Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - 10 Most Requested Funeral Songs: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1485

Episode Date: May 9, 2024

In this 1485th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Brad Jones from Ridley Funeral Home about the top ten most requested songs for a funeral. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, The Advantaged Investor podcast from Raymond James Canada, The Yes, We Are Open podcast from Moneris, The Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball Team and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail]

In come the witches' men, with your witches, witches, witches In come the witches' men Wake up your sleepy head, stop your rice, get out of bed Wake up the witches' men Toronto VK on the beat, uh-huh, check, uh-huh I'm in Toronto where you wanna get a city love I'm from Toronto where you wanna get a city love Welcome to episode 1485 of Toronto Mic'd, proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities,

good times and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. The Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team, the best baseball in the city outside the dome. Join us on May 12th at 2pm for the home opener at Christie Pitts. RecycleMyElectronics.ca, committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past.

The Advantage Investor podcast from Raymond James Canada, valuable perspective for Canadian investors who want to remain knowledgeable, informed and focused on long-term success. Season 6 of Yes We Are Open, an award-winning Monaris podcast hosted by FOTM Al Gregor, and Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921. Today, returning to Toronto, Mike, is Ridley Funeral Home's own Brad Jones. Hey Mike, thanks for having me. I'm happy to be here. The crowd's going wild. All right, A couple of things off the top, Brad. Firstly, good to see you. You're wearing your Ridley Funeral Home hat and your Ridley Funeral Home shirt.

So it's good to see you pushing the brand out there. I dig it. Yeah. Well, I heard, well, actually I kind of saw today on a message group that, you know, this is going to be recorded and, you know, there's going to be a camera on me. So I thought I might have to clean up a little bit. So I took my suit off and through the. What message group is this? That's what I want to know, Brad.

What message group is this? So that's the, the FOTM group on WhatsApp and you're a proud member of this community. And I want to ask you about a different, uh, sponsor of Toronto Mike in your involvement there right off the top. So maybe we'll set the table first and say, we're going to kick out the 10 most popular funeral songs.

Is that correct? That's correct. Yeah. So hopefully this keeps the audience awake and riveted, but, uh, you know, they may argue with some of them, but I think, uh, what we have here is pretty legit. Well, you would know, right? What is your official title at Ridley Funeral Home? Chief Bottle Washer. You know, I knew you were going to say that. That's too easy.

No, I'm president, owner, operator, funeral director, everything. So you would know what I'm saying is like, you would know what the 10 most popular funeral songs are again You might not know what the most popular funeral homes Funeral songs are in Atlanta, Georgia, but you know the most popular Funeral songs in New Toronto, which is at 14th and Lakeshore you would know you're the man. Yeah, I've been listening to Two funeral songs for the last 30 some odd years now, and I think I have a pretty good handle on the ones that I hear a lot and, you know, the odd ones that you hear every now and then. But yeah, this is pretty legit. These are the ones that we hear sometimes too many times. Well, we're going to play them. We're going to discuss

them. But off the top, I heard that Ridley Funeral Home is the official funeral of Toronto Maple Leafs baseball. True or false? That's true. Yeah. Okay. Tell us how that, like, how did that come to be? What does that entail? Like, what does that mean? You're, you probably already have one, but there's a Toronto Maple Leafs history book I'm pointing to right now that you're going to bring back with you to 14th and Lakeshore. Tell us how this happened.

What is it? Yeah. So this is actually new and exciting for us. Anyone that knows Ridley-Fionahome, you know that we support local sports, amateur sports, a lot of it. Basketball, we've done hockey, we've done soccer teams, you know, we've we've actually, you know, pretty much any local sports club that comes to our door and says, Hey, would you like to sponsor?

You know, the answer is almost always. Yes. Well, be careful because you're going to have people hearing that and you're going to have knocks on the door every day from like amateur sporting teams looking for sponsorship. I said almost always. Is that how I got this sponsorship? I knocked on your door one day and said, how do you sponsor podcasts? No, I knocked on your door I know I know that that's true. But okay, so

This is not amateur. This is not this is not this is this is a different a different level for sure It's got a storied history history, which you, anyone that's heard me talk about Ridley funeral home, we always mentioned that we've been in, um, a funeral home with the oldest business on the Lake shore, um, continuous business where, um, you know, 104 years now, I think, um, 103 years we're open to 19. Yeah. Cause your pillars of the community since 1921. I've only said that, uh, 600 times. So yeah, we've been around a long time.

So it made sense for us to, uh, to partner with the, the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball club. And, you know, I was talking to one of the new owners, Keith Stein. Uh, he gave me a call and it was actually a, uh, an opportunity that came to us via your podcast. So I'm the connector, the great connector. So Keith Stein, a great friend of the program.

And the reason I'm involved with Toronto Maple Leafs baseball is also the reason you're involved. And please, like, will there be billboards? Like I just, I just got a message from Cam Gordon. He's an FOTM Hall of Famer who's like, yeah, me and MF are psyched about Sunday. We'll see you there. We'll be there for two o'clock.

Like what will Cam Gordon see? Will he see Ridley Funeral Home banners? What's he going to see? Yeah. So we've got two banners in the outfield. One of them's for Ridley Funeral Home and it's different advertising than we've ever done. So we, we went a little bit more unique than what we normally would.

We, you know, I think, you know, not spoiling it, but there's a, an hourglass and you know, it says, uh, live for this and plan for this. Um, the top is live for, live for this and the bottom is plan for this. And it's, you know, all of us have that hourglass, right? You know, our time is, is not, uh, indefinite. So it's slowly running out as we get older.

So thanks for reminding me. I do turn 50 later in June, so I'm well aware here. I'm going to catch up to you soon. So you're on the downhill run. So it goes a lot quicker now. Will the slogan be, you know, the Toronto Maple Leafs are burying the competition or something like that? Yeah.

