Lyr Add: Xanadu / Alzheimer's Song (M MacConnell)

Subject: Lyr Add: ALZHEIMER'S SONG (Mickey MacConnell)
From: chordstrangler
Date: 03 Aug 01 - 07:34 PM

I know that grief is supposed to be a private thing, but I feel the need to share this with you. Please bear with me.

A week or so ago I buried an old friend. He was a once talented writer and gifted musician. We shared a lot of good times together until Alzheimer's struck and he slipped away from us.

I would call to see him a lot. After a while he ceased to recognise us and ended up in a nursing home. I still called, but it was a terribly saddening experience and one that moved me deeply, especially when my visits would coincide with the times his wife was also there.

We buried him the other day. I returned home from the funeral and went drinking for most of the day. I took a bottle of whiskey home with me and decided to write a song in his memory. This was the result.

The reason I'm posting it is because I don't know if I got too close to the subject . I would value an opinion or two.

Thanks.

M.

Song for Michael

Down in the caverns measureless by man
Beside a sunless sea
In the shadows of the Lost and Found
Its there I'll likely be.
Won't you tell the Gentle Lady
With the tragic haunted eyes
That I'll see her in the Common Room
If she'll promise not to cry.


My Guardian Angel wakes me up
With a morning cup of tea
My angel's name is Mary
Or maybe its Marie.
Or Maybe….wait a minute
What am I trying to say.
My mind seems to be wandering
Quite a lot these last few days.


For the Gentle Lady visits me
At least three hours a day
And she seems so lost and lonely
Its only kind to let her stay.
And because she looks bewildered
And so badly needs a friend
I just sorta play along with her
As she sits there and pretends.

And to light the lantern in her eyes
And to keep at bay the tears
I pretend that we were married
The best part of forty years.
And we pretend I built a house for her
On a hill above the sea
Where we sat outside at sunset
Herself, the kids and me.

And we pretend that I was clever
We pretend that I was strong
And that I made a lot of money
But yet still knew right from wrong.
But sometimes, looking in her eyes
As we play her foolish game
I catch echoes of a time and place
And of memories I can't name.

There was a man at our Christmas Party
And he played a violin
And my fingers started trembling
You know, it was the strangest thing.
And there was something in his music
That swept me far away
To a smoke-filled room of friends of mine
In another time and day.

Was it somewhere that I used to go
Before it slipped away
Where it seemed we all would gather
To drink and talk and play
And the ghostly faces flame and burn
And flicker in my head
Till the Guardian Angel breaks the spell
When she says "It's time for bed".


I've got some important things to do
What they are I can't recall
So I think I'd like to be alone
If you don't mind at all.
For when I weep from not remembering
No matter how I try
I just sit out in the Garden Room
And I watch the clouds go by.

In the caverns measureless by man
Down by a sunless sea
In the Legions of the Walking Dead
Its there I'll likely be.
Won't you tell the Gentle Lady
With the tragic haunted eyes
That I'll meet her in the Garden Room
And we'll watch the clouds go by.

(ends)

Subject: RE: Alzheimer's song
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 03 Aug 01 - 07:51 PM

Mickey, that had the tears springing to my eyes just from reading it. It is sublime, just sublime.

Murray

Subject: RE: Alzheimer's song
From: Sorcha
Date: 03 Aug 01 - 07:54 PM

It's a heartbreaker, but it's awfully long......

Subject: RE: Alzheimer's song
From: Noreen
Date: 03 Aug 01 - 08:11 PM

It's beautful, CS, just perfect. Tears running down my chin from the first verse- how do you do that?

Must have been good whiskey... and a very good friend.

Much love and condolences,

Noreen

Subject: RE: Alzheimer's song
From: mg
Date: 03 Aug 01 - 08:12 PM

It's beautiful. Mark Cohen has also written a very lovely one on the same theme. mg

Subject: RE: Alzheimer's song
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 03 Aug 01 - 08:45 PM

Beautiful, chordstrangler. Mudcat sisters Duckboots and McKnees are trying to help their Mom through this awful affliction as well.

Rick

Subject: RE: Alzheimer's song
From: TonyK
Date: 03 Aug 01 - 10:18 PM

It moved me deeply.

Subject: RE: Alzheimer's song
From: TNDARLN
Date: 03 Aug 01 - 11:07 PM

Just beautiful....do you have a tune for it? [just wondering out loud - not trying/meaning to presume anything] I wonder how it'd do -given the subject- to have the melody reflect that same disconnect/disjunction ......hmmmmmmm....beautiful text....thanks for sharing. T

Subject: RE: Alzheimer's song
From: Bill D
Date: 04 Aug 01 - 12:31 AM

...well...*gulp*...that is very moving.....I need to absorb it some more

Subject: RE: Alzheimer's song
From: bobbi
Date: 04 Aug 01 - 12:45 AM

Bravo!!! Very good... very good.. It told the story and I could see your friend's searching, bewildered eyes as I read your lyrics... Sympathies to you. b

Subject: RE: Alzheimer's song
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 04 Aug 01 - 01:11 AM

A song from the other side.

Truly incredible.

LTS

Subject: RE: Alzheimer's song
From: Celtic Soul
Date: 04 Aug 01 - 09:52 AM

I tried to read it last night, but couldn't get through the whole thing. I'll go back at it in a moment, as it deserves to be taken as a whole.

What I read of it was very beautiful, and I am sure evokes some small amount of the emotions you are dealing with in those that read it (as evidenced by my having to stop). Which, in my mind, means you have succeeded, as that is what I personally believe music is about.

I hope the writing of it has helped you in your grief process.

