Rants and Chants

In case you haven’t heard the term, a meme is a unit of thought or behavior that spread through a culture via imitation. Viral marketing is a form of meme. Most religious practices are also memes. And the recent “25 Random Things About Me” lists that have spread through facebook are also a meme. For several months now, I have been trying to come up with a meme that I could start and watch spread, to see where it goes, how far, how fast, and what the general reaction is to it.

Late last week, a facebook friend posted a link to this article: “Another One Bites The Dust” among the odder funeral request songs – Huddersfield Examiner. Reading it, I thought about what songs I would want played at my funeral and realized I finally had a meme I could start and spread.

The rules:

• Tag some people who you would like to see participate.
• List 10 to 20 songs that you would want played at your funeral.
• Try to be both genuine and original. I.e., don’t list “Stairway to Heaven” or “Another One Bites the Dust” just to be cute here, unless you would really want it played at your funeral.
• List them in the order you want them played — 1 is the first song to open your service
• The last song you list would be played at graveside or cremation.
• Have fun! Make a statement. It’s your funeral.

Here is my list (I had a hard time limiting to 20!):

1. Mahna Mahna by Mahna Mahna & The Two Snowths (Muppets)
2. Tomorrow Never Knows (Anthology 2 version) by The Beatles
3. Imagine by John Lennon
4. Joy by Apollo 100
5. Cat’s In The Cradle by Harry Chapin
6. I Believe in Father Christmas by Greg Lake
7. Mr. Blue Sky by ELO
8. Elephant Stone (Mint Royale remix) by The Stone Roses
9. One Love (full-length version) by The Stone Roses
10. No Man’s Land by Billy Joel
11. Dear God by XTC
12. Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve
13. Lilah by Don Henley
14. My Love by Paul McCartney & Wings
15. I Will Follow You Into the Dark by Deathcab for Cutie
16. The Scientist by Coldplay
17. Mad World by Gary Jules
18. Choose Life by PF Project
19. Shut Your Eyes by Snow Patrol
20. There’s a New Sound by Scooter (Muppets)

I have just posted the above list to facebook and tagged ten of my friends. I am eager to see whether it takes on a life of its own — or faces its own funeral in silence.

As a bonus to readers of my blog, I am going to include a list of some of the songs that did not make it into the list above:

• Paperback Writer by The Beatles
• All You Need is Love by The Beatles
• Golden Slumbers by The Beatles
• Live and Let Die by Paul McCartney
• Last Resort by Eagles
• Songbird by Fleetwood Mac
• Life in a Northern Town by The Dream Academy
• She Bangs the Drums by The Stone Roses
• Here’s Where the Story Ends by The Sundays
• Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now) by Cracker
• Live Forever by Oasis
• I’m a Little Snowflake by Laurie Berkner