body on the funeral pyre,
Cut it loose to float downstream
Leave it frozen on a mountain top,
Suspend it high to be picked clean

You said never to grow old,
But you forgot to tell me how
You said never to grow old
And then you sank your teeth into those final feet

Last night I dreamt of owls at my window
I knew that time was winding down
Turned to tell you of my premonition,
Changed my mind and lay back down

You said never to grow old,
But you forgot to tell me how
You said never to grow old
And then you sank your teeth into those final feet

No sense wasting the time you got,
You got to walk down every road
No sense pretending that you’re what you’re not,
When you got to shoulder every load

You said never to grow old,
But you forgot to tell me how
You said never to grow old
And then you sank your teeth into those final feet

Cut it loose, cut it loose, cut it loose

You said never to grow old,
But you forgot to tell me how
You said never to grow old
And then you sank your teeth into those final feet

 

[D_sneeze]

great big party, song: first lady; missing u, look it up, well emotional!!!!!!

 

[Osiris]

Can you hold a funeral for someone who dies and becomes foam on the waves? 10 pts for anyone who knows what i'm talking about.

I won't care what happens to me after death so I suppose that's why I haven't given it much thought. I'd rather not have my ashes flown to Hawaii and thrown to the wind (think Portugal or Corsica), my body frozen only to be revived by some idiot who wants to tinker with it in some ungodly fashion, or a somber-assed gathering full of dying flowers.

The viking way might be nice - my body in a boat, set on fire, and pushed out to sea. I have a penchant for alchemy. Maybe I should donate my body to science. Who's into taxidermy? I'd make a great doorstop. :biggrin1:

Isn't that the fate of mermaids?

 

[bottombuddy]

ive seen so much death past 3 years with close relatives - that i couldnt even begin to think about my own right now........i'll have to get over them before i even think of leaving this place.

 

[viking1]

They can throw my body out for the buzzards to pick, for all I care. After all, I won't know anything about it.

 

[2322]

I think you'd make a great diamond.

Can you hold a funeral for someone who dies and becomes foam on the waves? 10 pts for anyone who knows what i'm talking about.

I won't care what happens to me after death so I suppose that's why I haven't given it much thought. I'd rather not have my ashes flown to Hawaii and thrown to the wind (think Portugal or Corsica), my body frozen only to be revived by some idiot who wants to tinker with it in some ungodly fashion, or a somber-assed gathering full of dying flowers.

The viking way might be nice - my body in a boat, set on fire, and pushed out to sea. I have a penchant for alchemy. Maybe I should donate my body to science. Who's into taxidermy? I'd make a great doorstop. :biggrin1:

 

[SpeedoGuy]

The viking way might be nice - my body in a boat, set on fire, and pushed out to sea.

Gotta agree, the viking funeral pyre is impressive and dramatic.

http://www.theswordreview.com/Published/300_VikingFuneral/300_VikingFuneral_LG.jpg

 

[invisibleman]

OK, so this is clearly inspired by SP's Funeral Threads thread but a few people have posted about their own funeral ideas...

How would you like your send off to go?

What music would you have?

If you could have anyone, who would you like as your eulogist? Someone you know? Someone famous? Someone here?

Any poems? Quotations?

Anything special / bizarre? (I dunno fire-eaters, kangaroos on stilts, drum and pipe band, whatever.)

What do you want done with your remains? Burial / cremation / other (à la Hunter S Thompson rocket setup :biggrin, are you even bothered?

I think that if I were to die.
I would like people to have FUN.
Mine would hopefully be a FUN-eral.

I wouldn't want people to talk about me. I would like them to pick up where I left off. Live life. Love life. Appreciate each other.

I would like to have some comedians to do routines. Have some funny movies played. I would like the venue to have a full bar and a delicious buffet.

As far as my "remains" are concerned...I would like to be cremated. And my ashes to be taken. Half in an urn for my family. Half for a good family member to go to an amusement park like Busch Gardens and toss (mysteriously) while riding on a really good rollercoaster ride. (I like rollercoasters.) :smile:

 

[hockeycock]

I want my heirs to commission a Requiem for orchestra and choir and have it performed at my funeral. Then, I want my naked corpse tossed into a paupers' grave. Either that or the caldera of an active volcano.

 

[Bbucko]

This was a "game" that my friends and I played in the 80s, when AIDS was ubiquitous and no relief was in sight. I even made songlists for my funeral, thinking that, somehow, that would play an important part of remembering who I was for my friends and family.

The arrangements we'd planned rarely coincided with the realities, however, and even the most radical queer got the kind of funeral that their parents wanted.

Personally I'd prefer that there be no service, just a memorial gathering, and no burial; if I could be ground into fertilizer that would suit me just fine.

 

[Ethyl]

Isn't that the fate of mermaids?

Ding ding ding! Forget the 10 pts. You're getting a cookie. :biggrin1:

I think you'd make a great diamond.

Amazing. A gem made from the carbon taken from a strand of hair. I'd prefer that to my ashes in an urn on a shelf. Where did you find this link? I think that's a beautiful way to remember someone.

Gotta agree, the viking funeral pyre is impressive and dramatic.

http://www.theswordreview.com/Published/300_VikingFuneral/300_VikingFuneral_LG.jpg

A friend of mine insists upon this very type of burial. I'm not sure I could be the one to light the boat aflame.

 

[2322]

Amazing. A gem made from the carbon taken from a strand of hair. I'd prefer that to my ashes in an urn on a shelf. Where did you find this link? I think that's a beautiful way to remember someone.

I saw it on a website or TV or something and remembered it. Takes more than a strand though. They're happy to take about a cup of you if you're already ashes.

Now imagine it mounted in a nice platinum Prince Albert or Prince's Wand...