So I think Keith saw some of these and heard some of these shout out to Ridley funeral homes on the Toronto Mike show and it intrigued him. So he, uh, he talked about that with me a little bit and you know, how they can leverage, you know, the undertakers and, uh, you know, use that in their, uh, in their games. And, you know, one of the things I suggested to him is, you know, if you, you win a game, you say, you know, we buried the competition today and, you know, mention your sponsor Ridley funeral home, or if it was a really big win,

you can say we burnt the cremation, the, uh, the competition today. And, you know, you can mention our cremation company. So you'll be at the home opener on May 12th. That's the plan. That's the plan to be there. Okay. You're going to jump on one of my mics? I'm going to set up. I'm going to try to get there by like one 30 to set up. I don't know. I have a section. I don't know. Rob Butler's wife says I have a little section or something and I have no idea

what to expect, except I'm told I can plug in the board. So I'm going to set up my, uh, and I'm told there'll be coverage. If it does rain, I don't hope it doesn't rain, but you never know. Right. So I will be there recording cause I heard people like Wendell Clark are gonna be there and if I could get Wendell Clark, Rick Vibe and Brad Jones, that's pretty cool. And I'm bringing Stephen Brunt and I got Rick Emmett coming out and Blair Packham and Mark Hebbscher and Peter Gross who's gonna be my next guest on Toronto Mic. We got a big update on his case. Uh, you got to stay tuned for that, but this is

going to be quite the event. Now I hear cam Gordon's dropping by. Like I'm, uh, I'm all excited about Sunday. You're going to be there too. And it's going to be pretty cool. And if you, if you have Wendell Clark and Rick Vive, can you, um, you know, introduce them as a Brad Jones and his pallbearers, you know,

because of the tradition of letting down you this time of year, right. down you this time of year. Right. Let you down one last time. Yeah. That's a good one. That's a good one. Okay. Well, you're a Hamilton guy too. Did you cheer for the Leafs growing up? You're a Hamilton guy. No, I cheered for the Hamilton professional hockey team in the NHL. I cheered for the Maple Leafs.

Well, you know, I don't know this for sure. Like maybe you're like your tie cats love because at some point between jams, I'm going to ask you about that tie cat fan story. But like if your love for the tie cats made you hate Toronto teams. Yeah, no, I I was the worst question I've ever asked. You're like, come on, I don't question. I was a Toronto Maple Leaf fan growing up hockey hockey. Yeah, I would go to, I think I went to one game as a kid at the Maple Leaf Gardens and I saw them probably about five times in

Buffalo because it was easier to get tickets in Buffalo and Buffalo was just as easy for us to drive to from Hamilton. No, that's a good point there. Yeah, much cheaper too. Okay, so the big news, not to bury the lead to see what I did there but Exciting news is that Ridley funeral home is the official funeral home of Toronto Maple Leafs baseball Speaking of great Toronto sponsors a great Toronto Mike sponsors. We have a cold beer in front of us So let's do this right now. Alright, so Brad in front of the mic Open your can of Great Lakes beer there. Should I shake it first? No. Three, two, we did it in unison.

So cheers to you. Cheers. You've got the Canuck Pale Ale. I have myself a burst. I'll be switching soon to Sunnyside Session IPA for all you GLB heads out there who need to know what I'm drinking but let me get a sip in here. Yeah that's nice and refreshing. That's a good start. That's a good start. So I played a cold open I played Ding Dong the Witch is Dead right off the very top there and please tell me that's not one of the top 10

funeral songs played at Ridley Funeral Home. You know, it's, it's, we've actually never had it played at a funeral, but I've had more people say that, you know, you know, they think this would be a great song to have played at a funeral. And typically- Like for a mother-in-law. Typically it's for a mother-in-law or a sister-in-law or, you know, the, the wicked aunt that you might have. But it's always in a little bit of jest, probably a little bit of truth to it,

but a little bit of jest. There's another jam that I think is probably requested in jest, but you'll let us know. Let's kick this. ["Midtown Girl"] We'll dedicate this to Midtown Gord. I'm lonely, right? Asking nothing, leave me be Take your every day in my stride Don't need reason, don't need rhyme

Ain't nothing I'd rather do Going down, party time My friends are gonna be there too I'm on the highway to hell I'm on the highway to hell Has this song ever been requested as a funeral song at Ridley Funeral Home? It's been requested and it's been played several times. Not enough to make it in the top 10, but it has been requested and played. Now is it like Biker Dudes? I'm trying to like, I'm thinking maybe a Biker Dude on the highway to hell. You know, we've had lots of different people. Some of them were biker enthusiasts, some

of them were, you know, young people that this was their jam. And I had it played for one elderly woman and this was one of her favourite songs and she requested this to be played, much to the chagrin of her daughters. Oh, I love that so much. Perfect little intro here before we dive into the top 10. Now we should tell the listenership of Toronto Mic'd that we did a trilogy on your excellent podcast, Life's Undertaking, where we did the same thing, but it was 10 songs per era. So like when you first arrived in the late 80s, we talked about what were the top 10 then, and then we did another episode which was the top 10 during the

90s, and then we did an episode which is the 2000s what were the top 10 funeral songs. So if people want more like deeper content and discussion about songs played at funerals go to Life's Undertaking and while you're there subscribe because Brad that's a I get the co-host that show if you like Toronto Mikes you'll love Life's Undertaking. There's less subscribe because Brad, that's a, I get the co-host of that show. If you like Toronto Mikes, you'll love Life's Undertaking. There's less Mike, more Brad, right? Sometimes, sometimes.

And sometimes it gets hijacked by Mike and there's more Mike than Brad, but it's always good. It's always a great show. And you know, I think we're, you know, we keep timing it and we're anywhere between what? 22 to 24 minutes each time. So it's almost like a comedy sketch for CBC. Now it's funny on the live stream, live.torontomike.com, Andrew Ward is there.

Andrew, thanks again for your help with the Sir Andrew Davis Memorial episode, which was brought to you by Ridley Funeral Home. That was Andrew Ward's on that episode telling me who the hell is Sir Andrew Davis? Have you ever heard the name Sir Andrew Davis, Brad? I have not. See, I'm not alone. I feel like some uncultured goofball, like how do I not know this guy?

But Andrew knows this guy. He told me about him. Then I talked to members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, but Andrew is on the live stream and he writes, he loves this song we just played. He goes, this is fascinating. Those are the best stories and, uh, the daughters would have wanted to die. Okay. So he's, he's enjoying the live stream and, uh, I want to quickly just, uh, let you know, Brad, that

because you made the long walk from 14th and Lake Shore, I'm giving you a couple of gifts, uh, beyond the beer in front of you, the Great Lakes beer and the book about Toronto Maple Leafs baseball. I'm going to give you a lasagna from Palma pasta. Are you going to be at TMLX 15 on June 27? That's the plan. Okay. Because a Palma will feed us and Great Lakes will buy you your first drink. Everybody is invited. TMLX 15 is on June 27 from 6 to 9 PM.

