Music for a funeral

[anna_wing]

I happened to be thinking of music for funerals, as one does.

For my own, my favourite for the beginning would be Tolkien's 'Bilbo's Last Song', in the setting by Donald Swann from the second edition of his song cycle "The Road Goes Ever On".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xp6nmOjqXAo

For those who don't like that, I note that Stephen Oliver's setting for the BBC's mighty 1981 radio dramatisation is also good, and The Hobbitons did a very nice cover , at a more accessible pitch than that of the boy soprano in the original.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6v6NOJM2Q4

The great John le Mesurier (who voiced Bilbo in that dramatisation) recorded a demo tape of the first verse:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYhvdzLKdZQ

And for the end it would be the "Top Gun Anthem". Which version, though? The original with Steve Stevens doing his guitar-god thing is fabulous of course, but might strain the patience of those attending.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpvAKF00VNI

And in any case I like the elegiac quality that Hans Zimmer et al gave it in the shorter version used in the sequel film, "Top Gun: Maverick".


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zq7ujKwuRY&t=18s