After a decade Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” has been knocked off the top spot for music requested of funeral directors. It always seemed an odd choice to me as if the recently departed had some choices.

Anyway the top spot has been replaced by “Always look on the bright side of life”. This was the song from Monty Python’s Life of Brian and a jaunty reflection of life and death.

The Top 10 funeral songs in the UK now according to the Cooperative Funeral Service are:

1  Always look on the bright side of life from Monty Python’s Life of Brian

2  The Lord is my Shepherd. Psalm 23 Crimond

3  Abide with me

4  Match of the Day theme

5  My Way by Frank Sinatra

6  All things bright and beautiful

7  Angels by Robbie Williams

8  Enigma Variations Nimrod by Elgar

9  You’ll never walk alone by Gerry & the Pacemakers

10 Soul LimboBooker T & the MGs Test match special theme

I don’t know at what point in the service these requests are played. I’m guessing at the end when the coffin is disposed of behind the curtains. If you could choose your music what would it be?  How about “He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother” for when they carry the coffin in?

The Daily Telegraph has produced a list of the top 30 songs most played at funerals and it includes Eric Clapton’ s “Tears in Heaven”, Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”, Vera Lynn’s “We’ll meet again”, “Ding Dong the witch is dead” from The Wizard of Oz, Pink Floyd’s “Wish you were here”, and Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven”.

I think it’s the song title and the tune that does it, not the actual words some of which seem highly irrelevant if not irreverent.