The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #21554   Message #232643
Posted By: Croney
23-May-00 - 04:11 PM
Thread Name: Funeral Tunes, songs that heal
Subject: RE: Funeral Tunes, songs that heal
I like "May the work I have done speak for me.." Jon Fromer, I believe. And I love "Who Will Sing for Me?"--especially the way Merritt Herring sings it.

I also have written a few--

"Credo" from The Long Way Home -

Oh, our lives are lived like a flash across the sky
Let us cherish one another 'til the moment that we die
It is oh, so simple, tho' I did not understand
It is love and forgiveness, and the reaching of a hand

or "Nothing's More Important Than Love" from Lay It Down: Images of the Sacred.

I went out walkin' with a friend yesterday
She was laughing and smiling all the way
I'd come to comfort, she had almost lost her life
But instead she had a few things to say
And she said
Nothing's more important than love in the world
Nothing's more important than love
When it's all said and done and there's no place to run
Nothing's more important than love

Cancer got my mother, and she almost got me
No way to know -- it might get me yet
But my body's been rockin' in the love of my friends
It's a lesson I'll never forget-- and she said
Chorus
What seemed important just a short time ago
Seems like nothin' - just dust in the wind
And I thank heaven for each new day of life,
It may seem simple, but I'll say it again
And she said, CHORUS

This next one has been used on at least two occasions that I've heard of to sing people down as they were dying. It's on my first album Circle Me, Sisters. The tune is very similar to Farther Along.

Sometimes I'm happy, sometimes I'm free
Sometimes I can't break these chains around me
Circle me, sisters
Drink the cool waters
Sing me down softly
Let me go home

If I had the strength, Lord
If I had the time
I learn how to sing, oh, my,
And I'd learn how to fly
CHORUS
But I don't feel like singin'
Got no wings to fly
But if you circle me, sisters
I'll learn by and by
CHORUS

Here's the chorus of "Lay It Down" (on the CD of the same name)--song can be heard on my web site- www.lindasongs.com

Lay It down, lay it down
Let my breast be your pillow, lay it down
Lay it down, lay it down
There is comfort in my arms, lay it down.

I could go on, but I'll refrain. Thanks!
HTML line breaks added. -JoeClone 10-Jan-2001