What song would you like played at your funeral?

I’ve spent my life hogging the stereo. My funeral feels a good moment to finally let someone else choose the soundtrack.

Feel Like Going Home by Charlie Rich.

Johnny Cash’s version of Danny Boy.

Our family song – Three Is A Magic Number, which my husband played me on the way back from the maternity hospital.

Run to the Sun by NERD. I’ve always loved that song. People always think that Pharrell [Williams] wrote it about a lover but it was about his grandmother, who passed away. My brother was a massive NERD fan – he got me into them and there’s something so pure and loving about that song. I want my funeral to be a joyous occasion, I want people to rave and to wear bright colours. But for the moment of reflection, I want that song.

Happy Day by Sarkodie. I’m half Ghanaian, and in Ghana funerals really are a celebration of life. You dance and sing; it’s just a completely different vibe to over here in the UK. I would hope at my funeral that everyone’s on their feet, having a good time.

Eric Idle’s Always Look on the Bright Side of Life. That’s me, really.

That’s always changing, depending on how I think I’m going to die. At the moment, I’d like my own song Away from the Sky at my funeral.

At my late brother Martin’s funeral we played He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother by the Hollies. Martin lived a life that inspired me with the way he approached his learning difficulties and the love he showed us all with his Down’s syndrome. I often think that extra chromosome of Down’s syndrome is a chromosome of love, and you can’t have too much love in the world, can you?

Once in a Lifetime by Talking Heads. When I first heard it at 15, it was different to all the punk I was listening to. When I was starting out in my career, it was all about: ‘How is this possible? How am I doing this?’ Now it’s: ‘Is this my life? How did I get here?’ The lyrics are all about returning full to nature. That’s how I imagine death to be. So that’s what I want at my funeral. And they’ll play Combine Harvester by the Wurzels as people are leaving the church.

My daughter Dolly singing Your Song by Elton John when she was 11. I was filming and the filming is pathetic because you can tell I’m just wobbling with tears. I want everyone to cry at my funeral, including my daughter.

As a native-derived person, we don’t believe in death. Death is a western, fear-based concept. We believe that an eternal spirit is housed into a temporary vehicle, and when that vehicle no longer becomes tenable to inhabit, we just move on. If I had to play music, I’d insist on Beethoven’s Triple Concerto.

Is That All There Is? by Peggy Lee. I find it uplifting, because we all suffer these things in life. Will my funeral be happy or sad? Depends who you’re talking to. Some people will be happy. A couple will be sad. But I’d like a jolly affair.

At the end of every show, I always blast September by Earth, Wind & Fire at full volume as people leave. It is the best song in the world and has a sense of total positivity, community, friendship, physicality and memorability. It feels like an extraordinary human experience, a sense of joy and celebration that we are lucky to be here at all. It reminds me why I am alive, and I’d like to give people that. The ultimate end to my big gig on earth!

It’s another bloody Prince song, I’m so sorry – Mountains. I love how the chord structure ascends and the vocals – “It’s only mountains and the sea / There’s nothing greater than you and me” – feel like an ascension. I’d like to think, when I shuffle off this mortal coil, I’m going to be ascending as opposed to descending. I think I’ve been a good girl.

For Good, from the bit in Wicked the Musical where the two witches go their separate ways. The lyrics are about people coming to your life for a reason, who might not stay very long, but there’s a reason they’ve played a part in your life. I well up thinking about it.

I sang in Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem in a choir as a kid. The final movement, In Paradisum, is one of the most beautiful, seemingly simple pieces of music. So I’ll have that, please.

A song I wrote called I Want to See You. It’s about reunion – about seeing your loved ones again in heaven. That’s the message I’d want to leave behind.

I’ve been through a lot of grief in my life and there are intimate moments where you need to bawl your eyes out. As the dead person, I want to say: this is a moment you cannot control, life goes to shit sometimes. So I would choose Don’t Worry, Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin; some things you can’t change.