"The Funeral" is the first single taken from Band of Horses' debut album Everything All the Time, which was released on March 21, 2006. The song was released as a radio and video single in May 2006 in the US. The single was released on May 21, 2007 in the UK on limited edition numbered 7" vinyl to coincide with the band's UK tour. A live version of the song appeared earlier on the band's self-titled EP, under the name "Billion Day Funeral".

In August 2009, Pitchfork Media named "The Funeral" the 67th greatest song of the 2000s.

The story in the music video for "The Funeral" is open to interpretation. On the surface it tells the story of a man whose dog has died. The black dog may symbolise depression. Saddened by his loss, the man drowns his sorrows in alcohol. He then drives under the influence and the end of the video suggests he crashes head-on into a delivery truck. Based on the style of cars in the video and the elevated railroad, it may be set in the 1970s and possibly in Chicago, as one scene shows a sign for the Galway Bay Bar, an Irish pub located in the Lincoln Park neighbourhood.

Sir John Kenneth Tavener (born 28 January 1944) is a British composer, best known for such religious, minimal works as "The Whale", and "Funeral Ikos". He began as a prodigy; in 1968, at the age of 24, he was described by the Guardian as "the musical discovery of the year", while The Times said he was "among the very best creative talents of his generation." During his career he has become one of the best known and regarded composers of his generation. Tavener was knighted in 2000 for his services to music and has won an Ivor Novello Award.

John Kenneth Tavener was born on 28 January 1944 in Wembley, London, England, and claims to be a direct descendant of the 16th-century composer John Taverner. He was educated at Highgate School (where a fellow pupil was John Rutter) and at the Royal Academy of Music, where his tutors included Sir Lennox Berkeley. He first came to prominence in 1968 with his dramatic cantata The Whale, based on the Old Testament story of Jonah. It was premièred at the London Sinfonietta's début concert and later recorded by Apple Records. The following year he began teaching at Trinity College of Music, London. Other works released by Apple included his Celtic Requiem. In 1977, he joined the Russian Orthodox Church. Orthodox theology and Orthodox liturgical traditions became a major influence on his work. He was particularly drawn to its mysticism, studying and setting to music the writings of Church Fathers and competing a setting of the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, the principal eucharistic liturgy of the Orthodox Church.