Music is something that transcends culture, age, language and just about any other barrier in modern society. It brings us all back to a place where we connect to each other - as people. Music is something that helps us to create our identity as well as share it with others. Often when creating personalised funeral services for the special families we service, we come across unique and alternative funeral music that perfectly suits the service of their unique loved ones.
Sometimes we are put in a position to make choices for music for a funeral service for a loved one that passes unexpectedly, and it can be difficult to think of options on the spot. To support our community and share our experience, we have pulled together a list of some of the most relevant and touching songs we have encountered on our journey as funeral directors.
Alternative Funeral Music By Category.
To make it easy to navigate the library of songs, we’ve created a few categories to skip through. If your loved one was a lover of country, humour or rock - we have something for them below. We’ve also included some of the all time classics.
So without further ado:
Top Alternative and Folk songs
With the popularity of alternative music as a genre, there has been a large uptake of songs from this category. Take a listen to some of these wonderful and lyrical choices.
- Elliott Smith - Happiness
- The Cinematic Orchestra - To Build a Home
- Nick Cave - Into My Arms
- Hide and Seek - Imogen Heap
- Naked as we came - Iron & Wine
- Wish you were here - Incubus
- Rocket Man - My Morning Jacket
- Breathe Me - Sia
- Heartbeats - Jose Gonzales
- The Funeral - Band of Horses
- Blood - The Middle East
- This Old Love - Lior
- You Won’t Remember - Bibio
- Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
- Only the Good Die Young - Billy Joel
- Roads - Portishead
- No One Knows Me Like the Piano - Sampha
- Naked As We Came - Iron & Wine
- Casimir Pulaski Day - Sufjan Stevens
- No Surprises - Radiohead
- Hear You Me - Jimmy Eat World
- Yesterdays - Switchfoot
- Nobody knows - The Lumineers
Pop song choices:
Some of these pop songs are considered quite popular alternative choices to the classics with loved ones of all walks of life.
- See you again (solo version) - Charlie Puth
- Fix You - Coldplay
- Forever Young- Bob Dylan / Band from the OC
- Over the Rainbow - what a wonderful world - Israel
- Shine On by Jet.
- Since I’ve Been Loving You - Led Zeppelin
- Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin
- Angels - Robbie Williams
- Ellie Goulding - How Long Will I Love You
- Pictures of You - The Cure
- Not About Angels - Birdy
- Gravity - John Mayer
- Stop This Train - John Mayer
- The Heart of Life - John Mayer
- Gone Too Soon - Michael Jackson
- She’s Out of My Life - Michael Jackson
- Comeback - Prince
- She Gave Her Angels - Prince
- Run - Snow Patrol
Rock choices:
Some of the best funeral services we have hosted have been for those who loved nothing more than some good, hard rock. As far as funerals go, most people shy away from this style in favour of the classics, though there is no need to. Funeral music alternatives for those we love are never wrong.
- My Hero (Acoustic) - Foo Fighters
- Times Like These (Acoustic) - Dave Grohl
- The Sound of Silence - Disturbed
- Katy Song - Red House Painters
- Maggot Brain - The Funkadelics
- Where Were you - Jeff Beck
- Beyond the Realms of Death - Judas Priest
- Midnight Blues - Gary Moore
- Polaris - Jimmy Eat World
- Black Star - Yngwie Malmsteen
- So Far Away - Avenged Sevenfold
- Brothers in Arms - Dire Straits
- The Messiah Will Come Again - Roy Buchanan
- The Parisienne Walkway - Blind Faith
- Yellow Ledbetter - Pearl Jam
- Say Hello to Heaven - Temple of the Dog
- Dust in the Wind - Kansas
- Just Breathe - Pearl Jam
- In Loving Memory - Alter Bridge
- Broken - Lifehouse
Country music choices:
For those loved ones who loved to live and tell stories, country music is full of rich and meaningful lyrics perfect for celebrating lives in a sincere way.
- Jealous of the Angels - Donna Taggert
- Hurt - Johnny Cash
- I Can’t Stop Loving You - Keith Urban
- These Are The Days - Keith Urban
- I Still Miss You - Keith Anderson
- Whiskey Lullaby - Brad Paisley
- I’ll Remember You - Elvis Presley
- That’s Some You Never Forget - Elvis Presley
- Travellin’ Soldier - Dixie Chicks
- One More Day - Diamond Rio
- See You Again - Carrie Underwood
- You’ll Be There - George Strait
- If Heaven Weren’t So Far Away - Justin Moore
- Who You’d Be Today - Kenny Chesney
- I Drive Your Truck - Lee Brice
- Clouds - Montgomery Gentry
- Holes in the Floor of Heaven - Steve Wariner
- Letter to Heaven - Dolly Parton
- When I Get Where I’m Going - Brad Paisley
- If Heaven - Andy Griggs
- Daddy’s Hands - Holly Dunn
- I Won’t Let Go - Rascal Flatts
- A Picture of Me (Without You) - George Jones
Top classic songs
There is always the classic music for funerals that are loved by many. Wonderful songs that over the course of time have left an imprint on us.
- One Sweet Day - Mariah Carey
- My heart will go on - Celine Dion
- Unforgettable - Nat King Cole
- Candle in the Wind - Elton John
- Wind Beneath My Wings/ The Rose - Bette Midler
- Here comes the sun - The Beatles
- I’ll be seeing you - Billie Holiday
- Bridge over troubled water by Simon & Garfunkel
- Over the Rainbow - what a wonderful world - Israel
- Closing Time - Leonard Cohen
- Time to say goodbye - Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman
- Over the Rainbow - Eva Cassidy
- I Will Always Love You - Dolly Parton / Whitney Houston
- Arms of the Angels - Sarah McLaughlin
- Vera Lynn - We’ll Meet Again
- Dancing Queen - Abba
- Tears in Heaven - Eric Clapton
- Hallelujah - Leonard Cohen
- Nothing Compares to You - Sinead Oconnor
- Flying Without Wings - Westlife
- Dancing With My Father - Luther Vandross
What have we missed?
Hopefully we have provided some helpful options for music alternatives for your loved one’s service. If there was something we missed, we would love to update the list to assist other families in your position. Please get in touch with a Lady and we will update this post.
For those of you looking to plan a funeral or cremation in total, feel free to download our complimentary guides accessible on the resources page or by clicking below.