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'My Way,' OK; But Singing 'Someone Like You' At A Funeral? Isn't That Wrong?

By Mark Memmott
Published October 15, 2012 at 3:36 PM MDT
Adele singing <em>Someone Like You</em> at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles. That's one way to say goodbye.
Mario Anzuoni
/
Reuters /Landov
Adele singing Someone Like You at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles. That's one way to say goodbye.

Of course My Way — the Frank Sinatra version — is the , according to .

That makes sense.

But check out the song that the funeral home firm says soared to No. 22 in the past year on its list of pop songs that folks want to hear at services for the dearly(?) departed:

Adele's Someone Like You.

The song's basically about a spurned lover telling an old flame, " ."

As Gawker says, playing Someone Like You at a funeral is "about as appropriate as playing My Sharona at a tween's birthday party." (Those too young to remember The Knack can .)

Related note: This may say something about the British sense of humor: Monty Python's is No. 13 on the funeral firm's pop chart.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Mark Memmott
Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.
See stories by Mark Memmott
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