Funeral Songs for Mom
Thirty-four songs for a mother’s funeral, sorted by where in the day they belong. Each one has a note on what it will actually do to a room, because that is the part you cannot tell from a title.
Updated September 202634 songs
Ten that work almost anywhere
- Wind Beneath My WingsBette Midler · 1989
The default for a reason. If you want one song and no debate, this is it.
- Supermarket FlowersEd Sheeran · 2017
Written after his own grandmother’s funeral, about clearing a hospital room. The most specific song on this list, and the one most likely to undo people.
- A Song for MamaBoyz II Men · 1997
A straight thank-you to a mother. Works especially well sung or played by sons.
- Go Rest High on That MountainVince Gill · 1995
Comforting rather than crushing, which is rare. Safe for the service itself.
- Amazing GraceTraditional, words by John Newton · 1772
Everyone can join in, and that matters more than the arrangement. Say which recording you want or you will get one you did not choose.
- In My LifeThe Beatles · 1965
Gentle and short. Good under photographs, and it does not demand the room stop talking.
- Fields of GoldEva Cassidy · 1998
Cassidy’s version, not Sting’s, is the one that plays at services. Quiet enough for people to arrive to.
- You Raise Me UpJosh Groban · 2003
Big and unambiguous. Best with a live singer; a recording of it can feel like a television broadcast.
- AngelsRobbie Williams · 1997
The British funeral standard. Choose it if your family is more comfortable with a pop song than a hymn.
- Tears in HeavenEric Clapton · 1992
Clapton wrote it about his son, so you are borrowing it. It fits, but know what you are borrowing before someone tells you at the reception.
Where each song belongs
A funeral has three rooms, not one. People arriving are talking, hugging and finding seats, and they need something quiet underneath that. The service is the only part where a song has the room’s full attention and can afford to be devastating. The reception is where you want people to stay an extra hour, which means music that is warm rather than heavy.
The slideshow is its own problem. Pick the song first and cut the photographs to it, not the other way around — a montage that runs out before the song does leaves everyone staring at a blank screen through the last chorus. Three to four minutes is about sixty photographs at a comfortable pace.
Think about who is singing on the day. If your family sings, a hymn everyone knows will do more than a recording of a better song. If they do not, do not put them in the position of trying. A soloist or a recording removes the risk entirely, and nobody has ever complained that a funeral was under-sung.
One practical thing people forget: check the venue can play what you have chosen. Crematoria and churches often have a fixed system with a specific input, and a streaming link that needs a login will fail at exactly the wrong moment. Bring the files.
By the part of the day
For the service
Hymns and quiet pieces that hold a room. These are the ones a congregation can sing, or a soloist will already know.
- Precious Lord, Take My HandThomas A. Dorsey · 1932
In a Black church tradition this is the song, and any soloist will know it cold.
- How Great Thou ArtCarl Boberg, English words by Stuart K. Hine · 1949
The safest congregational hymn in the American songbook. Nobody has to look at the order of service.
- The Old Rugged CrossGeorge Bennard · 1913
For a mother whose faith was plain and Protestant. Older mourners will sing it without prompting.
- On Eagle’s WingsMichael Joncas · 1979
The Catholic funeral standard since the 1980s. If the parish knows one song, it is this one.
- Be Not AfraidBob Dufford · 1975
Same tradition, gentler. Good when the family wants comfort more than grandeur.
- Ave MariaFranz Schubert · 1825
Only with a singer who can carry it. A recording of it in a small chapel sounds like a film score.
- Here I Am, LordDan Schutte · 1981
For a mother who did the work of a parish — the flowers, the rota, the casseroles.
- I’ll Fly AwayAlbert E. Brumley · 1929
Faster and more hopeful than the rest of this group. Better at the end than the beginning.
For the slideshow
Songs with a shape — a beginning and a real ending — so the photographs can be cut to them.
- What a Wonderful WorldLouis Armstrong · 1967
Two minutes and change, warm the whole way through, and it ends properly. Almost purpose-built for a montage.
- Somewhere Over the Rainbow / What a Wonderful WorldIsrael Kamakawiwoʻole · 1993
The ukulele medley. Familiar enough to be comforting and slow enough to hold a long slideshow.
