TELEVISION theme tunes, ’70s pop hits and Disney jingles have been picked out by Oxfordshire folk for their final send-off.

Visitors to this month’s Kicking the Bucket Festival helped organisers compile a list of songs they want played at their funeral – ranging from ’70s disco hits to Monty Python ditties.

After holding a concert of the chosen tunes, dubbed Dead Good Songs, festival organisers are appealing for more people to reveal the songs they want played as they go to meet their maker.

Festival director Liz Rothschild said: “This was the first time we have held a concert like Dead Good Songs and all the music went down a storm.

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“As well as encouraging people to join in with the choir’s song programme, we were fascinated to know which songs people envisaged being played at their ‘send-offs’ and it was very interesting to hear the range of songs people chose.

“They ranged from those which would obviously comfort their loved ones, to those which would make them chuckle.”

Suggestions included Abba’s Dancing Queen, Monty Python’s Decomposing Composers and children’s favourite The Bare Necessities from Disney’s The Jungle Book. But bizarre funeral song requests are not uncommon for Oxfordshire’s funeral directors, including owner of Rose Hill’s Individuals Funeral Company, Laura Jane.

She said she has had requests for television theme tunes to be played, including Only Fools and Horses and Coronation Street.

Miss Jane, from Milton Common, said she also had a request for the iconic drumming heard at the beginning of the EastEnders tune to be played as the curtains closed for one individual.

The 32-year-old said: “It’s just a really personal thing. I think people are really putting more thought into it now.

“I think there has been a pretty big shift in the funeral industry. An awful lot of people see it as a celebration of their life.

“I just think music plays a big part in everybody’s life. Music is literally like a marker in really important phases of your life.”

Director of Jerrams Brothers Funeral Directors Nicholas Tonks said Soul Limbo, best known as the theme tune for the country’s cricket coverage, has been played at funerals, as well as the Match of the Day tune.

Frank Sinatra’s My Way, Monty Python’s Always Look On the Bright Side of Life, Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water and Sarah Brightman’s Time To Say Goodbye are also among the favourites requested at the Kidlington and Woodstock-based funeral company. The three-week Kicking the Bucket Festival, which ended on Thursday, was aimed at tackling the taboos surrounding death.

Top tunes

Other song choices of festival visitors:

  • Heaven – Chris Rea
  • Great Gig in the Sky - Pink Floyd
  • Going Home – Leonard Cohen
  • Meet on the Ledge – Fairport Convention
  • Wake Up and Live – Bob Marley
  • Can’t Smile Without You – Barry Manilow


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