Mourning, the sacred and the secular

[eight bits]

This morning, @Waspie_Dwarf posted a music video in honor of today being the late Christine McVee's 81st birthday, Christine performing her song "Songbird."

https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/profile/31017-waspie_dwarf/?status=359485&type=status

As the familiar piece unfolded, I had the odd thought that this is the sort of song that people ask to be played at their funeral or memorial service. When the video ended, YouTube's algorithm served up half-a-dozen suggestions, one of which echoed that oddball thought. I clicked.

The host laid out the problem as he saw it: that music could be sacred, even to a secular person: the sense of sacredness wasn't necessarily religious.

The specific problem he addressed was him selecting a song to be played for a recently departed friend. I'll let him take it from there; we'll see what discussion, if any, ensues. Music for funerals, other confrontations of the sacred by seculars, is it easier to be the one who dies than to suvive the death of a loved one?, ...

 

[Piney]

In my belief any song with deep meaning could be construed as sacred.

[XenoFish]

1 hour ago, eight bits said:

that music could be sacred

Nine Inch Nails comes to mind. 

[Grim Reaper 6]

1 hour ago, eight bits said:

This morning, @Waspie_Dwarf posted a music video in honor of today being the late Christine McVee's 81st birthday, Christine performing her song "Songbird."

https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/profile/31017-waspie_dwarf/?status=359485&type=status

As the familiar piece unfolded, I had the odd thought that this is the sort of song that people ask to be played at their funeral or memorial service. When the video ended, YouTube's algorithm served up half-a-dozen suggestions, one of which echoed that oddball thought. I clicked.

The host laid out the problem as he saw it: that music could be sacred, even to a secular person: the sense of sacredness wasn't necessarily religious.

The specific problem he addressed was him selecting a song to be played for a recently departed friend. I'll let him take it from there; we'll see what discussion, if any, ensues. Music for funerals, other confrontations of the sacred by seculars, is it easier to be the one who dies than to suvive the death of a loved one?, ...

 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and the video. I really enjoyed watching the video, it really resonated with me my friend thanks again for sharing!

[+Hammerclaw]

 

[Piney]

48 minutes ago, XenoFish said:

Nine Inch Nails comes to mind. 

Trent was some of my best "Focusing Music". 

[eight bits]

A nice feature of YouTube is the comments section. Among other things, it allows me to filter for songs that people actually have played at funerals (and in this case, the song has also been played at weddings).

I am not a musician, so my guesses as to why this song works as well as it does as a sacred expression are just that, guesses. The melodic line has actually been used in a religious hymn, "Here is love vast as the ocean." The lyrics resonate with 1 Corinthians 13 ("... The greatest of these is love"), at least to my ear; maybe influenced by Paul's image of the afterlife as a buried seed becoming a plant (e.g. 1 Corinthians 15:37).

My nominee, then: "The Rose," lyrics by Amanda McBroom, music by McBroom and Felix Mendelssohn, performed here by Bette Midler.

 

Edited July 13 by eight bits

[Grim Reaper 6]

1 hour ago, eight bits said:

A nice feature of YouTube is the comments section. Among other things, it allows me to filter for songs that people actually have played at funerals (and in this case, the song has also been played at weddings).

I am not a musician, so my guesses as to why this song works as well as it does as a sacred expression are just that, guesses. The melodic line has actually been used in a religious hymn, "Here is love vast as the ocean." The lyrics resonate with 1 Corinthians 13 ("... The greatest of these is love"), at least to my ear; maybe influenced by Paul's image of the afterlife as a buried seed becoming a plant (e.g. 1 Corinthians 15:37).

My nominee, then: "The Rose," lyrics by Amanda McBroom, music by McBroom and Felix Mendelssohn, performed here by Bette Midler.

 

The video didn’t post my friend

 

[eight bits]

6 hours ago, Grim Reaper 6 said:

The video didn’t post my friend

Looks good here - maybe it's not licensed for S. Korea.

[jmccr8]

Every time I hear the song see you again it reminds me of Paul Walker and the friends I've lost

[Abramelin]

On 7/13/2024 at 11:55 AM, Grim Reaper 6 said:

The video didn’t post my friend

 

Same here.

