I've copied Tiger's version so that I can mark a few subtle edits. I have "Tom Paxton - The Honor of Your Company", pub. 2000, Cherry Lane Music Co. This is Tom's sort of autobiography, edited by Milton Okun, and has about 85 of Tom's songs. Tom signed my copy, so you can't get any more "authoritative" than that! (I don't suppose he proofread the text, though :-)
The differences are very minor, and I've put them in {braces}. More interesting, the book has a facsimile of Tom's original handwritten version, including rewrites, and I've put these in [brackets]. The facsimile is about 4 x 3 inches, so the writing is very small, but a magnifying glass works wonders.
Forest Lawn -- Tom Paxton
Oh, lay me down in Forest Lawn in a silver [diamond] casket, Put golden flowers over my head in a silver [diamond] basket. Let the drum and bugle corps blow taps while cannons roar, Let sixteen {liveried} employees pass out souvenirs from the funeral store.
I want to go simply, when I go, { }They'll give me a simple fun'ral there, I know, [They'll sell me a budget funeral there, I know] With a casket lined in fleece, And fireworks spelling out "Rest In Peace." Oh, take me, when I'm gone, to Forest Lawn.
Oh, lay me down in Forest Lawn – they understand there, { }They have a heavenly choir and a military band there. { }Just put me in their care{,} I'll find my comfort there, With sixteen [thirty] planes in a last salute, dropping a cross in a parachute.
I want to go simply, when I go, { } They'll give me a simple {funeral} there, I know, [They'll sell me a tasteful funeral there, I know] With a hundred [sixty-five] strolling strings, And topless dancers in [with] golden wings, Oh, take me, when I'm gone, to Forest Lawn ...
Oh, come, come, come, come, Come to the church in the wildwood, Kindly leave a contribution in the pail. Be as simple and as trusting as a child would, And we'll sell you the [a] church in the dale.
To find a simple resting place is my desire, [I want a simple resting place when I expire] To lay me down with a smiling face comes a little bit higher. My likeness, done in brass, will stand in plastic grass, And weights and hidden springs will tip its hat to the mourners filing past.
I want to go simply, when I go, { } They'll give me a simple {funeral} there, I know. [You'll take me to the proper place, I know] I'll sleep beneath the sand, With piped-in tapes of Billy Graham. Oh, take me, when I'm gone, to Forest Lawn. Rock of Ages, cleft for me, for a slightly higher fee. Oh, take me, when I'm gone, to Forest Lawn.
Copyright 1969 (Renewed 1996) EMI U Catalog Inc All rights controlled by EMI U Catolog Inc (Publishing) and Warner Bros Publications US Inc (Print)
Choose which combination of lines you like!
John Denver's recording has been mentioned. Tom's intro in the book says "My friend, the late John Denver, sang this song with such relish that in an early appearance on the TONIGHT show he was forbidden from doing it. Undaunted, he waited until he was a guest host on the show, and then declared that since it was his show that night, he'd sing what he liked, and he let it rip."