It's always great. Out on the lawn in front of Great Lakes beer, it's a great time. We've had good weather, so hopefully that streak continues. Last year it looked like it was going to storm and then it all cleared up at like 5 PM and then by 6 PM it was amazing. So join us all there. There is a speaker from Monaris and with that wireless speaker Brad you can listen to Yes We Are Open which is an award-winning podcast from Monaris hosted by Al Grego. Al will be at TMLX15. Al just

went out west. He went to Calgary and he went to Heritage Park Historical Village and he talked with Dominic Terry, a spokesperson at the park about the park's origins, how it evolved in the last 60 years, bringing history lessons to life through immersive storytelling and fun attractions for everybody. So the story of Heritage Park is the latest episode of,

Yes, We Are Open from Minaris. So check that out. And Brad, I don't know if you have a guy or a gal or if you do it yourself, but you're Regardless when it comes to financial investments, you should be listening to the advantaged investor podcast from Raymond James, Canada The great Chris Cook see who I hope to see on June 27th the great Chris Cook see hosts that show and there's lots of good valuable information and perspectives and best practices for you in that one. So that's what you listen to on your new

wireless speaker, Brad. Look at all the swag you're getting. This is pretty cool. This is, this is, uh, this is embarrassing what I give when they have a life's undertaking podcast. You notice I'm not giving you one. Well, you know what? There are a couple of sponsors who aren't given anything, but have you heard these reactions?

That's a good question here before we kick out the first jam here. When I give the I don't have one for you because I figured you've got enough back at the the home there, but when I hand out the Ridley funeral home measuring tapes, it's just always a fun reaction. Like most people are very excited to get one like this will come in handy. I always need one of these. Like, you know, maybe it's not as exciting as a, uh, you know, a pack of beer from great lakes, but it's always well received. Yeah. Well, we happy, we're happy to contribute a little bit when we, uh, when you have a guest, this is a step it up, man. No one's stopping you. Like you could be handing out watches or something. We do the flashlights too sometimes. So those

are those are pretty cool. That's true. My kids like it when we camp. I got a note from Bruce Dobikin and he's like, would you hand out my latest book? And I'm like, well you know, let's talk Bruce. That's what I like. I like to give the swag to people who take the time to visit. So maybe I will hand out Bruce Dobikin's latest book. We're talking about that now. I'm looking at this signed picture of Wendell Clark and I'm thinking maybe I should just get a whole bunch of my selfies and sign them for you and you can hand those out too.

Well, gifts are supposed to be beneficial to the recipient, Brad. That's how it works. So that might not fly. I can do it as a circle and it can be like a dartboard cover. Was it difficult for you? Notice I'm like a dart board cover. Was it difficult for you, notice I'm just moving on from that, was it difficult for you to come up with the top 10? Like, did 10 songs immediately come to mind when I said what are the most popular funeral songs?

You know, the top eight are probably the easiest. The bottom two are the hardest, right? Because there's so much that are vying for that. But what do you mean by bottom two? Do you mean like the top two or the hardest, right? Because there's so much that are vying for that. What do you mean by by, by bottom two? Do you mean like the top two or the ones we're going to lead with? Yeah. The ones we're going to lead with like eight, nine and 10. Yeah.

10 and nine. Those were the hardest to come up with because there's so many, so many songs that are requested and so many ones that are, you know, slowly overtaking some of the old, um, you know, the ones that have been there forever. Um, but I would say, you know, one till eight, um, it was a pretty easy list. Um, where they ended up falling in that list might've been a little bit harder. I played with that for a little bit, but, um, you know, it was, uh, it wasn't as hard as, uh, as one would think. All right. So I'll ask you one more question and then we'll hear song number 10. Stay tuned,

everybody, because in this episode, we're going to unveil the latest FOTM KOTJ topic, and we're going to invite anyone listening, anyone out there to record themselves and send the audio to Mike at torontomike.com to be a part of this new FOTM KOTJ episode, which is related to this jam kicking today. But Brad Jones, funeral director, chief bottle washer, owner, director, I don't know, CEO of Ridley Funeral Home, are you ready to kick out the funeral jams? I'm not only ready, I'm excited. music do you it goes like this the fourth the fifth the minor fall the major lift the baffled king composing hallelujah I was just in Montreal, Brad, and I saw this, the giant mural of this man, Leonard Cohen.

Yeah, isn't that mural incredible? We saw that last year when we were there. Yeah, it is incredible. And when you get on top of Mount Royale there and you get that view of the city, you can see it from up there. It's wild. Hallelujah. Tell me about Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah,

and then my question will be, are you sure that the Jeff Buckley cover isn't more frequently requested than even this original version by Leonard Cohen? Yeah, so again, this was one of the ones that was hard because this song was gonna make it, but who sang it was the question I had. And I'd heard this song has been recorded by so many different artists, it's been requested

so many different times by so many different families, but for me it has to go back to the original artist. It is just something haunting about how he sings it and his voice. You know, it's one of those songs that you hear not just at funerals you hear it every almost every Christmas it gets played. Absolutely no it's a I don't think it was popular out of the gate like I think this was a slower burn so he puts it out whatever in the mid to late 80s and then it's sort of it's just there and then at some point maybe with the cover by Jeff Buckley it gets

kicked up into the stratosphere and it's one of the one of the great songs now. Isn't that one of the things that's fascinating about music you know an artist comes out with something that's just gold but it's like a it's buried gold still and then somebody else picks it up and you know does a new version of it and all of a sudden this thing is shining as bright as could be and people start to listen and find the original and they're like falling in love with something that they've overlooked for so many years. There are so many just popping into my mind now just off the cuff are the great covers

of this song. So Jeff Buckley might have the most famous cover but there's a wonderful Katie Lang cover of this song and the one the more obscure one that I've got a copy of and there's a long story about this on Toronto Mike dot com but the Gore Downie cover of this song that he recorded for St. Ralph which was a quaint Canadian movie about a young boy who runs the around the bay you know speaking of the hammer actually but great, great cover by Gord Downie of this song. I don't know if I've heard that one, but...

