Music has always exercised a great influence in my life. One of my greatest regrets is that I never learned to play an instrument. I tried playing a guitar in my youth; I never progressed further than page four of Bert Weedon’s “Play in a Day” book.  

Nevertheless, or as a result, I always had great respect for musicians. I realise now that I was very lucky to have come across great amateur instrumentalists during my service in the RAF. I remember fellow linguist Bill Gibb playing Bach's “Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring” on his acoustic guitar whilst relaxing in his room one afternoon. It was breathtakingly beautiful. If this was not the start of my eclectic taste in music, it certainly contributed to its formation.

To introduce a sombre note, I feel that the best way to commence illustration of my music preferences would be to list the songs I have chosen for my funeral. These are not necessarily my absolute favourites – these can fluctuate depending upon my mood – but certainly are well-loved and indicative of how I would wish to be remembered. 

The music for entry to the crematorium will be “Sag’ mir wo die Blumen sind” by Marlene Dietrich. This is the German language version of the anti-war folk song “Where Have All The Flowers Gone?” written in 1955 by Pete Seeger. This choice encompasses three loves of my life: Languages; US folk music from the 1960s (when the original version became popular); Ballad singers of the 1940s/1950s.

Anyone coming across this song for the first time would probably be surprised to hear that this was not originally written in German, so well does Marlene Dietrich cover it.  If you have time, please visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AybZIw8BRIM which shows Marlene performing the song at a UNICEF Gala in 1962.  It's a long grainy clip at over seven minutes, including an extended intro by her in German, French and English, but I believe it's worth persevering with to see a supreme artiste at work.  At the end, after the customary return curtain calls, she says in German "I would like to sing another song, but after this one, I don't think there's one good enough".  And I think she's right.

My choice for exit from the funeral is "La Mer" by Charles Trenet.  This time the language is French.  Others may recognise this melody as "Beyond the Sea", the English version recorded by Bobby Darin and many others.  However, as is almost always my opinion in these matters, I believe that the original version is the best (this was first recorded in 1946).  If you have seen the film "Mr Bean's Holiday", you may recall that this song was chosen by Rowan Atkinson as the one around which to build the end of the movie.  If you haven't seen it, it's worth clicking on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXS1LMaU7TM for a view.  

Charles Trenet himself carried on performing into his late 80s.  There are many clips of his performances on YouTube, but his original recording of the song still remains supreme in my opinion.  The gradual build up to the full choral ending leaves the listener with a sense of wellbeing; just the reaction I would want to end my funeral.

Both Marlene Dietrich and Charles Trenet belong to that group of singers who managed to break out of european theatres onto the world stage in the pre- and post-war years.  Indeed, Marlene had the unique  situation where one of her songs - "Lili Marlene" - was equally popular in their respective languages on both sides during the war.   Although I like it - and have been known to sing the original German words to this at times - a song about a lady of the night might not really be appropriate for the occasion of a celebration of someone's life.

When making the decision of the entry and exit accompaniments, it really was a close-run thing that I did not choose a song from Edith Piaf.  I vacillated in selecting one of three from her repertpoire: "La Vie en Rose", "Hymne à l'amour" or "Je ne Regrette Rien". Each of these French language songs would have said something about me and my taste in music. My continuing indecision about which Edith Piaf song to pick contributed to the choices I eventually made. Nevertheless, she remains one of my favourite chanteuses. There are very few singers who have instantly recognisable voices. Edith Piaf – “the Little Sparrow” – is one of these. I wasn’t old enough to remember her singing live, but I never tire of listening to her recordings.  

Whilst I’m recommending YouTube clips to watch, can I add https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4REbp0s_G9w? This is Andrea Bocelli from his “Love in Portofino” album of 2012 in duet with a recording of Edith Piaf’s voice. The combination is wonderful. It almost became my compromise choice for the final music in my funeral plans.

If there was sufficient time to squeeze in another song midway through my funeral, this time my choice would be in English.  I would select "Leningrad" by Billy Joel.  In my view, this is one of his best ever compositions, although it only ever became a top-seller in Germany.  It relates a true story of Billy Joel meeting circus clown Viktor Razinov when touring in the Soviet Union in the late 1980s.  The final words of the song are:

This sentiment resonates with me.  I too have several friends for life whom I first met in St Petersburg, the modern-day name for Leningrad.

As concerns my love of languages, it's perhaps curious that the one I choose for many of my favourite songs is French, the weakest of my personal capabilities.  In my opinion, no other tongue lends itself to putting to music than that of our Gallic neighbours.  Sorry, any Italians reading this.

One of my party tricks was to sing the French national anthem in full.  (This could be annoying for bystanders waiting to watch the start of an international rugby match).  I tried to emulate this with the German and Russian national anthems, with lesser success.  Irrespective, I'm a great believer that the French, Italian and Russian anthems are just too good to be reserved for official occasions only.

Another annoying habit was my tendency to sing the original Russian words to melodies that had been transferred into English, for example to "The Carnival is Over" by the Seekers and "Those were the Days" by Mary Hopkin.  Perhaps that's why it was decided to make the "Midnight in Moscow" tune by Kenny Ball's Jazzmen as an instrumental only; to deter any show-off tendencies by Russian-speakers at karaoke (even if it was years before this form of entertainment actually became popular).

In order to give an indication of the scope of my musical tastes, the following is a list of my ten favourite artists and my choice for their single best recording:

The Beatles – “In My Life”

The Rolling Stones – “As Tears Go By”

Bob Dylan – “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”

The Animals - "House of the Rising Sun"

Alfie Boe – “Bring Him Home”

The Bee Gees – “I Started a Joke”

Neil Young – “After The Goldrush”

Gustav Holst – “I Vow To Thee My Country”

Thin Lizzy - "Whiskey in the Jar"

Rod Stewart – “Tom Taubert’s Blues”

Dolly Parton – “I Will Always Love You”

The most observant of you will notice that my top ten consists of eleven entries.  It took some time to reduce my selections to eleven; I simply couldn't choose one further to cut after that.  Perhaps this also demonstrates a hole in my decision-making abilities.

Finally, there is one clip on YouTube that I find fascinating. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve viewed it. This was filmed in 2014 during the craze for carrying out Flashmob performances. It took place in Nurnberg in Germany and features Beethoven's music to the Schiller poem “An die Freude” [Ode to Joy], which is also the anthem of the European Union. Visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a23945btJYw and see if you agree that this is a perfectly coordinated and faultless delivery of a classic tune.

As I said, my tastes are varied.  But good music is good music, whatever the source.