Songs, Poems and Arrangements for a Funeral

Is Anybody Out There?

I'm hoping they (friends and family) will spend a day listening to all 230 Pink Floyd and David Gilmour on my phone and feasting and drinking and toking and remembering all the fun times!

Add in Moody Blues, Electric Light Orchestra, Rick Wakeman, Alan Parsons Project and maybe a few more and it could be a week long wing ding. At a lake, with dragonflies!

I know some good places in Arizona!

I always felt this song would echo through my consciousness at the loss of someone deeply loved.

Forever Autumn sung by Justin Hayward of The Moody Blues

quote:

---

The summer sun is fading as the year grows old
And darker days are drawing near
The winter winds will be much colder
Now you're not here.
I watch the birds fly south across the autumn sky
And one by one they disappear.
I wish that I was flying with them
Now you're not here

Like a song through the trees you came to love me
Like a leaf on a breeze you blew away

Through autumn's golden gown we used to kick our way
You always loved this time of year.
Those fallen leaves lie undisturbed now
Cause you're not here

Like a song through the trees you came to love me
Like a leaf on a breeze you blew away

A gentle rain falls softly on my weary eyes
As if to hide a lonely tear
My life will be forever autumn
'Cause you're not here!

---

The song was originally part of a larger production, a musical version of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds.
Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds

quote:

---

Forever Autumn
Song by Jeff Wayne, Justin Hayward, and Richard Burton

Lyrics

For three days I fought my way along roads packed with refugees,
The homeless, burdened with boxes and bundles containing their valuables.
All that was of value to me was in London.
By the time I reached their little red brick house, Carrie and her father were gone.

Forever Autumn

Journalist
The summer sun is fading as the year grows old,
And darker days are drawing near,
The winter winds will be much colder,
Now you're not here.

I watch the birds fly south across the autumn sky
And one by one they disappear,
I wish that I was flying with them
Now you're not here.
Like the sun through the trees you came to love me,
Like a leaf on a breeze you blew away...

Through autumn's golden gown we used to kick our way,
You always loved this time of year
Those fallen leaves lie undisturbed now
'Cause you're not here
'Cause you're not here
'Cause you're not here

Fire suddenly leapt from house to house.
The population panicked and ran, and I was swept along with them, aimless and lost without Carrie. Finally, I headed eastward for the ocean and my only hope of survival: a boat out of England.

Journalist
Like the sun through the trees you came to love me,
Like a leaf on the breeze you blew away...

A gentle rain falls softly on my weary eyes
As if to hide a lonely tear
My life will be forever autumn,
'Cause you're not here
'Cause you're not here
'Cause you're not here

As I hastened through Covent Garden, Blackfriars and Billingsgate,
More and more people joined the painful exodus.
Sad, weary women, their children stumbling in the street with tears,
Their men bitter and angry, the rich rubbing shoulders with beggars and outcasts.

Dogs snarled and whined, the horse's bits were covered with foam,
And here and there were wounded soldiers, as helpless as the rest.
We saw tripods wading up the Thames,
Cutting through bridges as though they were paper.
Waterloo bridge, Westminster bridge, one appeared above Big Ben.

Ulla!

Never before in the history of the world,
Had such a mass of human beings moved and suffered together.
This was no disciplined march, it was a stampede,
Without order and without a goal, six million people unarmed and unprovisioned driving headlong.

It was the beginning of the rout of civilization, of the massacre of mankind.
A vast crowd buffeted me towards the already packed steamer.
I looked up enviously at those safely on board... straight into the eyes of my beloved Carrie.
At sight of me she began to fight her way along the packed deck to the gangplank.
At that very moment, it was raised,
And I caught a last glimpse of her despairing face as the crowd swept me away from her.

Journalist
Like the sun through the trees you came to love me,
Like a leaf on a breeze you blew away...

Through autumn's golden gown we used to kick our way
You always loved this time of year
Those fallen leaves lie undisturbed now
'Cause you're not here
'Cause you're not here
'Cause you're not here

---

That's the trouble with Floyd; great music but very specific - and usually paranoid - lyrics.

The guitar is really sublime (I cannot explain what this means) though, I use part of it as a ringtone on my phone.

If I could only listen to one artist for the rest of my life it would be David Gilmour.

But it's a bit presumptuous for a funeral, saying everybody's sad because I'm not there etc.

If you can't do it when you're dead, when can you do it? But, I get what you are saying. I was thinking of that song if I lose someone close to me.

When I'm gone I hope anyone who cares will celebrate how much I enjoyed my life. It really has been a lot of fun!

From that album I’d suggest that The Spirit of Man would be more appropriate (the original version with Phil Lynott - the 2009 version isn’t as good). Maybe Thunder Child.

Really the whole album is a great listen. I have the original vinyl and the cds.

Or how about Zeppelin - Kashmir ? One of Robert Plant’s solo efforts Dirt in a Hole might work, too.

And Stairway to Heaven.

I'm thinking a 2 week Woodstock Rock Festival Funeral is what we all want and deserve!