I gotta send it to you. It took me a while to track it down, but it's just glorious. You can hear his voice hitch, because there's a scene in the movie and you can... I've been told by a gentleman who was in the room of Gord when he recorded it, that he definitely breaks down and you can hear it in this cover of Hallelujah from St. Ralph. I have to look up that movie too. Yeah you should because it's around the bay that race they run. I don't know if it's quite a full marathon or not but... 30 kilometers.

30 kilometers, okay. Joe only knows that because my wife Jodie's run it twice. She's the athlete in the family. It's certainly not me. I don't know if I could run 30 kilometers. No, no, no. We should tell people you've've been working out. We've got to remember, this is not life's undertaking, so people haven't heard from you in a while, but you've committed to fitness and you're reaping the benefits. Am I right? Tell the people what you've been

doing. Yeah. I've been going to F45 in New Toronto, doing it for about a year and two months now and I'd signed up for another year. So I'm committed for at least until February of next year, but- Well, you're committed, all right. I'm committed. Once you pay for it, you're going. It's a-

And on Life's Undertaking, we spoke to the owner of this particular F45. Yeah, Tammy, the general manager. She was a great guest. She's the one who's kicking your butt. She certainly is. By the way, I pointed out that El Grego was going to be at TML X 15 and another owl in the live chat, Hey ref, he says he's also going to be there. So he will, there'll be multiple owls at TML X 15 and Andrew Ward again, who's pointing out that another slow burn much like Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen another slow burn like that would be Lou Reed's

perfect day perfect day is another song we're kind of train spotting kicks it up so thank you Andrew and any throughout the show drop in the Alan Gold YouTube drop in the comments and everybody else in the live stream but we're gonna kick out a second jam we'll dedicate this to my buddy Elvis When you walk through a storm Hold your head up high And don't be afraid of the dark At the end of the storm

Is a golden sky And the sweet silver soul of a lover Walk on through the wind, walk on through the rain Through the rain, though your dreams be tossed and blown Walk on, walk on With a hope in your heart and you'll never walk alone You'll never walk alone. You'll never walk alone. Wow. And you know what?

I can hear why this would be a popular funeral song. Yeah. You know, this has been covered by so many different artists and you know the first time I heard this at a funeral was January 3rd, 1998 and it was Barbara Streisand and it was at my mom's funeral. So for me this is, you know, there's no way I could have played Barbara Streisand singing that because I probably would have been, you know, teared up for the next 10 minutes or so. Yeah, sorry for your loss. Yeah, you never forget. Every time you hear the song, you're going to be thinking about saying goodbye

to your mother. Yeah, every time. And I think that's one of the beautiful things about music, you know, music at funerals is,als is, especially when a family's requested something and it's something that's meaningful to them. Every time they hear that, it brings them back to memories, not of the funeral, it brings them back to memories of the person that they're celebrating. It's interesting that you have that reaction because I heard from Leslie, from Leslieville who was telling me about how you know she was choking up listening to life's undertaking when you were kicking out the funeral jams because we played a song we're gonna play it again in this episode actually

later but we played a song that reminded her of her mom's funeral and yeah these things trigger us that that's the thing about music right it takes you back to a certain place in time and a certain emotion even yeah Yeah, you know, most families, you know, there's usually music in their life, right? You know, whether it's, you know, you go to church and there's certain hymns that you sing as a family at certain services and, you know, there's, you know, music played in the background in the car drives when they're going vacation or going to hockey practice and there is sometimes music playing in the house. It's probably the closest thing to food for us, right? What was the thing that your parents did for you when you came home from school?

They fed you. It was Sunday dinners or Saturday feast with all the friends and family. That's how you would feed your children's soul, right? And music is the closest thing we have to that, I think. 100%. Let's kick out another popular funeral jam at Ridley Funeral Home. So I'm sorry. When I am down and all my soul so weary When troubles come and my heart burdened be Then I am still and wait here in the silence Until you come and sit awhile with me Sit awhile with me You raise me up

So I can stand on mountains You raise me up To walk on stormy seas I am strong when I am on your shoulders. Raise me up to more than I can be. Josh Groban, you raise me up. Yeah, this is a beautiful song. It's one of those songs where it's just him, but his voice is so big.

And I think the Elvis Presley and the Leonard Cohen, there was great choirs singing behind them, which just added an extra layer. But when you listen to this song, it almost feels the same. It's got those lifts, it's got those drops. It's... It swells, there's a motion drenched in this thing. You hear it and you apply it to a funeral. I wanna cry right now, just listening to this song

with a little Great Lakes in me here. Yeah, you know, it's one of those things where if you were just listening to this music and it came on the radio or someone was playing in the background, it might not give you that emotion unless you've had some sort of a tie to it. But, you know, I think because we're talking about funeral songs, every single one of us that's talking about this and listening to this right now is picturing a funeral, you know, right.

Whether it's a funeral that's happened or it's, you know, they're thinking of what their playlist would be and some of these songs might be coming into their playlist. Yeah, it just swells the emotion. Holy smokes. I just popped over to the live chat here. I am, this is not me speaking, this is actually Andrew. I am drinking GLB and am tearing up right now, dying here. So grateful Brad is doing this. This will help many who may be planning for this in the future. This is important. Brad, you kicking out these funeral songs, you're doing important work, buddy. Well, this is actually a fun thing because there's lots of things I do at work that are not fun. So, you know, if I can influence somebody and get some music into service for them,

then this is a good day. There are background vocalists though, I just heard them. So I guess later in the song Josh gets a little help. Raise me up to more than I can be When I get where I'm going On the far side of the sky The first thing that I'm gonna do Is spread my wings and fly I'm gonna land beside a light And run my fingers through his mane Or I might find out what it's like To ride a drop of rain Yeah, when I get where I'm going

There'll be only happy tears There'll be only happy tears I will shed the sins and struggles I have carried all these years And I'll leave my heart wide open I will love and have no fear Yeah, when I get where I'm going We're going a little country here. This is, see, this is how familiar I am with this song. This is Brad Paisley and the woman you hear, of course, I do recognize her voice, it's Dolly Parton. It's when I get where I'm going.