Subject: RE: Alzheimer's song
From: Ebbie
Date: 04 Aug 01 - 12:41 PM

Beautiful. If it's any comfort, please remember that somewhere deep inside, his spirit knew that it was loved. And for that, he was a fortunate man.

Ebbie

Subject: RE: Alzheimer's song
From: Pinetop Slim
Date: 04 Aug 01 - 04:16 PM

Very moving song; all the better for your closeness to the subject. Sorcha's point should be taken if you intend to perform it.

Subject: RE: Alzheimer's song
From: Cobble
Date: 04 Aug 01 - 04:43 PM

A made up tune sprung in my head and I sang, I find it easier to go through the words. Very deep and moving and in the words of a friend of mine Bloody marvellous.

Cobble.

Subject: RE: Alzheimer's song
From: DancingMom
Date: 04 Aug 01 - 05:32 PM

My father-in-law passed away in May after surgery complicated by Alzheimers. He was the patriarch of the family, a math teacher, and his decline and passing took its toll on my mother-in-law and the whole family.

Your song exquisitely conveyes how persons with Alzheimers "mix up" family relationships. My father-in-law would cry when he saw our daughter,then about 3 or 4 years old, thinking she was his long-deceased mother. At the end he knew no one, but somewhere in the dark recesses he knew we were somehow important to him.

It's a very moving piece. Yeah, condense it for performance. But hang on to the original. I'd love to hear it. Sharon

Subject: RE: Alzheimer's song
From: GUEST,harvey andrews
Date: 04 Aug 01 - 05:44 PM

My parents went through this too. I wrote a song called "She saw him smile"

She saw him smile He knows her face from somewhere in the past But the smile fades for memories never last She saw him smile

She says "Hello" Buttons up his shirt and combs his hair Although the man she's loved's no longer there She says "Hello"

Remembering when They danced together in the darkened room The blushing bride the nervous, happy groom Remembering then Remebering when

She holds his hand Together they let time pass unrehearsed For time has been and gone and done its worst She holds his hand

She hums their song Hmmm (melody) Hmmm He hums along

And then she leaves He smiles one more time and waves goodbye The picture of her fading fom his eye And then she leaves

And, of course, there's the superb "The Dutchman"

Subject: RE: Alzheimer's song
From: DancingMom
Date: 04 Aug 01 - 08:19 PM

That did it, the tears are rolling down my cheeks now.

Subject: RE: Alzheimer's song
From: Owlkat
Date: 04 Aug 01 - 08:25 PM

Thank you.

Subject: RE: Alzheimer's song
From: chordstrangler
Date: 04 Aug 01 - 10:17 PM

Can this be the ....the Harvey Andrews ?

The Harvey Andrews of "Marguerita"

The Harvey Andrews of "Song for Phil Ochs"

Just askin while hovering between considering whether to bend the knee in musical genuflection or just go hide myself in shame at having found myself in the same cxompany.

major bluhes!

M

Subject: RE: Alzheimer's song
From: GUEST,Helen
Date: 04 Aug 01 - 10:50 PM

Beautiful song! My Aunt (who is also my Godmother), and her brother both have this dread disease...

Thank you for writing it down and sharing it with us.

Subject: RE: Alzheimer's song
From: GUEST,Strollin' Johnny
Date: 05 Aug 01 - 01:06 AM

Harvey - saw you at the Trinity Arts Centre, Gainsborough maybe a couple of years ago, great as ever! 'She Saw Him Smile' is my favourite of all your songs, I'm constantly amazed by the way its simplicity heightens its poignancy.

Everyone else - give this one a listen, they don't get any better!

Strollin' Johhny

Subject: RE: Alzheimer's song
From: Mr Red
Date: 05 Aug 01 - 10:15 AM

Very topical for me.
I visit a little old lady - she was there when they invented my name, she was the good friend when my mother was widdowed and I was 9 months old. Mother of my first girlfriend, & aunt of No3. Assertive, feisty business woman and a sharp mind and just a few recent lapses (barely more than mine!). Then, suddenly, in the last two weeks she can't even remember what she has told me 2 minutes ago.
The sadness is she is still at the stage where she does know the problem but wants to go on living in her own home.
when does the "knowing" cease - or does it just get swallowed-up in the confusion and no-one can tell?
chordstrangler - Song reads "long" but I guess without the tune it looks a bit lonely.

Subject: RE: Alzheimer's song
From: Ebbie
Date: 05 Aug 01 - 01:35 PM

Mr. Red, that's the part that has haunted me for years: how long is the phase where they know something is wrong but the only reason they can think of is that everyone has abandoned them? That is a heart breaker.

I too once wrote a song about that phase; I called it 'Mists of Time'.

I remember:
I once had a family and I know that I was happy then,
For I can see their bright little faces-
But I don't know where- or when.

Chorus: Memories lost in the mists of time
I don't know much anymore
The years, the days, the hours all run together
Memories lost in the mists of time.

Yesterday- Or was it just this morning? - they gather'rd 'round my rocking chair
I recall the scent of many candles
But I knew nobody there.

Ebbie

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Xanadu / Alzheimer's Song (M MacConnell)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 26 Dec 07 - 06:08 PM

I was looking at Mickey MacConnell's (chordstrangler's) web site, and I found a link to a video at YouTube of him singing XANADU (THE ALZHEIMER'S SONG). Turns out it's the same song that begins this thread. I guess Mickey decided that XANADU was a better title. I agree. In fact, I think including the quote "caverns measureless to man" was a brilliant bit of free-association. Thanks, Mickey, for posting it.

By the way, I see chordstrangler hasn't posted here--under that name, anyway--for about a year now. Hope he's OK.