Soul
Funeral Songs

Why it's meaningful: One of the most personal and vulnerable R&B songs ever recorded, celebrating profound love that transcends time.

Best moment: Perfect for honoring deep love and connection with spouse or parent.

Why it's meaningful: The promise to stand by someone no matter what honors relationships built on unwavering loyalty and support.

Best moment: Perfect for honoring sisters, brothers, or anyone who stood by you.

Why it's meaningful: Written shortly before Cooke's death, it carries prophetic weight about change and justice.

Best moment: Powerful for activists, civil rights advocates, or those who persevered through injustice.

Why it's meaningful: The promise that nothing can keep us apart offers hope that death itself cannot sever the bonds of love.

Best moment: Uplifting choice for celebrating unshakeable devotion and enduring connection.

Why it's meaningful: The longing for Georgia represents nostalgia for home and better times, honoring those who cherished their roots.

Best moment: Perfect for Georgia natives or honoring homesick souls.

Why it's meaningful: The promise to stay together through good and bad times honors marriages that endured all seasons.

Best moment: Perfect for long-term marriages built on commitment and devotion.

Why it's meaningful: The journey back home represents the soul's return to where it belongs.

Best moment: For Georgia natives or honoring the journey home to rest.

Why it's meaningful: Reminds mourners they don't have to face grief alone.

Best moment: Uplifting for community-focused or church services.

Why it's meaningful: The devastating honesty about not wanting to witness loss makes this a powerful expression of grief for departed lovers.

Best moment: Intensely emotional choice for honoring spouses or great loves.

Why it's meaningful: Honors long marriages where partners truly knew each other, celebrating decades of intimate knowledge and understanding.

Best moment: Beautiful for long-term spouses who deeply understood each other.

Why it's meaningful: The gentle gospel message of boarding the train to glory offers comfort that the deceased has begun their spiritual journey.

Best moment: Perfect for Christian funerals with soul music appreciation.

Why it's meaningful: The promise to always be around offers comfort that the deceased's presence continues.

Best moment: Comforting for honoring those who were always there for others.

Why it's meaningful: The acknowledgment that happiness was perhaps imagined honors both dreams and difficult realities.

Best moment: For honoring dreamers or acknowledging complicated, idealized relationships.

Why it's meaningful: Celebrates the joy someone brought into our lives, honoring relationships that finally felt right.

Best moment: Uplifting choice for celebrating love that completed someone's life.

Why it's meaningful: A universally safe uplifting choice. Celebrates the simple pleasure of a good day shared with someone loved.

Best moment: Recessional. Works for almost any personality or service type.

Why it's meaningful: Gaye's socially conscious spirituality resonates with those who saw faith through the lens of love and justice.

Best moment: For families of faith who appreciate soul music's spiritual depth.

Why it's meaningful: The vulnerability in expressing how much someone meant creates a powerful tribute to deep romantic love.

Best moment: Beautiful for honoring spouses or profound romantic relationships.

Why it's meaningful: Captures the specific pain of not being ready to let go, honoring the difficulty of accepting inevitable loss.

Best moment: For sudden losses or relationships where there wasn't time to prepare.

Why it's meaningful: The yearning to be reunited with someone far away captures the ache of separation by death.

Best moment: Beautiful for honoring those who felt larger than life or expressing deep longing.

Why it's meaningful: Honors complex relationships where love persisted despite complications, acknowledging imperfect but real connection.

Best moment: For honoring complicated but genuine relationships.

Why it's meaningful: Riperton's five-octave voice creates a celestial quality perfect for honoring beautiful lives.

Best moment: Reflection moments or photo tribute slideshows.

Why it's meaningful: Robinson's smooth delivery captures the everyday grief of missing someone in ordinary moments.

Best moment: For honoring close relationships and the ongoing grief of missing someone.

Why it's meaningful: While about an affair, it honors complicated love stories and relationships that existed outside conventional boundaries.

Best moment: For honoring complex, unconventional, or private relationships.