John Peel's Funeral Commendation

I had the enormous privilege of going to the funeral of my teenage idol, legendary DJ John Peel, in Bury St Edmunds.

When Peelie died, my youth died.

There was not a dry eye in the place. Despite the suddenness of Peelie's death and the sullenness of the drizzly afternoon, the commendation was the most incredible, uplifting experience.

Nobody was expecting "Teenage Kicks" as the coffin was carried out and the the tears of sadness became tears of joy in an instant. They even played it at the right speed.

Utterly wonderful.

It's my further enormous privilege to share it with you.

I videoed it on my phone (they weren't so good in 2004) so the quality is not great

Category:

Music

Tags:

• John Peel
• Life-changers

[bcitral]

Bang! on the dot again. Tingles and the memories of tinny AM recordings from the 80's. Thats what John means to me.

B

[luvdupraver]

@bcitral yeh there's no thrill when music all sounds pristine..........

[luvdupraver]

Can anyone hear the sound on this? It works fine on my original copy but I can't hear it on the uploaded version.

[Harrylechat01]

I live in France and remember being incredibly surprised when my dad, then aged 71 and a retired headmaster, rang me to break the news of John Peel's death. I'd already heard on the World Service but it was the fact that my dad, my stuffy strait-laced old dad, should view this passing as important enough to merit a rare call to France. I'd have sworn that he'd never heard of John Peel, let alone appreciated his importance to the murky world of popular music! RIP, John

[rocktenniscat]

@luvdupraver - Hello from Toronto. First, I cannot hear anything, however, thank you for putting this up anyway. I had never heard of John Peel until purchasing Heatley's bio at Heathrow Airport in 2005. I tore through all the way back to Toronto. We all knew Alan Freed "over here", and it was wonderful to learn about "Peelie". Yesterday, I found "Margrave of the Marshes" - 2nd hand, and will devour it. A real treasure. RIP John Peel.

[JohnMyersJJM]

my brother whos an undertaker done John Peels funeral.

[Harrylechat01]

PS No, there's no sound