(no subject)

[pensnest]

Let me start by saying I've had a story written for me, joy! puszysty has produced this little sparkly gem as the first of my Haiti auction prizes, so you shall all go and read it.

I'm very pleased with myself for winning a generous handful of the auctions, so I shall have more poppy goodness in days to come. Thank you, awesomepeeps, for donating your talents. You know who you are.

*

Beast and I went to a funeral on Tuesday, the husband of my oldest cousin, only fifteen years older than Beast. :-( The chapel was overflowing with people, which my cousin was very gratified about, though I did think the officiant seemed to be trying to make it All About Him—incredibly inappropriate—and the organist was a bit puny.

It occurred to me afterwards, as I was pondering my own obsequies (as you do), that what I as an atheist lack is Good Songs. I approve of getting the congregation to sing at funerals, but what do they sing at mine? I don't particularly want hymns, but hymns are the songs that those there present are most likely to know. I mean, I sang both 'We Plough the Fields and Scatter' and 'Morning Has Broken' entirely from memory (too late to get a hymnbook), and I probably haven't sung them since I left school, except at other funerals. But what else is there that will be as well known? (Admittedly I hope to live long enough that the mourners will be of generations younger than mine whose school days did not include daily Assembly with hymns.) I'd prefer a participatory memorial to the kind where the mourners are just the audience, but what can they sing?

Something by the Beatles, possibly...

*

I read a long and mostly excellent fanfic yesterday/this morning. Unfortunately it flipped from awesomeness into self-indulgence rather a lot in the later chapters, and also there was an irritating and oft-repeated grammatical error, which was a shame in something that was mostly very erudite and well written. So now, I'm wondering whether to leave feedback or not. Gah.

Comments

[adelate]

Completely off topic - I'm looking at flights for CS and the only one I can find to suit me is on Wednesday. Would it be okay if I crashed at yours for a couple of nights? I don't mean to invite myself over but here I am anyway...

[pensnest]

Of course you can come and stay! We even have awesome new beds with ridiculously thick mattresses.

[adelate]

Thank you so much! I just booked my flight; I will be at Stansted around 16:30 on May 5. :D

[pensnest]

I have put it in my diary. :-)

[digital-diva.livejournal.com]

At my bil's funeral, which wasn't in a church or anything, we played all sorts of things. Granted, we were too busy crying instead of singing but still lol. We went from Guns and Roses' November Rain to You'll Never Walk Alone and people really loved that we did that.

[pensnest]

I plan on leaving them with "They can't take that away from me" which is splendidly Me. The funeral on Tuesday opened with Elvis singing 'Wooden Heart', which as the deceased perished of a heart attack was... well, it was his favourite song, apparently.

[msktrnanny.livejournal.com]

Might your memory of those be increased by their use in pop-culture?

I'm with Eva on this one. Sing what you want. If it's meaningful for you, people in your life will know. Some of us might even do the cheography! ;-)

[pensnest]

Thing is, though, I won't be there to sing. That'd be too ghoulish, I think. But whatever it is, if there's a number the people there are supposed to sing, I want them to be able to sing out Louise and enjoy it.

[nopseud]

I'd prefer a participatory memorial to the kind where the mourners are just the audience, but what can they sing?

As far as people not knowing the words, that's easily solved with a large karaoke screen. Personally, I'm thinking about Bye Bye Bye. With the whole congregation doing the hand movement.

[pensnest]

Oh, how *awesome* that would be. Okay, that's it. You must *all* come!

Ahaha.

[ephemera.livejournal.com]

I - just - ... I can see this so very clearly...

[pensnest]

I hope you are all geriatric by then, because that will make it *even more awesome*.

[exotic-poetry.livejournal.com]

Personally, I think funerals should be a celebration of one's life, so I say a song that represents that person(or a song they liked).

Also, I hear ya on fanfic. I hate it when there are grammatical errors. I get rather ticked about it, actually.

[pensnest]

I agree about it being a celebration of one's life, but I'd like to think of people being able to sing lustily at such a celebration. Maybe "Jerusalem", but it's a bit of a challenge and the Younger Generation may not know it.

The grammatical errors were odd, since most of the language was very well thought out. :-(

[nopseud]

Personally, I think funerals should be a celebration of one's life, so I say a song that represents that person(or a song they liked).

At my granny's funeral, we had the organist play 'South of the Border (Down Mexico Way)', which she used to sing to me and my sister when we were little. There was a certain amount of stress involved in finding sheet music for it, but it was really nice to have it instead of some random hymn.

[puszysty.livejournal.com]

I'd suggest Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely. It's slightly funeral appropriate. Perhaps

[pensnest]

Perhaps if I were to coach people in advance... ;-)