Suggestions for a Country Farewell

 This list suggests songs for a country goodbye when a loved one has passed on. One isn't country and it is the instrumental “Raunchy”. This one I feel would be ideal for that fun, funky loved one who was the life of the party. Some are funny, in my opinion, and certainly irreverent I reckon. These require both a sense of humor and boldness to be played at a funeral. If the beloved deceased was a pot smoker only ol' Willie could love there's “Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die”.

“Roll me up and smoke me when I die

And if anyone don't like it, just look 'em in the eye

I didn't come here, and I ain't leavin'

So don't sit around and cry

Just roll me up and smoke me when I die...”

There's two of Merle Haggard's that can lend a touch of humor. They are “Wake Up” and “I Just Want to Look at You One More Time”. The first verse of “Wake Up” says:

“Wake up, don't just lay there like cold granite stone

Wake up, we're too close to be alone

Wake up, and please, darling, hold me if you would

Don't just lay there like you've gone away for good...”

There'll surely be someone who finds this freaky and perhaps they'll be watching the casket warily, even if it's closed, hoping the deceased doesn't just sit straight up.

I always thought “I Just Want to Look at You One More Time” would be good to play during the time friends and family walk pass the casket at the end of the service for one last look at the deceased. I wonder how many would be be leery and wondering if the eyes of the deceased were going to pop open. The first verse of “I Just Want to Look at You One More Time” says:

“I just wanna look at you one more time

I always like to know how much I leave behind

Let this be the picture that I'll always have in mind

I just wanna look at you one more time...”

Yes, I reckon I have a slightly morbid sense of humor.

Trace Adkins sings "If the Sun Comes Up"

On the flip side I can be fairly serious, even touched by a song. After they were released, and probably still are, “The Dance” and “Go Rest High on That Mountain” were popular funeral songs. 

After hearing “When the Thought of You Catches Up With Me” I thought it, too, would be appropriate. Part of the lyrics are:

“...it can happen on a Sunday drive...

...Headed down some lonesome highway

Then you come into view

Mile after mile goes by

But you're all I see

When the thought of you

Catches up with me...

...when the thought of you comes to mind

It'll carry me away to a better place and time...

...it can happen in the dead of night

Any day of the week...”

Without question “A Picture of Me Without You” is certainly a good choice for a funeral. The lyrics:

“Imagine a world where no music was playing

Then think of a church where nobody's praying

If you've ever looked up at a sky with no blue

Then you've seen a picture of me without you

Have you walked in a garden where nothing was growing

Or stood by a river where nothing was flowing

If you've seen a red rose unkissed by the dew

Then you've seen a picture of me without you

Can you picture Heaven with no angels singing

Or a quiet Sunday morning with no church bells ringing

If you've watched as the heart of a child's breaks in two

Then you've seen a picture of me without you...”

The following song I first heard at the funeral of my best friends father. It was sung by one of her brothers who had recorded it on tape. A good many years passed before I heard it again. I happened upon it on YouTube. The title was familiar so I had to hear it. It was the same song but sung by Tex Ritter. After his recitation the song begins with:

“I'll walk just beyond the moon then I'll stop and wait for you...”

The last verse says:

“...I'll just sit there by a star and I'll watch you from afar

'Til I see you walking toward me someday soon

Then together hand in hand we'll find our promised land

And we'll settle down forever darlin' just beyond the moon...”

Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton wrote the ballad "Over You" which is about a personal experience Shelton had as a teenager when his older brother was killed in a car accident. Part of the lyrics are:

“It was only December

I still remember the presents, the tree, you and me

But you went away

How dare you?

I'll miss you

They say I'll be okay...”

There are cowboy themed songs for the deceased cowboy such as “Riding Fences”, “One Less Tornado”, and “He's Gone, He's Gone Up the Trail”. The chorus to “One Less Tornado” says:

"...Now there's one less tornado in Texas

And a saddle that's empty tonight

There's one hell of a cowboy in Heaven

At the big rodeo in the sky

Ohh that big rodeo in the sky..."

There is even a song for the truck driver and it's “Let This Trucker Go”. The lyrics, in part, say:

“...The road don't go forever

they all end I know

and now that I've reached heaven,

honey let this trucker go...

I planned on more time with you

and less time on the road

The good Lord he made other plans

and so he called me home...”

I feel the instrumental “Ashokan Farewell” would also be appropriate for the end of service when friends and family pass by the casket. It is the first song of the military section.

 Sons of the Pioneers sing "Me and My Burro"

Lastly are the Christian, the religious themed, selections. Many are as standard at a funeral as they are at church on Sunday morning. I first heard “I Can't Even Walk (Without You Holding My Hand” at the funeral of a great-uncle. “I'm Going Home” was played in the video showing pictures from the life of my paternal aunt who passed on. I loved it and just had to find it.

Tim McGraw sings "If You're Reading This"

Jamey Johnson sings "Lead Me Home"

The songs:

ROLL ME UP AND SMOKE ME WHEN I DIE- WILLIE NELSON

WAKE UP- MERLE HAGGARD

I JUST WANT TO LOOK AT YOU ONE MORE TIME- MERLE HAGGARD

RAUNCHY (instrumental)- DUANE EDDY

TIL YOU CAN'T- CODY JOHNSON

IF THE SUN COMES UP- TRACE ADKINS

WHEN IT'S TIME FOR THE WHIPPOORWILL

                TO SING - MERLE TRAVIS & JOHNNY BOND

THE DANCE- GARTH BROOKS

GO REST HIGH ON THAT MOUNTAIN- VINCE GILL

BLUE EYES CRYING IN THE RAIN- WILLIE NELSON

WHEN THE THOUGHT OF YOU CATCHES UP WITH ME- DAVID BALL

A PICTURE OF ME WITHOUT YOU- GEORGE JONES

JUST BEYOND THE MOON- TEX RITTER

WHEN MY LAST SONG IS SUNG- MERLE HAGGARD

HOLES IN THE FLOOR OF HEAVEN- STEVE WARINER

BARBED WIRE HALO- AARON WATSON

HAD A THING- CURTIS GRIMES

HOME- JOE DIFFIE

SIX MORE MILE TO THE GRAVEYARD- HANK WILLIAMS, SR.