Yeah, and this is the neat thing about country music is even on radio stations, they talk about religion. They sing about religion, they sing about God, they sing about heaven, they sing about all these things. So, you know, there's so many people that listen to contemporary music, and this rings true for them. And it gives them a sense of comfort. And it kind of talks about, maybe not so religious

that you're going to church every Sunday, but there's some people that have that strong belief that you're going to a better place. And if I'm going to a better place, then you don't have to worry about me where I'm going. Great sentiment. Now you're reminding me of a popular song that kind of referenced heaven and everything. And I'm wondering, if a young person dies, does anybody request tears in heaven by Eric Clapton? Yeah, that does come up quite a bit when that's heartbreaking. OK, once I heartbreaking bearing children, that's heartbreaking.

Yeah, there's not a you know, as I said, there's some things in my job that are, you know, harder than others. And, you know, you know, don't give you a lot of comfort and joy. But that's one of the things is every child's funeral that we do. And I can probably name almost every single one of them off the top of my head. That's how much they stay with you forever. Like when you get like a 105 year old, do you do a fist pump? Like you do a fist pump and go yeah 105 year old. Like I can't imagine what it's like in your

your line of work when you're having to have a funeral for let's say a five year old for example. I can't imagine. So I remember when my when Jody's grandmother died it was back in 2008. She was 95 years old and her dad was 70 at the time. He's bearing his mom at the age of 70. I remember talking to Joe afterwards and I said, you know, that's such a good thing, you know, to have lived that long that you're an older adult when you're actually doing these arrangements. It's a way better experience than what I had when my mom died at 54. Yeah, 54.

I don't even think I was 30 at the time. Way too young, Brad. 54. Oh my goodness. Are you even 54 yet? No, I'm not 54. When Jodie turned 54, I said, okay, so you're going now, right? Poor Jodie. This is my expectation. No matter she's running all these marathons, not 54. And you know, when Jody turned 54, I said, okay, so you're going now, right? This is my expectation. She's running all these marathons. Got to get away from Brad for a little bit. Yeah. Great Baker. I'll shout out your wife because, uh, at Christmas time, but once in a

while I get a delivery of like baked goods and, uh, delicious. She's very good Baker. She's amazing Baker. Amazing Baker. Okay. Amazing. Amazing in many, many ways. All right. We're going to lighten things up for a while. I feel like, you know, after that sentiment talking about bearing five year olds and, you know, tears in heaven, we got to lighten things up a little bit. So we're going to lighten things up. And then on the heels of this lighter moment, we're going to announce the new FOTM-KOTJ topic. That means this is the theme, and we'll explain more on the other side, but everyone listening can be a part of this episode. You just have to record yourself

and then email that audio file to mike at torontomic dot com. More details after this. Some things in life are bad. They can really might you made other things just might you swear and curse when you're chewing on life's gristle, That grumble, give a whistle, And this'll help things turn out for the best, Ayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Always look on the light side of life If life seems jolly rotten, there's something you've forgotten And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing When you're feeling in the dumps, don't be silly chumps Just purse your lips and whistle, that's the I'm quite pleased to learn this is a popular funeral song in my neck of the woods here because it means we have a sense of humor.

This is fantastic. Yeah, and you know, this is my funeral song. This will be played at my funeral. Because you have a sense of humor. I suppose, but this is what I told my kids and this is what's in my prearrangement. So yeah, this is mine. This is yours, some Eric Idle, some Monty Python here. So is it like when you first arrived in the late 80s, was this more popular than now or is it more popular

now or has it been consistent? The late 80s, early 90s, early 2000s, it was very popular. Maybe not as consistent now as it was but it's amazing how many 75 to 90 year olds love the flying circus right? Sure. So they still gets requested. Also if you had a great sense of humor I can't imagine a better song to play at your funerals to make your family and friends crack a smile and maybe even laugh a little bit? Yeah, there's nothing better than a family smiling at the end of a funeral because, you know, it was a good send-off for whoever their funeral was for and, you know, you get a piece of music like this

that's not going to give you tears, it's going to give you a smile. Silly question, but who is the funeral for? Like obviously we have an opportunity and I know you have your, what are they called, prepays? What are they called when you plan your funeral in advance? That you take care of everything? Pre-arranged funeral. Pre-arranged funeral, okay. So I know you offer pre-arranged funerals and you can go in, you can talk to Brad and the gang at Ridley Funeral Home and you can sort out all the details and pay for it all. And then when you pass away, somebody literally just has to make a phone call and then the rest just kind of happens, which is amazing.

But where was that going with that? Do you remember? It was like, well, yeah. So, so you're asking who is it for? So let's say somebody plans it and they have a cheeky sense of humor and they want to always look on the bright side of life and they arrange it all and you document this all so it happens. So the funeral, is it for the person who passed away or is it for the people left behind, the friends and the family, the loved ones who will remain here?

It's for both. There's an old saying in funeral service that a funeral is a right for the dead and a right for the living. And right for the dead would be R-I-T-E and right for the living is R-I-G-H-T. It's a way for us to honor the person that has died and celebrate their life and give them their last opportunity for a send off. And for those living, it's their chance to come together. It's a chance for community to gather.

So you know who your support groups are. And it's a way to publicly acknowledge that somebody had lived. Okay. I have a fun fact, but I'm going to butcher the pronunciation of the last name, which might blow this whole thing up. Okay. But I'm going to do my best here, Brad. You ready? I'm ready. Eric Idle is the cousin of former Toronto Symphony Orchestra conductor, Peter Wandian.

I'm going to O-U-N-D-J-I-A-N. How would you say that word, Brad? Same way you did. Okay. So Peter O way you did. Okay. So Peter O will call him. Okay. That's a fun fact. Eric Idle's cousin was a conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. And we just talked a few minutes ago, we talked about Sir Andrew Davis, who was a conductor

of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and just passed away, but sadly, unfortunately died in England, I believe. And therefore was not buried at Ridley funeral home Unzian Unzian, okay Peter Unzian. Okay. Thank you for the thank you to Andrew for the pronunciation help I need as much help as I can get over here, but that's a fun fact for you. But Eric Idle That's pretty cool. He Eric Idle loved Canada They toured in Canada back in the the 70 and 80s, the Money Python and the Flying Circus.

