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At a funeral I once attended, for a writer colleague who dropped dead at 39 having made no plans for his exit, a clueless minister read aloud the unabridged lyrics for “Tears in Heaven.” The deceased took language seriously. If heaven exists, he was screaming.

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Oh, that's right up there with having a local talent butchering your favourite song. :-o

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Ha! I instantly was like 'what would mine be??' but actually, I already know. Piano Trio No 2 in E-flat Major by Schubert. I originally wanted it to be played at my PhD defense. I had just gotten into classical music a bit and I like the piece, but (to me, at least) it becomes increasingly comically and annoyingly repetitive towards the end. The first times I listened to it, I kept thinking 2, 3, 4 times in a row that 'surely this will be the final note'. But no! Never! (It's 9.27 minutes long by the way). I thought it'd be a funny representative to how I felt about my PhD project towards the end. However, I learned that the audio crew cuts off the music after a certain point, so the audience would probably never have to endure the frustrating part. So I went for another song. But I'm definitely not above having my loved ones suffer this fate at my funeral instead.

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I really like that you're not above letting your loved ones suffering through it. That gives a whole new perspective to choosing music for your funeral. A few songs that I know would bug my loved ones come to mind. Hmm... I may have to go back and revise my playlist again, just to add a few little digs from beyond, so to speak. :-D

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