The Song They'd Have Chosen
Here's what nobody tells you about funeral planning:
You'll spend hours googling "best funeral songs" and find the same ten suggestions everywhere. Amazing Grace. My Way. Wind Beneath My Wings.
They're beautiful songs. They might also be completely wrong.
The best funeral song isn't the most appropriate one. It's the one that sounds like them.
My uncle's funeral played "Take Me Home, Country Roads." He'd never been to West Virginia. But he'd sung that song at every family barbecue for 30 years, badly, at full volume.
The whole room sang along. Badly. At full volume.
His wife said later: "He would have loved that."
Some questions that actually help:
What did they sing in the car?
What song did they always turn up?
What played at their wedding?
What would make the people who loved them smile through tears?
The rules are simpler than you think:
3-5 songs is enough
One for when people arrive
One or two during the service
One for the end
That's it. You don't need a playlist. You need a few moments that mean something.
If you're in the middle of this right now, I'm sorry. It's hard. Take your time.
If it helps, there are collections organized by relationship — songs for mom, songs for dad, songs for the specific kind of loss you're feeling.
Sometimes it helps to see what others chose. Sometimes you just need permission to play the "wrong" song because it was their song.
That permission is granted.
Your Funeral Songs — 200+ songs organized by who you're honoring and what they loved.
