<P> There has been much speculation about what their last song was . A first - class Canadian passenger , Mrs. Vera Dick , and several other passengers , alleged that the final tune played was that of the hymn `` Nearer , My God , to Thee '' . Hartley reportedly once said to a friend if he were on a sinking ship , `` Nearer , My God , to Thee '' would be one of the songs he would play . But Walter Lord 's book A Night to Remember popularised wireless operator Harold Bride 's 1912 account ( New York Times ) that he heard the song `` Autumn '' before the ship sank . It is considered Bride either meant the hymn tune known as `` Autumn '' or the tune of the then - popular waltz `` Songe d'Automne '' but neither was in the White Star Line songbook for the band . Bride is one of only two witnesses who were close enough to the band , as he floated off the deck before the ship went down . Some consider his statement to be reliable . Mrs. Dick had left by lifeboat an hour and 20 minutes earlier and could not possibly have heard the band 's final moments . The notion that the band played `` Nearer , My God , to Thee '' as a swan song is possibly a myth originating from the wrecking of SS Valencia , which had received wide press coverage in Canada in 1906 and so may have influenced Mrs. Dick 's recollection . </P>
what song did the titanic band play when it sank
`` Autumn ''