Funeral director Howard Hodgson, dubbed Mr Death, was the biggest independent funeral director in the UK before retiring last year to write his memoirs, a two-part autobiography ‘This Life In Death, Volume One: The Struggle and Volume Two: The Madness, published by www.chipmunkapublishing.com.
His companies have carried out tens of thousands of funerals and his family firm Hodgson & Sons helped Britain’s bereaved create more personal funerals.
Now he has revealed the most requested songs Brits pick for funerals. He said: “Funerals used to all be pretty much the same and in the past religion ruled. It is only in more recent times people have chosen music than means something more to them. Our firm was partly responsible for helping to make funerals more personal to the bereaved in this way.
“I would like some Beatles music played at my own funeral. I would choose Hey Jude as one of mine and that does feature in the most popular songs.”
The most requested songs:
- Angels – Robbie Williams
- Look on the Bright Side of Life – Eric Idle
- Bring Me Sunshine – Morecombe & Wise
- Let It Be – The Beatles
- Hey Jude – The Beatles
- Here Comes the Sun – The Beatles
- The Sound of Music – Julie Andrews
- Knocking on Heaven’s Door – Bob Dylan
- Hotel California – The Eagles
- Mr Blue Sky – ELO
- My Way – Frank Sinatra
- Ain’t No Mountain High Enough – Marvin Gay
But there are those songs, which he says are definitely best avoided, for obvious reasons.
They include: Come on Baby Light my Fire – The Doors; He Ain’t Heavy – The Hollies, Boy; Carry that Weight – The Beatles; and It’s All Over Now – Rolling Stones.
