Funeral Blues - Appearances

Appearances

  • The poem was given a setting for chorus and instrumental group by Benjamin Britten as part of his incidental music for the first production of The Ascent of F6 in 1937, and later arranged for solo voice and piano in a collection of settings of Auden poems under the title Cabaret Songs.
  • "Funeral Blues" was the poem read by Matthew (John Hannah) at the funeral of his partner Gareth (Simon Callow) in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral.
  • It is the English contribution to the statue commemorating the Heysel Stadium disaster (Belgium), where a retaining wall collapsed, and resulted in 39 deaths on May 29, 1985 when Liverpool FC (England) played Juventus FC (Italy) in the European Cup final (now Champions League).
  • In the final episode of the British sitcom Gavin & Stacey the first stanza of the poem is read out at the wedding of Nessa Jenkins and Dave Coach.
  • "Funeral Blues" is the first song on the Munly album Galvanized Yankee (1999).
  • Bassist for Camper Van Beethoven, Victor Krummenacher recorded a musical arrangement of the poem in a blues style. "Funeral Blues" appears on his album Patriarch's Blues (Magnetic Records, October 2008).
  • Rock group U2 uses a computerized voice to recite a snippet of the poem, during the encore break on their ongoing 360 Tour.
  • "Stop All The Clocks Song" (2012) is a musical composition by Nemo Shaw of the poem and is listed at www.songsofgriefandloss.org ("Stop All The Clocks" by W.H. Auden, Used by permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd. Copyright ©1940 All rights reserved.)
  • "Funeral Blues" in music, made by Max

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