This week’s blog offers a funeral music tip that is inspired by a story of the narrow window that is the average 30 minute crematorium slot and a traffic jam.

My friend Alan told me that he was en route to a family funeral with his mum when he and others travelling that road got snagged in a traffic jam.

The family carrying the CD with all the carefully chosen funeral music was even further behind down the motorway.

Knowing they’d be on a ticking clock, Alan and his mum Nancy fired on to make sure that at least they didn’t miss the funeral.

When they arrived, the funeral was going in and it was pretty clear the others, with the essential funeral music CD, were never going to make it in time.

“What about the music?” Alan asked.
“We’ll just have to take something from the car,” said pragmatist Nancy.

The only thing they had in the car was a Proclaimers CD.

So they had “When you go will you send back a letter from America” and the rousing “Sunshine on Leith”.

Noone even raised an eyebrow. And if you watch a wee bit of this BBC footage of The Proclaimers Sunshine on Leith being sung as the Hibs football team anthem at Hampden park, you can see why.

So our funeral music tip – surprise yourself and everyone else with at least one anthemic track that makes everyone want to hold up a lighter or candle and sing and sway together.

Everything’s a gift.

Psst – The Proclaimers new album The Very Best Of (25 Years: 1987-2012) is out. Possibly worth keeping one in the car.

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