Today Jacques Brel has been dead for 30 years. If there’s any Belgian that should be famous I think it should be him.
A lot of his songs could be considered appropriate to play on a funeral. Ne Me Quitte Pas could be played as well I guess, even though it’s more of a love song. Le Chanson Des Vieux Amants would be so beautiful if played for a passed away loved one.
While researching this blog post a bit I stumbled upon this text on google book search which takes a complete chapter on how Jacques Brel and George Brassens approach death in their songs. It’s probably an interesting essay but some chapters are missing online.
The choice today however goes to Le Moribond, which I like because of its sarcasm. If you’re a native English speaker you should make sure to read the original lyrics in translation and not just go with the English version that was done by Terry Jacks. There is a clip with English subtitles on dailymotion but I’ll go with the one with Dutch subtitles that I consider to be of better quality.
Funeral Songs 