George W. Bush has his funeral song already picked out — and it’s a banger.
During Monday’s episode of “Today with Jenna & Friends,” Jenna Bush Hager revealed to guest co-host Savannah Guthrie that her 79-year-old father’s choice for his funeral song comes from the 1993 classic “Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit.”
“This is a little morbid, but have you ever thought about a song you want played at your funeral? I have!” Guthrie, 53, asked Bush Hager, 44.
Jenna Bush Hager on “Today.” TODAY Show/ABC
George W. Bush in New York City on Nov. 10, 2022. Getty Images
Kathy Najimy, Whoopi Goldberg, Wendy Makkena in “Sister Act 2.” ©Buena Vista Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
“[It’s] ‘Take It to the Limit’ by The Eagles,” Guthrie shared. “I love that song so much. That’s my funeral song.”
Bush Hager then revealed the former president’s own selection.
“My dad has always had a funeral song, and it used to be [John Fogerty’s ‘Centerfield’]. ‘Put me in coach, I’m ready to… ‘ But now it’s ‘Oh, Happy Day!’” she said. “He wants that.”
George W. Bush at an NFL game in Arlington, Texas on November 10, 2024. Getty Images
George W. Bush, his wife Laura Bush, and their daughters Jenna and Barbara. Getty Images“Oh, Happy Day” was recorded by the Edwin Hawkins Singers in 1968, but it became most famous from the beloved “Sister Act” sequel.
The upbeat song plays when Goldberg’s Sister Mary Clarence, a Vegas singer disguised as a nun, gets a school choir group to sing “Oh, Happy Day” in front of an audience.
Directed by Bill Duke, “Sister Act 2” also starred Maggie Smith, Kathy Najimy, Wendy Makkena, Mary Wickes, James Coburn, Barnard Hughes, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Lauryn Hill.
Lauryn Hill, Whoopi Goldberg in “Sister Act 2.” ©Buena Vista Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
Kathy Najimy, Wendy Makkena, Whoopi Goldberg in “Sister Act 2.” ©Buena Vista Pictures/Courtesy Everett CollectionGoldberg, 70, hosted a “Sister Act” reunion on “The View” in June 2024 to mark the sequel’s 30th anniversary, during which the former cast members performed “Oh, Happy Day.”
A third “Sister Act” film was confirmed by Goldberg in 2020. Tyler Perry is joining the project as a producer.
“Whoopi’s really excited,” Perry, 56, told The Hollywood Reporter in 2021. “I think that this is just what the country needs. We need that feel-good moment in the movies where you go, ‘Oh my God, I left there singing.’ That’s my hope.”
Goldberg gave the latest update on “Sister Act 3” in March, when she confirmed to Variety on the Oscars red carpet that the script was done.
Whoopi Goldberg in 1993’s “Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit.” ©Buena Vista Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
David Kater, Whoopi Goldberg, Tanya Blount, Deedee Magno, Lauryn Hill in “Sister Act 2.” ©Buena Vista Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection“We’re hoping it’ll happen sometime this year,” she said. “It doesn’t matter what I think. It only matters if Disney wants to do it.”
The EGOT winner previously revealed that they “had to make some readjustments” to the upcoming film after Smith’s death in Sept. 2024.
“So, we will get it done. We will get it done,” she stated. “It’s a shift.”
