I've Been Tagged - Five Songs for My Funeral

Stardust has tagged me with the "Five Songs To Be Played At My Funeral" chain.

I threw together a diverse collection below ranging from mournful dirges to upbeat pop music. If I had more time to devote to this post, I might have come up with different songs to add, but I think these will do nicely.

Here in the blogosphere, our contact with one another is often primarily sharing our views and opinions about various issues. By sharing with each other music that is meaningful to us, we reveal another aspect of ourselves. It is a way of communicating to the world our innermost aspirations and feelings.

So, without further ado, here are my five songs, with links to videos for them on Youtube:

1. "I'll Be There" by the Escape Club, dedicated to my wife (assuming I go before her) and to my children. It is the sappiest of my five selections. Of course, I don't really believe that there is a part of us that survives our death to watch over the ones we leave behind, but it is still a touching sentiment.

2. "Return to Innocence" by Enigma. This has long been one of my favorites from Enigma. Besides, I don't think "Sadeness" or "Mea Culpa" would be appropriate for a funeral.

3. "Ghost of a Chance" by Rush. The only video I could find for this song on Youtube was a wedding video. I like it because not only is it about true love, but as an atheist, I love the line "I don't believe in the stars or the planets, or angels watching from above, but I believe there's a ghost of a chance we can find someone to love, and make it last."

4. "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves. When I die, I want to be cremated. To me, it just does not seem practical that my dead body should take up space after I am gone. Just toss my ashes out of the urn at Montauk Point to be scattered into the wind and spread out over the Earth. Anyway, not only is this relentlessly upbeat song at odds with the solemnity one expects at a funeral, but there is something perversely amusing about the idea of this song being played as my body is about to be cremated. Particularly the lines "I'm walking on sunshine whoa oh! And it's time to feel good!" as the flames ignite.

5. "Now We Are Free" sung by Lisa Gerrard during the closing credits of the Russell Crowe film 'Gladiator'. Lisa Gerrard has an amazing voice and I think this song is one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard. I have the soundtrack for 'Gladiator' and can listen to this song ten times a day. Don't try to make any sense of the lyrics of the song, as they are not actually words that have any meaning. Rather, Lisa Gerrard uses the words to create a sound that conveys emotion. Anyone who enjoys the music of Adiemus will recognize that they do the same thing. The voice of the singer becomes an instrument itself rather than singing a song containing recognizable lyrics accompanied by instruments in the conventional sense.

I hope you enjoy these selections as much as I do.