[Grim Reaper 6]

On 7/14/2024 at 12:59 AM, eight bits said:

Looks good here - maybe it's not licensed for S. Korea.

Thats very possible.

[Grim Reaper 6]

1 minute ago, Abramelin said:

Same here.

Like Eightbits said it may not be licensed outside the USA!

[Abramelin]

My favorite funeral/mourning song is an instrumental one:

 

[Piney]

ABBA's  SOS and Olivia Newton John's Xanadu and Magic make me cry until my eyes are bleeding so our happy songs are now my mourning ones.

[Abramelin]

On 7/12/2024 at 8:30 PM, XenoFish said:

Nine Inch Nails comes to mind. 

I was thinking of NIN's 'Hurt', sung by Johnny Cash, shortly before he died.

[+Bench.]

1 hour ago, Abramelin said:

Same here.

Same here in the UK.

[TashaMarie]

On 7/13/2024 at 9:48 AM, eight bits said:

A nice feature of YouTube is the comments section. Among other things, it allows me to filter for songs that people actually have played at funerals (and in this case, the song has also been played at weddings).

I am not a musician, so my guesses as to why this song works as well as it does as a sacred expression are just that, guesses. The melodic line has actually been used in a religious hymn, "Here is love vast as the ocean." The lyrics resonate with 1 Corinthians 13 ("... The greatest of these is love"), at least to my ear; maybe influenced by Paul's image of the afterlife as a buried seed becoming a plant (e.g. 1 Corinthians 15:37).

My nominee, then: "The Rose," lyrics by Amanda McBroom, music by McBroom and Felix Mendelssohn, performed here by Bette Midler.

 

Like others I can not watch the video but my nan had this song played at her funeral and my mother had it played at my brothers. Beautiful song.

[+Liquid Gardens]

I'm definitely a firm believer in the sacredness of music especially outside of anything religious.  His choice of a Dead song is apt as, no matter what one thinks of 'Deadheads', there are many of them who are just as 'into' the Dead and their music as any religious person is into their religion, including from the angle of appreciating the 'sacred'.

It's probably a selfish thing but I prefer in most cases not to hear songs like this at funerals and such just because I may not want to think about that person's passing every time I hear it which I find unavoidable.  Songs like 'The Rose' can get me misty all on their own, they're so beautiful that they don't need much more sacredness to add to their potency.

[eight bits]

This song, from Les Miserables, is literally a prayer set to music, but odd for a memorial service in that the prayer seeks the safe return of a loved one rather than to mourn their loss. Understandably, though, the song is widely appreciated among military families and so it was used last year in a British televised observance of Remembrance Day (November 11).

"Bring him home," music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, lyrics by  Alain Boublil and Herbert Kretzmer, sung by Alfie Boe.

 

 

[eight bits]

"Walking in Memphis," music and lyrics by Marc Cohn, performed by him here and in the status update mentioned below.

The song is about the circumstances of its own composition. Cohn had "writer's block." James Taylor broke through his own bout of writer's block by visiting a place he's never been to before. Cohn had never been to Memphis. He went; it worked.

The studio version is a gem of the prodcers' art  (Ben Wisch and Cohn). I'll post that as a status update.

https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/profile/55607-eight-bits/?status=359798&type=status

For the thread, here is an example of the live performance version, and if there's something familiar about the experience, that's because it's the secular realization of a gospel church service. My hunch is that Cohn knows exactly what he's doing.

 

 

Edited July 26 by eight bits

[jmccr8]

When my dad died the last surviving member of his band that he had in the 40s came to the graveside and played Danny Boy for him as a farewell. 

[eight bits]

1 hour ago, jmccr8 said:

When my dad died the last surviving member of his band that he had in the 40s came to the graveside and played Danny Boy for him as a farewell. 

That was my mother's favorite song.

[jmccr8]

4 minutes ago, eight bits said:

That was my mother's favorite song.

HI Eight Bits

My dad's as well and remember my dad singing it in my early years. 

[+Sherapy]

10 minutes ago, eight bits said:

That was my mother's favorite song.

My uncle was named after this song, no kidding his name is Danny boy.