How it all began

Requiem (1st ed: January 2010)
Theme: Uplifting funeral
Number of discs: 4

As Daniel Handler (alias Lemony Snicket) wrote in his first book, The Bad Beginning, people who have never lost someone close to them don't really know how it feels.  On September 27, 2008, I thought I finally knew how it felt to lose someone important when I woke up and was told that Paul Newman passed away.

I hoped and prayed he would recover, as I had heard of people who got cancer and lived.  Not this time.

Although he came out of retirement to play Doc Hudson in Cars and reportedly planned to finish his career with that, there were rumors that he would still act on.  I'd heard they were making a Cars 2.

I said, "I thought I knew," because three years later my favorite cat got hit by a car.

But who it was aside, these people introduced me to what Handler really meant.  So in October 2009, I decided to be the bigger person and experiment with Ted Libby's idea for listing classical pieces in the appendix of his 1999 second edition of a book on 350 essential works: a popular-music version of his insight that funeral music should be uplifting and not sad.

The first edition was completed on January 2, 2010.

The current edition, which is in the making, has the following track listing:

Disc One

1. The Byrds - "Mr. Tambourine Man"
2. Robbie Williams - "Angels"
3. The Impressions - "People Get Ready"
4. Kris Allen - "Live Like We're Dying"
5. Andrea Bocelli & Sarah Bradman - "Time to Say Goodbye"
6. Vanessa Carlton - "A Thousand Miles"
7. Led Zeppelin - "Stairway to Heaven"
8. The Libertines - "Don't Look Back Into the Sun"
9. Elton John - "Candle in the Wind 1997"
10. P!nk - "Who Knew"
11. Van Morrison - "Madame George"
12. Rod Stewart - "Forever Young"
13. Nino Tempo & April Stevens - "Deep Purple"
14. Josh Groban - "To Where You Are"
15. Judy Garland - "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"
16. Lee Ann Womack - "I Hope You Dance"
17. Joan Baez - "Blowin' in the Wind"

Disc Two

1. Conway Twitty - "In Loving Memories"
2. Beethoven - Symphony No. 7, First Movement
3. Bach - Double Violin Concerto, Largo
4. Lee Lessack - "I Know You by Heart"
5. Willie Nelson - "Sweet Memories"
6. Boyz II Men - "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday"
7. The Beatles - "Blackbird"
8. Everything But the Girl - "Missing"
9. Jimmy Eat World - "Hear You Me"
10. Puff Daddy - "I'll Be Missing You"
11. Warren Zevon - "Keep Me in Your Heart"
12. Faith Hill - "There You'll Be"
13. Jordan Hill - "Remember Me This Way"
14. Luther Vandross - "Dance with My Father"
15. Norman Greenbaum - "Spirit in the Sky"
16. Luciano Pavarotti - "Nessun Dorma!"

Disc Three

1. Mahler - Symphony No. 5, Fourth Movement
2. The Killers - Human
3. James Horner - My Heart Will Go On (Instrumental)
4. The Calling - Wherever You Will Go
5. U2 - "Walk On"
6. Kelly Clarkson - "My Life Would Suck Without You"
7. Bette Midler - "Wind Beneath My Wings"
8. The Hollies - "The Air That I Breathe"
9. Aerosmith - "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing"
10. KT Tunstall - "Other Side of the World"
11. The Rolling Stones - "As Tears Go By"
12. Peter, Paul & Mary - "Leaving on a Jet Plane"
13. The Offspring - "Gone Away"
14. The Monkees - "I Wanna Be Free"
15. Green Day - "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)"
16. Jars of Clay - "Fly"
17. Elton John - "Circle of Life"

Disc Four

1. Linda Eder - "Even Now"
2. Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men - "One Sweet Day"
3. Johnny Cash - "We'll Meet Again"
4. David Gray - "The Other Side"
5. Tim McGraw - "Live Like You Were Dying"
6. I Salonisti - "Nearer My God to Thee"
7. Nat King Cole & Natalie Cole - "Unforgettable"
8. Handel - Hallelujah Chorus
9. Whitney Houston - "I Will Always Love You"
10. Leona Lewis - "I See You"
11. Simon & Garfunkel - "Bridge Over Troubled Water"
12. Vince Gill - "Go Rest High on That Mountain"
13. R. Kelly - "I Believe I Can Fly"
14. Bob Dylan - "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands"
15. Train - "When I Look to the Sky"
16. Randy Travis - "Three Wooden Crosses"
17. Enya - "Paint the Sky with Stars"

To pre-order call (916) 476-1235 or email: egmeinder@gmail.com.

P.S. Even the sets that have been finalized can now only be pre-ordered as I need CD making software.