- LandslideFleetwood Mac · 1975
About a daughter and getting older. Devastating in the right way, and short enough not to outstay it.
- The RoseBette Midler · 1979
For a mother who kept planting things long after it made sense to. Builds gently rather than swelling.
- Time to Say GoodbyeAndrea Bocelli & Sarah Brightman · 1996
Enormous. Use it if the photographs can match it; it will overwhelm a modest slideshow.
- Bridge Over Troubled WaterSimon & Garfunkel · 1970
Slow to start and then very big. Put the childhood photographs in the first verse.
- HallelujahJeff Buckley · 1994
Beautiful, and longer than most people expect at nearly seven minutes. Check the running time against your photographs.
- My WayFrank Sinatra · 1969
For a mother who was nobody’s idea of a quiet woman. It reads as defiance, which is sometimes exactly right.
For after
The reception, the drive home, and the weeks when it keeps arriving. Warmer than the service, and not all of them are sad.
- I’ll Be Seeing YouBillie Holiday · 1944
For a mother born before about 1950. It sounds like her mother’s kitchen, not yours.
- SmileNat King Cole · 1954
Sweet rather than heavy, and it gives people permission to talk again.
- Forever YoungBob Dylan · 1974
A blessing rather than a farewell. Good for the grandchildren in the room.
- One Sweet DayMariah Carey & Boyz II Men · 1995
For a family who grew up in the nineties and would find a hymn strange.
- The Living YearsMike + The Mechanics · 1988
About the things left unsaid to a parent. Play it if that is true, and skip it if it will start an argument.
- PhotographEd Sheeran · 2015
Gentle and modern. Often the one the grandchildren ask for.
- See You AgainCarrie Underwood · 2012
Says goodbye without saying gone, which is what most people want by the reception.
- Wish You Were HerePink Floyd · 1975
Nothing about mothers in it at all, and it still says the thing. For a family that would rather not be told how to feel.
Three demonstration songs
What a song about your mother sounds like
We wrote these from made-up answers to the same five questions you would fill in. They are not customer work, and nobody’s real song is published without asking. Listen for the details — the street, the phrase she always used — because those are the parts a famous song cannot have.
Start her song- Vera in AugustFolk · read out at a memorial, dahlias and all3:07
- Ruth’s Yellow KitchenCountry · a grandmother who fed everyone who came to the door3:39
- Biscuit Tin ElaineAcoustic · a mother who worked eleven years of night shifts2:50
How it works
Three steps. The first one is the only hard part.
- 1Tell the storyFive questions. Who it’s for, the occasion, three details only you two know, the feeling you want, and the names that have to be in it.
- 2Pick the soundCountry, pop, acoustic, R&B, gospel or rock. A man’s voice or a woman’s.
- 3Listen, then unlockA 30-second preview in about two minutes. Pay only if you love it. You get the full song, the lyrics, and a page you can send.
Common questions
- What is the most common funeral song for a mother?
- “Wind Beneath My Wings” has been the default in the United States and Britain for over thirty years. It is common because it works — but if you want the day to sound like her rather than like a funeral, choose something she actually played.
- What song should a daughter sing at her mother’s funeral?
- Something you can get through. Grief takes a semitone off the top of anyone’s range, so pick a song a full tone lower than feels comfortable, and have a recording cued in case you cannot finish. “In My Life” and “Fields of Gold” both sit low and forgiving.
- How long should a funeral song be?
- Three to four minutes. Anything past five feels long in a room where people are already uncomfortable, unless it is carrying a slideshow. Check the running time of the exact recording — “Hallelujah” alone ranges from four minutes to nearly seven.
- Can I play a happy song at my mother’s funeral?
- Yes, and it usually lands better at the end than at the start. People need permission to stop crying at some point in the day. A song she liked and sang badly does that faster than anything a celebrant can say.
- Can I get a song written about my mother?
- Yes. Answer five questions about her — her name, what the day is for, three things only your family knows, the feeling you want and the style she liked — and you will hear a 30-second preview in about two minutes. The full song is $19.