They would go across Canada and do all these shows and into the US. And that's where they kind of spread their magic to North America. Because, of course, Canada always had a better appreciation for the British sense of humor. a better appreciation for the British sense of humor. So we were the linchpin. We could kind of tap into the American stuff, but we could also appreciate the motherland in England and kind of bring them together, which created, I think it created this brilliant Canadian sense of humor, which is why so many,

like we punched so far above our weight when it came to comedians. Like you can name it, like Dan Aykroyd, we can go down here, Eugene Le name it, uh, like Dan Aykroyd, uh, we can go down here, Eugene Levy, Mike Myers, Jim Carey, right? Like we could do this all day long, but, uh, partly because of that, I would say. Yeah. Pardon. Short. Did I mention Marty short from Hamilton? Hamilton? Yeah. Westdale native. Although Dundas or Hamilton, or does it matter? Like you're not quite, you're in your early fifties. But at some point there's it because when I

talked to Dave Thomas about being from Hamilton, he corrected me and said, well, we're from Dundas and that was a different thing. When it was different, Dundas was a little a little hamlet, a little town of its own, you know, just like Stony Creek and all these other areas. But, you know, just like Toronto, like a new Toronto used to have its its own little town here. Did you know what just like Toronto, like a new Toronto used to have its, uh, its own little town here. Did you, you know what you need to do? You would love the Adam Bunch episode because he talks about back in the

day, the Mimico new Toronto border, how gangs from each side would line up and fight like this is, this is how vicious it was new Toronto versus Mimico. Yeah. Well, the new Toronto police chief went missing one night because one of the, uh, the gangs that, uh, took them out. Wild, right? Like, think about that, you know, it's, uh, these are just neighborhoods and, uh, they weren't yet, I guess, part of Toronto, but eventually they'd

amalgamate and part of Etobicoke. Yeah. They all became part of Etobicoke. And then from Etobicoke, they all became part of Toronto. And the, the late, late nineties there. And again, will you even bury somebody from Mimico? Are we over this feud yet? We've always been over that feud.

We buried people from Mimico when we opened in 1921 because we were the only funeral home in town back then. Right. Okay. And again, we should remind people that you are in Toronto, at least, and you can tell me if it goes beyond that, but you're the only funeral home where the family that owns the funeral home lives on the premises. Am I right? You're right. We're the only funeral home in the in Toronto that you know the family still lives upstairs and you know fifty, seventy, eighty, a hundred years ago. That was the way it was for

every funeral home. And as they were slowly sold off to corporations or the family-owned funeral home became bigger and bigger and the family decided, okay, we need more room for our funeral home. We'll move out and give our space up to the funeral home. That slowly changed, but we're still a small little independent funeral home and yeah, we live right upstairs. And these big conglomerates, when they park those Brinks trucks in your driveway and they're like, Brad, it's time to sell out, buddy.

You're still saying no, right? We're still saying no. The corporations, they can't afford us because our property is worth more than the funeral home is. So the biggest temptation we have now is when the developers come knocking and, you know, want to throw millions and millions of dollars at you. Because there should be a condo tower there, not a funeral home. Is that what you're telling me?

That's what they're telling me. And we keep saying, no, we're staying as a funeral home. Did you hear the Dundas Street Grill is closing at the end of the month because they sold that property to developers and there's going to be a big condo tower now? Everywhere we go. everywhere we go. I need my brunch places, Brad. Okay. We're running out of these cool little brunch spots. I love the Dundas street grill. Yeah. You should go to Jody's down on, uh, on Horner Avenue.

Horner what? Like, uh, it's near near cause it's between Kipling and Brown's line. It's on the south side. It's a, it's a little, uh, little diner there. It's a, it's Brown's line. It's on the south side. It's a little diner there. It's great food, great price. You had me at hello. I'll check that out for sure. Okay. And I tease something.

So before we get serious again, because this next song will cause tears. Everybody's, it's like a trigger warning. You will cry during the next song. But I want to let everyone know the next FOTMKOTJ, that means the friend of Toronto Mic'd, Kick Out the Jams episode, and I've had several, you kind of get the vibe if you listen to Toronto Mic'd, it's going to be your funeral song.

So I would love the listeners to record themselves, I don't know, use your phone or your computer, I don't care, just record yourself talking about your funeral song and why, like, oh, Just record yourself talking about your funeral song and why. Like, oh, I want to, I want this to be my funeral song and here's why. And then email that audio file to mike at torontomic.com. And then I'll take it from there and I'll build out a FOTM, KOTJ episode on funeral jams and share it with the universe. So please, please do so.

I'd love to collect everybody's funeral songs and Brad, you mentioned your funeral song a moment ago. Always look on the bright side of life. So you need to do this too. Record yourself telling us why you want that song played at your funeral and then get me that file deal. Deal. Although you kind of just did it,

but you gotta do it again. Okay. All right. Let's kick out another funeral jam at Ridley Funeral Home. Oh, Maria, grazia plena Maria, grazia plena Ave, ave Dominus Dominus te tu Nana Mascuri. Ave Maria. It's still requested today.

You hear this at almost every Catholic funeral mass you go to, sang by the organist or the soloist. So, you know, we hear it a lot still, but even in the chapel, we still have families that are requesting this piece. What is the divide between religious songs and contemporary songs? You know, it's hard to say because most of our religious services are still in churches. So when the service is at the church, it's typically... They can't kick out a bet Midler jam in the church. Not a lot. It's usually religious songs that are sung by the organist or sung by the choir. There's so many rules, Brett. Okay.

Yeah. Sung by the organist or sung by the choir. So yeah, it's not quite the same. But in the chapel, I would say back in the 90s, it was a lot of Protestant services in the chapel that they just didn't do their services at the church. They did at the funeral home. So there was a lot of religious music back then. It is not quite as much as it used to be, a lot more of it's contemporary now.

And a lot of it it's contemporary now and a lot of it is music that really means something to the family. And as far as Ave Maria goes in at the funeral home anyways, the Nana Miskury version is the most popular? It's still the most popular. I think she's got the clearest voice for this. It's just, it's pitch perfect. Okay, we'll let Nana Miskary, who's still with us, so no shout out to Ridley Funeral Home there,

but we'll let her take us to the next jam here. Nunque che in ora mortis nostre O star, Ah Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, You were content to let me shine, that's your way. You always walked a step behind. So I was the one with all the glory While you were the one with all this terrain A beautiful face without a name for so long Beautiful smile And everything I would like to be I can fly higher than an eagle You are the wind beneath my wings Brad, you're the wind beneath my wings. Just want you to know that. So I'm in your shadow.

