Just worked this out. There are lots of different versions; hope you like this one.
[video]http://youtu.be/9J5M1OT0k2c[/video]
See that my grave is kept clean
I like it alot. Drop-D is just a great sounding way to play. Nice job!
Thanks Mike. I just arranged this (such as it is) in the last few days. It still needs some practice, but I like the feel of the tune. I have some gigs in the next few weeks and I may add it to the sets.
Sounds great to me, you have a very good voice, strong and good vibrato as well, I enjoyed it very much. Like the tuning and rhythm breaks as well…Jerry
Thanks Jerry for the kind words.
This song has a bit of a twisted back story. I heard this song online a few years ago. Just after hearing it (a week of so after), I ended up in the hospital with a serious infection inside my liver (an exceedingly rare occurrence). As I recuperated in the hospital, I remembered the melody and played with the chords (my guitar is always with me). As you can hear, the song is quite dark and sad. Although this was not the only tune I played while there, I’m not sure the choice of this tune was a welcome as some of the others. 
However, I played very quietly as I did not want to come across as the grim reaper in the next room…
— Begin quote from "drguitar"
However, I played very quietly as I did not want to come across as the grim reaper in the next room…
— End quote
That would be one song that could get you released from the hospital earlier…
Great sound I enjoyed listening to that . I also like the Drop D tuning it makes for a deeper sound . By the way I would be to afraid to play that in a hospital , that will get you at least a smile. 
Never heard that one before today
— Begin quote from "welder4"
Great sound I enjoyed listening to that . I also like the Drop D tuning it makes for a deeper sound . By the way I would be to afraid to play that in a hospital , that will get you at least a smile. Never heard that one before today
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That guitar has an unusually deep low D. I love using drop D tuning with that guitar.
When I was in the hospital, I was quite ill. So much so that fear of hospital reprisal was not much of a concern. 
I will be performing with my wife and son at the Wilmington Hospital this coming Wednesday evening; that tune will not be in the set.
— Begin quote from "drguitar"
— Begin quote from "welder4"
I will be performing with my wife and son at the Wilmington Hospital this coming Wednesday evening; that tune will not be in the set.
— End quote
— End quote
We played at a nursing home a few weeks back. I brought a couple binders of music. One of the kids that was with our group was flipping through a binder and came across “Bury me beneath the willow.” I just shook my head to say “uhhhhhm, nope.”
We occasionally play for an organization called Musicians on Call. http://www.musiciansoncall.org/site/PageNavigator/home The idea is to provide live music right in the hospital rooms of patients. Practically all the time, they do not want you to play any music that could be considered religious, so we stay with the upbeat secular bluegrass tunes. However, one room specifically asked if we could play a gospel tune. “Of course” was our response. The gentleman in the room was obviously extremely ill and was surrounded by his family. This was in the oncology ward so this gentleman was most likely in his last hours. He asked if we could play “I’ll fly away”. We did so while he and his family sang along in harmony. He smiled while singing and toward the end of the tune, there were tears of joy in his eyes.
It is a strange sensation going room to room in a hospital performing for folks. They seems to enjoy it so it feels good to do it, however many of these folks are in dire straights. Once you can get over the awkward moments, it is a good experience for everyone involved.
That’s a neat looking organization, but my group wouldn’t really fit due to the religious content restrictions. I am not complaining about them having that restriction. More power to them. It takes all kinds of approaches.
It really is initially awkward entering a room when someone is close to death. It initially feels like you are invading a very private moment. But like you said, it can be very rewarding. A little over a year ago, a friend’s father was in his final days. They asked me to come play some music. When I got there, I would guess there were about 15 family members in a small hospital room. The father was sleeping when I arrived. We played and sang for a quite some time. The father woke up and became responsive and so I left as various family members were taking turns interacting with him. It was a very touching day. To be honest it was pretty difficult for me. I had lost both of my parents about a year prior and I am not really comfortable around hospitals. It turned out to be the last day the father was responsive. I was recently at wedding of the daughter of the same friend. I saw most (probably all) of the family members who were in that room. Individually and in small groups they made a beeline to me to reminisce about that day and tell me what an impact that time together had for them. Many of us (myself included) get worried about technical proficiency and musicality and such things, but it seems the best thing I can do with music has little to do with how well I play or sing. At it’s essence, music is a powerful tool that allows us to share emotions and moments with others.
— Begin quote from "mreisz"
…Many of us (myself included) get worried about technical proficiency and musicality and such things, but it seems the best thing I can do with music has little to do with how well I play or sing. At it’s essence, music is a powerful tool that allows us to share emotions and moments with others.
— End quote
This sentence reminded me of an important time in my life. I had just finished getting my degree in music and was teaching students. At that time, my main concern for all of my students was to make them excellent players and musicians. As I was taught at college, musicians don’t make mistakes, and great musicians play better than perfect.
At one boarding school, the students all had pretty serious mental disabilities. There was this one particular down syndrome girl (Betsy) who each week seemed to know less about playing the guitar than the week before. One afternoon, after nearly a year of lessons, I arrived at the school and one of her counselors approached me. The counselor told me that Betsy had performed at a talent show at the school the night before. I was a little sad since I had not been informed ahead of time. The counselor assured me that she had done well. I went into the lesson and asked Betsy to play the song she had played at the talent show. She lit up and she picked up the $25 guitar that her wealthy parents had purchased for her. Betsy was pretty obviously the forgotten child in her family. Her parents rarely came to visit her at the boarding school and the guitar that she was given to play on was extremely hard to play (high action, poor intonation…etc). None of this mattered to Betsy. She set the guitar on her lap and began to play This Land is your Land. She strummed the chords the best she could and sang with a voice that was out of tune and would scare a coyote. But the look on her face was magic. She was having fun… no, she was full of joy. And it was at that moment that I realized that perfect playing was not the true nature of music. It’s true nature was the joy and emotional response that music brings to players and listeners alike.
This was a life changing moment for me and changed the way I have taught music since.
That’s neat. I hope Betsy is still playing and singing.
It is a strange sensation going room to room in a hospital performing for folks. They seems to enjoy it so it feels good to do it, however many of these folks are in dire straights. Once you can get over the awkward moments, it is a good experience for everyone involved
Thank you for playing for the people. I am sure it is a good thing you are doing, not many people think of the ones who would love to hear live music . Things are coming together and we all might be flying away soon enough .
It is the least I can do.
It is a funny thing that happens when you do this sort of thing. Not only do the patients seem to enjoy the music (one particularly “out of it” old woman was dancing in her chair while we played with a huge grin on her face), but the staff really likes the change of pace. I think it can momentarily take some of the stress and the drudgery of the day away. It was obvious that some of the staff was following us around.
What really sold me on the idea was when I was in the hospital a couple of years back, I asked my wife and son to bring their instruments in to come play with me. I was extremely weak and in lots of pain at the time, but playing music with my family really made some of my pain and misery vanish.
I also discovered that just the touch of my wife’s hand on me (leg, foot, shoulder…etc) could drop my pain level from a 9 down to 7. It is in those times that you realize how lucky you really are.