I'VE GOT MY BABY ON MY MIND- DAVID BALL

FEEL LIKE GOING HOME- CHARLIE RICH

OVER YOU- MIRANDA LAMBERT

YOU'LL BE THERE- GEORGE STRAIT

RIDING FENCES- CHRIS LeDOUX

ONE LESS TORNADO- CHRIS LeDOUX

GOD MUST BE A COWBOY- CHRIS LeDOUX

HE'S GONE, HE'S GONE UP THE TRAIL- SONS OF THE PIONEERS

ME AND MY BURRO- SONS OF THE PIONEERS

AT THE RAINBOW'S END - SONS OF THE PIONEERS

OLD BUCKAROO, GOODBYE- GENE AUTRY

LET THIS TRUCKER GO- DALE WATSON

ASHOKAN FAREWELL- From “The Civil War” Soundtrack

BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC- JOHNNY CASH

THE VACANT CHAIR- KATHY MATTEA

WHERE THE STARS AND STRIPS AND THE EAGLE FLY- AARON TIPPIN

AMERICAN SOLDIER- TOBY KEITH

TIL THE LAST SHOT'S FIRED- TRACE ADKINS

ARLINGTON- TRACE ADKINS

IF YOU'RE READING THIS- TIM McGRAW

MANSIONS OF THE LORD

GATHERING FLOWERS FOR THE MASTER'S BOUQUET- HANK WILLIAMS, SR.

I HEARD MY SAVIOR CALLING ME- HANK WILLIAMS, SR.

BEYOND THE SUNSET- HANK WILLIAMS, SR.

I CAN'T EVEN WALK (WITHOUT YOU HOLDING MY HAND)- CODY JOHNSON

HOW GREAT THOU ART- ALAN JACKSON

I WANT TO STROLL OVER HEAVEN WITH YOU- ALAN JACKSON

IN THE GARDEN- ALAN JACKSON

WHEN WE ALL GET TO HEAVEN- ALAN JACKSON

TURN YOUR EYES UPON JESUS- ALAN JACKSON

PEACE IN THE VALLEY- LORETTA LYNN

WHEN THEY RING THEM GOLDEN BELLS- LORETTA LYNN

IN THE SWEET BYE AND BYE- LORETTA LYNN

I'D RATHER HAVE JESUS- LORETTA LYNN

HOW BEAUTIFUL HEAVEN MUST BE- GEORGE JONES

WHERE WE'LL NEVER GROW OLD- GEORGE JONES

LONESOME VALLEY- GEORGE JONES

WHY ME LORD?- KRIS KRISTOFFERSON

VICTORY IN JESUS- MERLE HAGGARD

WINGS OF A DOVE- FERLIN HUSKY

STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN- STANLEY BROS.

CALL ME GONE- GENE WATSON

SWING WIDE THEM GOLDEN GATES- GENE WATSON

BEYOND THE SUNSET FOR ME- DOYLE LAWSON & QUICKSILVER

THE DARKEST HOUR IS JUST BEFORE DAWN- RICKY SKAGGS

IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL- JIMMY FORTUNE

AMAZING GRACE- WILLIE NELSON

I'LL FLY AWAY- WILLIE NELSON & BOBBIE NELSON

WHERE HE LEADS ME- WILLIE NELSON & BOBBIE NELSON

WHERE THE SOUL OF MAN NEVER DIES- WILLIE NELSON & BOBBIE NELSON

FARTHER ALONG- WILLIE NELSON & BOBBIE NELSON

PRECIOUS MEMORIES - WILLIE NELSON

WILL THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN- WILLIE NELSON

SWEET BY AND BY- WILLIE NELSON

WHEN THE ROLL IS CALLED UP YONDER- WILLIE NELSON

WILL THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN- VARIOUS ARTIST

LITTLE IS MUCH WHEN GOD IS IN IT- GAITHER FRIENDS

JOY COMES IN THE MORNING - GAITHER FRIENDS

GOD ON THE MOUNTAIN - LYNDA RANDALL

BUGLE CALL FROM HEAVEN- WEBB PIERCE

I'M GOING HOME- KIM McLEAN

WILL YOU MISS ME WHEN I'M GONE- RALPH STANLEY W/ 

        KEITH WHITLEY

SWING WIDE THE GATES- THE INSPIRATIONS

I'LL WEAR A WHITE ROBE- RALPH STANLEY

FURTHER ON UP THE ROAD - JOHNNY CASH

1 CORINTHIANS 15:55 (O, DEATH WHERE IS THY STING...) -

    JOHNNY CASH

LEAD ME HOME- JAMEY JOHNSON

WHERE I'M BOUND - PATTY LOVELESS

ACROSS THE BRIDGE- JIM REEVES

LAY ME DOWN- LORETTA LYNN feat. WILLIE NELSON

FAR SIDE BANKS OF JORDAN - JOHNNY & JUNE CARTER CASH

WHEN THE ANGELS CARRY ME HOME- THE EARLS OF   

            LEICESTER

WHERE HER HEART HAS ALWAYS BEEN - ALAN JACKSON (he wrote 

            this for his mother)

                            Kim McLean sings "I'm Going Home"

Link to the playlist A Country Final Goodbye

Revised and updated 9/25/22. tkp