Of course. We're in no better place to be in a hot summer night. Bette Midler, the Divine Miss M. Yeah. Yeah, this is still a popular song and I think it has a lot of meaning, right? You're singing to the person that's gone and you're saying that you're the one that propelled me. The first time that we played this at a funeral was quite a few years ago and I remember going to record store after record store looking

for a CD of this or a tape and i finally found it i think it was uh... all the way downtown at one of the big ones and it might have been sam the record man uh... that i actually found it and it was for a funeral we're doing in uh... at the funeral home uh... and it was uh... maryland maryland bell who swam across the uh... the lake uh... had requested it because she was doing the eulogy

for her coach Cliff Lumpsten. We had the funeral for Cliff and she was going to do the eulogy. She came up from the States for it. She went to school with the previous owner, George, so they knew each other from school. Yeah, George sent me out, he says, we need this song tomorrow, go find it. And I spent hours driving around. This is back long before the internet when you couldn't just download something. Oh yeah. Well, listen, Marilyn Bell gets what Marilyn Bell wants. Okay, listen, I was at,

I'm there every Thursday night, but I was at Gus Rider Pool in our neck of the woods. This is last Thursday. And on the wall, there's a tribute to Cliff Lumsden. And it's come up a few times lately on Toronto Mike because Biff Naked talked about walking her dog in Cliff Lumsden Park. And that's where I would bump into her because as you know, I'm biking by Cliff Lumsden Park every single day.

Great view of the Toronto skyline. Fantastic view there. Wonderful view of the Toronto skyline from Cliff Lumsden Park in New Toronto. But Cliff Lumsden and Marilyn Bell were coached by Gus Ryder and it was Marilyn Bell who requested this song for her eulogy for her friend, Cliff Lumiston. This is new Toronto cast, okay? We're getting hyper local here. I love it.

Yeah. And that's, you know, for me, this song, every time I hear it, that's what I think of. I think of Cliff Lumiston's funeral. I think of Marilyn Bell's eulogy. And this is, this is actually how Marilyn felt about Cliff. That, you know know she was the star, she got the accolade, she got everything and she said if it wasn't for Cliff she would never have made it across the lake. When I'm alone, I dream of the horizon and words are missing Yes, I know there is no light, there is only one room when the sun is missing If you are not there with me, call me soon

Le finestre mostrae tu il mio cuore che hai acceso Chiudi dentro me la luce che hai incontrato per strada Time to say goodbye I'll never leave you alone Now I'll live with you, I'll leave I know that I'll die for you I can't stand it anymore I know that I am not alone anymore It's time to say goodbye When you are far away, I dream of the horizon and I lack words And I know that you are with me You are my moon, you are here with me At this point I think they're just showing off, right? I'm through, say goodbye

At this point, I think they're just showing off, right? No, seriously. Sarah Brightman and Andrea Boccioli, wow! Yeah, this song is so powerful and it's requested so often at funerals. But you know, for me, this song actually has a new love. And for me, it's not just for funerals. Jody and I actually finally took a European vacation. We had talked about this when we got married, that we had planned this.

We started saving for it back in 1992 when we got married and then life got in the way. We had child after child after child after child after child after child. Six of them. Six of them. That's wild. And you know, working and raising kids and raising a family and you know, doing all these things so you know, our vacations were a tent in our van wherever we could drive to in Canada or the United States so you know, we put off that European vacation. We finally took it.

Good for you. Yeah, it was fantastic trip but we part of the cruise that we went, we did a river cruise. We had a Canadian musician, Heather Banbrook, Diane Lea, her pianist, and Dale Miller, another accomplished singer from Toronto that came along on this cruise and they were entertaining some nights. And Dale and Heather sang this song one night. We were in a place in Germany. We were in this little, I guess it's like a house that was built in you know 15, 1600s. Just this beautiful ballroom you know like an I say a ballroom is like a small room but you know there was easily 60 of us in this room and they sang the song and it was

just incredible. If you've never heard him, uh, Heather Bambrick sing, I recommend her. You do know that Heather Bambrick is an FOTM. I've heard that. She's okay. I'm sure that's all you talked about in Germany is saying, yeah, let's talk more about your Toronto mic'd appearance, Heather. Heather Bambrick also gave me a bottle of Screech,

which I still have in this, uh, under the giant mug here, because of course she's from New Finland. She is. Yeah. And Labrador. I feel like the Labrador part gets screwed over all the time.

Cause people just call it New Finland. It's called Luf, New Finland and Labrador. It's true. Yeah. Don't forget Labrador. Okay. That's amazing. You had true, yeah. Don't forget Labrador. Okay, that's amazing you had that European adventure I was following along on social media. That's amazing.

Can we talk for a moment? There's two more songs to go. The penultimate and then the finale here. The two big ones left. Tell me about the difference between the music you would play during a visitation versus the funeral songs we're kicking out right now. People will often provide a playlist for funeral visitations at Ridley Funeral Home, right?

Yeah. I love the playlist. I love the visitation playlist that families give us too. We just download all the music on our iTunes or our Spotify, whatever we're using that day and we play this playlist for them. For me, I think it's probably because I'm getting older, but the music that I'm listening to in our lobby during visitations is from the 50s, the 60s, the 70s, the 80s. It's great music. It's all the songs that are upbeat, make you happy, make you remember your youth, remember

your weddings, remember all these great times in your life. It's so much fun listening to that music. It's so different than the actual funeral music because the funeral music is different. It's telling a tale.'s you know it's like you raise me up it's you you know wind beneath my wings it's all these songs that have a distinct meaning but uh you know i i walk through the lobby sometimes and i hear the violent fems playing and i hear uh you know depeche mode or i hear alvis presley and it's, you know, ACDC. It's whatever was important to the deceased is what gets played.

It is interesting to point out the fact that the age of the deceased often influences the music you're hearing. So you'd be hearing a lot of 50s music and now 60s music, but I'm wondering how sad it must be when you hear the playlist and it's full of like Drake, right? And you're like, oh no, we lost a young one today, right? There's a correlation there. So you'd still be hearing a lot of, used to being hearing a lot of Beatles, for example, which were big in the 60s. But when you're hearing the artists from

the 2000s and it's like, Oh, that's sad. Yeah. And that does happen. It does definitely happen. And it's definitely sad. And why am I hearing all this Taylor Swift music at this funeral? Like that's heartbreaking. I don't want to hear that music. Right.

