Top songs played at funerals revealed – will you pick one?

Meat Loaf’s BAT Out of Hell is one of our favorite tunes to sing at funerals, a survey shows.

The 1979 rock anthem — which includes the line “I’ll Be Gone When The Morning Comes” — is among the top ten songs chosen for loved ones.

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However, it turned out that many grieving relatives have no idea what the deceased would have liked to play.

Blue Öyster Cult’s defiant 1976 hit (Don’t Fear) The Reaper is another whimsical favorite, as is Monty Python’s 1979 Life of Brian’s upbeat Always Look On The Bright Side of Life.

Most popular, however, is Frank Sinatra’s faithful 1969 My Way, with its opening line: “And now the end is here, And so I face that final curtain.”

Next came You’ll Never Walk Alone by Gerry and the Pacemakers in 1963, followed by Over the Rainbow, Judy Garland’s whimsical ballad in 1939.

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A survey of 100 funeral directors and 1,500 recently bereaved relatives found that only a quarter of the main mourners knew the deceased’s music preference.

According to the SunLife survey, less than 1 percent knew all of their loved one’s funeral wishes.

About one in five admitted to having no idea what they wanted.

SunLife bosses have now set up a funeral song generator to help people choose.

A spokesman said: “When it came to arranging a funeral, only 25 per cent were aware of their loved one’s love of music.

“Amazingly, only 0.3 percent knew all of their loved one’s preferences and 18 percent knew none of their loved one’s preferences at all.”

The Annual Cost of Death Report found that the average funeral cost was £3,953.