10.04.2010

Musical Monday: the Mary Ellen Carter



I used to have a roommate who occasionally played this song on purpose to cry. I thought it was weird then, but I think I'm getting it finally. In the midst of two interrupted series of blog posts -- one about my identification with my dead husband's body, and another about visiting the hospital to see one of his best friends (both of which will continue, just to make sure YOU'RE totally confused, too) -- I have to cry today and this is the way.

But I'm never sure it these are sad tears or happy tears, because the song is so hopeful. The video is not great and the audio is too low, and it's prefaced with a story of how the song saved a guy's life. (Big deal, dude. I'm-a-widow!) Look up the original song (by Stan Rogers, and it IS on iTunes) and cry your eyes out by my virtual side on this rainy, dreary, very sad day.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a small widowy world we live in! Supa-saturated with widdas!
My sister (bloggy name Elsa) saw the same post you did, and you both commented, about "widow" ≠ "funny". I was gratified to see so many people feeling the same on that one. I would not have seen the post, likely, but I did see the howls of muted despair from all over in the comments. I would've felt like it was just me....but clearly, It. Is. Not. Thanks for being there.

Debbie said...

My late husband loved Stan Rogers. Stan was a Canadian Folk Genius and all of his songs are still on my husband's iPod. We played 45 Years From Now at our wedding and The Mary Ellen Carter was one of the Stan Rogers songs that played during the powerpoint at my husband's funeral. The powerpoint finished with this song to remind us all that we still need to have hope that we'll rise again above our grief. When I saw your post tonight I had to catch my breath. It's not often that Stan Rogers appears on these blogs. Interesting to note that when he died in '83 he left a widow and a small child. That small child is now an amazing singer and performer in his own right, who sound an awful lot like his late Dad. Ok, enough Canadian trivia for the night.

Anonymous said...

Oh honey - I just (partly) blogged about crying my eyes out to a couple of songs that came on the radio as I was driving home last night.
Bloody music gets to me every time...
Hugs

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