100 Funeral Songs: Music That Says What Words Cannot

Music does something at a funeral that speech cannot. It gives people permission to feel. A single opening chord can release a room that has been holding itself together all morning, and a familiar chorus can carry a family through the moments when words run out entirely.

This guide gathers one hundred funeral songs, grouped by style and mood, so you can find something that genuinely sounds like the person you are honoring. You will also find practical guidance on how many songs a service usually needs, where each one belongs, and how to print titles in the program correctly.

Start with the person, not with the occasion. The question is not "what is appropriate at a funeral" but "what did they love, and what will sound like them in a room full of people who miss them." A song that made them sing badly in the car may serve their memory far better than a solemn classic they never once listened to.

• Their own favorites first. Check a playlist, a well-worn CD, a hymn they requested years ago in passing.
• Consider the room. Congregational hymns need music people know well enough to sing; recorded tracks work anywhere.
• Match music to moment. Quiet instrumental for the gathering, something strong for the processional, something hopeful at the close.
• Ask the officiant early. Many churches have guidance on secular music during a service — better to know before promising a song to the family.
• Test it once, alone. If you cannot get through it privately, consider whether it belongs at the front of the service or later at the reception.

Hymns carry the weight of generations, and most congregations can sing them without rehearsal. These are the ones most often requested:

• Amazing Grace
• How Great Thou Art
• Abide With Me
• The Old Rugged Cross
• Be Thou My Vision
• It Is Well With My Soul
• Great Is Thy Faithfulness
• Blessed Assurance
• In the Garden
• Nearer, My God, to Thee
• Rock of Ages
• What a Friend We Have in Jesus
• Just As I Am
• Softly and Tenderly
• Precious Lord, Take My Hand
• I'll Fly Away
• When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder
• How Firm a Foundation
• Ave Maria — Schubert
• On Eagle's Wings
• Be Not Afraid
• Here I Am, Lord
• The Lord's My Shepherd (Crimond)
• Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah
• Lead, Kindly Light

If you are planning a Catholic Mass, the hymn selection is usually made with the parish music director — our Catholic funeral program guide walks through the standard order and where each hymn falls.

These are the songs families choose most often when they want something modern, personal, and unafraid of emotion:

• Somewhere Over the Rainbow — Israel Kamakawiwoʻole
• What a Wonderful World — Louis Armstrong
• Tears in Heaven — Eric Clapton
• Fire and Rain — James Taylor
• Wish You Were Here — Pink Floyd
• Hallelujah — Leonard Cohen / Jeff Buckley
• Bridge Over Troubled Water — Simon & Garfunkel
• In My Life — The Beatles
• Let It Be — The Beatles
• Time to Say Goodbye (Con te partirò) — Andrea Bocelli
• You Raise Me Up — Josh Groban
• Angels — Robbie Williams
• Supermarket Flowers — Ed Sheeran
• See You Again — Wiz Khalifa & Charlie Puth
• Fix You — Coldplay
• The Rose — Bette Midler
• Wind Beneath My Wings — Bette Midler
• Unforgettable — Nat King Cole
• My Way — Frank Sinatra
• Smile — Nat King Cole
• Both Sides Now — Joni Mitchell
• I'll Be Seeing You — Billie Holiday
• Somewhere Only We Know — Keane
• Photograph — Ed Sheeran
• Dancing in the Sky — Dani and Lizzy

• Go Rest High on That Mountain — Vince Gill
• I Hope You Dance — Lee Ann Womack
• The Dance — Garth Brooks
• If Heaven Wasn't So Far Away — Justin Moore
• Who You'd Be Today — Kenny Chesney
• Drink a Beer — Luke Bryan
• Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground — Willie Nelson
• Grandpa (Tell Me 'Bout the Good Old Days) — The Judds
• Daddy's Hands — Holly Dunn
• Where've You Been — Kathy Mattea
• Three Wooden Crosses — Randy Travis
• When I Get Where I'm Going — Brad Paisley
• Riding With Private Malone — David Ball
• You'll Never Walk Alone
• Will the Circle Be Unbroken

Families often look specifically for music for a mother or grandmother. These carry that particular tenderness:

• A Song for Mama — Boyz II Men
• Mama — Il Divo
• In My Daughter's Eyes — Martina McBride
• Because You Loved Me — Céline Dion
• Sweet Child o' Mine (acoustic arrangements)
• Landslide — Fleetwood Mac
• Simple Gifts
• You Are My Sunshine
• Sunrise, Sunset — from Fiddler on the Roof
• Consider Yourself Home — instrumental arrangements

• Dance With My Father — Luther Vandross
• My Father's Eyes — Eric Clapton
• Leader of the Band — Dan Fogelberg
• Simple Man — Lynyrd Skynyrd
• My Old Man — Zac Brown Band
• Cat's in the Cradle — Harry Chapin
• Anchor — Novo Amor
• Forever Young — Bob Dylan / Rod Stewart
• Sailing — Christopher Cross
• The Living Years — Mike + The Mechanics

Instrumental music is the safest, most flexible choice — it fills the gathering time, covers a procession, or plays quietly beneath a photo slideshow without competing with words.

• Canon in D — Pachelbel
• Clair de Lune — Debussy
• Adagio for Strings — Barber
• Air on the G String — Bach
• Nimrod (from Enigma Variations) — Elgar
• Gymnopédie No. 1 — Satie
• Ave Verum Corpus — Mozart
• The Swan — Saint-Saëns
• Meditation from Thaïs — Massenet
• Amazing Grace — bagpipes
• Danny Boy — bagpipes or solo violin
• Nearer My God to Thee — brass arrangement
• Pie Jesu — Lloyd Webber or Fauré
• Lacrimosa — Mozart
• Prelude in C — Bach

If the gathering is intended as a celebration rather than a mourning, the music can lift instead of ache. These are chosen by families who want people leaving with a smile:

• Here Comes the Sun — The Beatles
• Three Little Birds — Bob Marley
• Lovely Day — Bill Withers
• Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) — Green Day
• Don't Stop Me Now — Queen
• Always Look on the Bright Side of Life — Monty Python
• I've Had the Time of My Life
• Sweet Caroline — Neil Diamond
• September — Earth, Wind & Fire
• What a Wonderful World — Louis Armstrong

For more on shaping a service around joy rather than formality, see our guide to celebration of life ideas.

1. 1.Prelude / gathering — instrumental or quiet recorded music as guests arrive and are seated.
2. 2.Processional — as the family and casket enter; traditionally a hymn or strong instrumental.
3. 3.Reflection — after the eulogy or scripture, often the most personal song of the day.
4. 4.Slideshow or tribute video — if you are showing photographs, one song usually runs beneath it.
5. 5.Recessional — as everyone leaves; this is where an uplifting choice does its best work.

The full skeleton of a service, with the music slots marked in place, is laid out in our funeral order of service examples.

Guests appreciate knowing what is playing and when — and if you expect people to sing along, printing the words makes all the difference between a room that sings and a room that stands silently.

• List the song title and the artist or composer, so people recognize it.
• If the congregation is expected to sing, print the lyrics or hymn number in full.
• Keep the typography quiet — titles in italic, performers in smaller type beneath.
• Note who is performing if it is a family member or soloist; it is a kindness to name them.

If you would rather not wrestle with layout, we typeset the order of service, song titles, lyrics, and photographs for you and deliver a print-ready PDF within three hours. Start their program.