Not yet. Not yet. Another 50 years. We can play that. 50 years. There's going to be a lot of Taylor Swift played at funerals. Write it down now. Oh my goodness.

Are you ready for the penultimate jam? I am. I am. These songs give me a lot of joy. I love both of these. I see the green, red roses too I see them bloom for me and you And I think to myself What a wonderful world I see skies of blue And clouds of white The bright blessed day The dark sacred night myself what a wonderful world the colors of what a wonderful world brad yeah it truly is you know and what i love about this song is it uh it just tells that story of you know how

great life is and it's story of you know how great life is and it's almost telling you know those left behind to to enjoy it to cherish it to love it and You know Absorb everything you can from it. You know the clouds the Sun, you know Seeing a friend and you know, you know, whether it's a handshake or a hug, you know It's it's the way that you tell someone that you love them. Now I'm thinking of that line, nobody at the end of their life, nobody thinks, oh, I should have spent more time at the office. It's about the people, right, Brad?

It's about friends and family and, you know, interacting and being with fellow citizens of this big blue marble. Now what does it all come down to? It all comes down to relationships, doesn't it? Absolutely. So we're gonna kick out one more funeral song, Brad. I want you to know how much I enjoyed this. Like I'm always interested in what are the popular funeral songs, what would I like played at my funeral? Remember everybody the FOTM KOTJ topic is exactly that. So take a moment, maybe pause right now before the finale here and record yourself on your phone maybe and say hey when I die what is it? The official Toronto mic historian Jeremy Hopkins is on the live stream. He wants Hood Took Me Under by Compton's Most Wanted.

So he's gonna get that one here. Quick thought on my end is that I am surprised Ridley Funeral Home hasn't been asked for any Boys to Men end of the road, but that might have to do with the fact that you'd have to be kind of a 90s R&B head there, New Jack Swing style Boys to Men. And that, luckily that generation,

which is my generation, most of us are still on the right side of the dirt. So that might be the reason there, but End of the Road would be a natural funeral song, I would think. Yeah. But not yet. Not yet. Give it time. Okay, so we say goodbye here A lot of people joined us in the live stream can't wait to put this into the Toronto Mike feed for people to hear Let's dedicate this song. Let's dedicate this song to a good FOTM that you and I Brad are gonna see

On May 12th at Christie Pitts when we're at the Toronto Maple Leafs home opener. We're gonna see Steve Pitts when we're at the Toronto Maple Leafs home opener, we're going to see FOTM Steve Pagan and let's dedicate this song to him. How does that sound? Sounds great. And now the end is near. And so I face the final curtain. My friend, I'll say it clear, I'll state my case,'s full I traveled each and every highway And more, much more than this I did it my way Regrets, I've had a few

But then again, too few to mention I did what I had to do, saw it through without exemption I planned each charted course, each careful step along the byway, and more, much more than this, I did it my way. Yes, there were times... The chairman of the board, Frank Sinatra, My Way. Yeah, this is still one of the most popular songs that's requested at funerals. And this has been all the way through my career,

33 years now, I think, 33, 34 years. Yeah, it's still the champ. Still, yeah. He, an incredible voice, but I think it's more than just his voice. I think it's the words, right? Yeah. The sentiment expressed is ideal for a funeral song.

Yep. And this one chokes me up too. This was my dad's funeral song. It's a powerful song. You think on it, regrets, I have too few to mention. Yeah, you know, this is the funeral song, especially of a certain generation. Yeah. And you know what? You're right there. It's like I did it my way.

You know, everything. My entire life I did it my way. The way I raised my kids, the way I loved my wife, the way I did my job, how I spent time with my friends, and I did it my way right up until the time I died. It's, it just says everything, right? It tells a story from beginning to end for somebody. Powerful stuff, Brad, and it's all makes you think. Luckily, we had a little Eric Idle in the mix there, so it wasn't all heavy duty here but I would say if somebody out there is listening and they have maybe they just have questions

about funerals their own or somebody they love or they just need to you know check check up on something some rule some best practice some policy some procedure anything of that nature when it comes to funeral services. How would one reach out to Brad Jones? Brad Jones Yeah, there's several ways. You can email me Brad Jones at RidleyFuneralHome.com. You can call me at 416-259-3705. We still have a fax machine if you want to fax us too, but- Jared Ranere Nobody's going to do that, Brian. You can even just, you know, if you're walking by or driving by and you want to stop in,

someone's there from 9 a.m. till 9 p.m. seven days a week. Fourteenth and Lakeshore. Fourteenth and Lakeshore. And you stop in, our staff are more than happy to sit down and talk to you and give you some information that you're looking for. And that brings us to the end of our 1485th show. You can follow me on Twitter and Blue Sky. I'm at Toronto Mike. You can find Ridley Funeral Home. I follow them on Instagram and Twitter,

but they're also on Facebook. You'll find them. Ridley Funeral Home. Much love to all who made this possible. That's Great Lakes Brewery. I thoroughly enjoyed my fresh can of burst here. Palma Pasta. I have a lasagna for you Brad in my freezer. Recyclemyelectronics.ca, that's where you go if you have old tech, old electronics, old cables, don't throw them in the garbage. Go to Recyclemyelectronics.ca and find out where you can drop them off to be properly recycled so the chemicals do not end up in our landfill. Raymond James Canada, the advantaged investor is their fine podcast. The Toronto Maple Leafs

baseball team will be there May 12th with Brad Jones. The official funeral home of Toronto Maple Leafs baseball is Ridley Funeral Home. Monaris, yes we are open season 6, dropping now. Catch up, Al Greggo will be here shortly to kick out Jams from season six. And Ridley Funeral Home! Pillars of the community since 1921. And apparently I invented that tagline, that wasn't actually a thing, I just said it one day and it stuck. Seawall soon, I don't know how the timing will work, but Peter Gross is dropping by. And we've got

a court appearance, long story, which you can hear about on Toronto Miked. And we're going to catch up and find out what's going on with Peter Gross, his food delivery, his insurance and all of that. See you all, then. and it won't go away cause everything is rolling in grey well I've been told that there's a sucker born every day but I wonder who yeah I wonder who maybe the one who doesn't realize

there's a thousand shades of grey