LAST MAN STANDING (Back-Story, Lyrics,
and Link to Song)
Back-story:
in June of 2010, my
mother died suddenly from complications caused by a massive stroke. This
devastating event broke my father’s heart, and he never recovered from it. After my mother’s death, I spoke to my father
at least once a day on the phone, and when he moved from Saugerties, NY, to
Canandaigua, NY, in 2013 I visited with him every day until he died in 2016. Despite his intense loneliness and
indifference towards life, he did the best he could to keep going, and I admired
him for this. Listening to his favorite
oldies of the 1940s, ‘50s, and ‘60s often filled up his afternoons with great
memories of his life.
He shared many of these
memories with me, and most of them focused on some of the great times he had
with my mother and their best friends, Tom and Marge Tynan and Phil and Dot
Breithaupt. The “six pack,” as I often
called them, did a myriad of things together.
Parties, picnics, dances, and trips filled up their nearly fifty year
friendship. In the late 1990s, the “six
pack” began to empty, and with the death of Phil Breithaupt, my father became
the last bottle in the pack. After
Phil’s death, he expressed to me several times that his bottle was empty, and
whenever God was ready, he was ready to join the other empties.
Along with his stories
about his times with my mother and their friends, he also told me stories about
his time in the Marines during WWII. He
never spoke of the war before this, and most of his generation did not speak of
it either. I learned about his
experiences in the war in the Pacific, and he described the awful night he was severely
wounded and nearly killed on Okinawa. I
discovered that most of his friends from the military were also gone, and he
was ready to join them, too.
Like many WWII
veterans, he was the “last man standing” in his group. That phrase entered my mind one day, and I
started playing around with some words that eventually became the chorus of the
song. Using military imagery, the chorus
depicts a soldier who wants to die, but he will not leave this earth until he
fulfills his purpose.
After getting the
chorus together, I had to develop a setting and story to support it. Here’s what emerged. The setting is my father sitting in an easy
chair listening to his favorite oldies. As
he listens, the songs take him through the events of his life from his war
years to the death of his wife. With the
story created, now all it needed was a melody and some chords.
To enhance the tone,
mood, and theme of this sensitive ballad, it was essential to keep the chord
progression simple and the tempo slow.
So, Siobhan and I went to work arranging the song with her bass, my
guitar, harmonica and vocal. After we
put the song together, we went over to record the basic tracks with Rich
Cooley, a neighborhood friend who eventually became Siobhan’s mentor for mixing
and mastering. Following this, we
brought in two fine musicians, Perry Cleaveland and Bob Spadafora, to add some
finishing touches. Perry with his
mandolin and fiddle and Bob with his acoustic guitar created some awesome
sounds, especially during the break in the song. It’s probably one of the most sensitive breaks
I have ever heard. Along with their
instruments, they added some terrific backup harmonies to the chorus.
After all the tracks
were recorded, Siobhan went to work mixing them until we got the sound to where
we liked it. I hope it appeals to you
too.
Lyrics:
Verse 1:
He sits back in his
easy chair, the TV doesn’t play
The room is filled with
music of all his yesterdays
The Boogie Woogie Bugle
Boy takes him back to when
He fought the Japanese
to save his family and friends
He nearly lost his life
on some Okinawa hill
Memories of that awful
night quite often haunt him still
But when he returned
back to his home in 1945
It didn’t take him long
to see why God kept him alive
For he met her at a
roller rink, they skated through the night
They fell in love as
they walked home with a full moon burning bright
Then they set out on a
journey for over sixty years
Now the music of those
decades leaves a face of streaming tears
Chorus:
He’s the last man
standing on this battle field of life
All his friends have
fallen along with his faithful wife
He prays he can be with
them at the setting of each sun
But a soldier never
leaves his post until the job is done
Verse 2:
From the heart of New
York City to a Hudson River town
They found a peaceful
quiet place where they could settle down
To raise a little
family, and find themselves some friends
To share the highs and lows of life, and navigate
its bends
The sing-along Mitch
Miller songs remind him of the times
When days went on
forever, and life was so sublime
Whether ‘round a
kitchen table or along a small creek shore
They’d laugh and dance
the night away and never want for more
Bobby Vinton comes on
with his “Roses Are Red
He thinks of all the I
love yousVery rarely said
For their love was
shown in action, words were not their way
They were the “Great
Generation,” who didn’t have much to say
Chorus:
Verse 3:
As the concert slowly
closes with those evening ending songs
He hears “Good Night,
Irene” come on, and he starts to sing along
He looks a little to
his right into the empty chair
He hears her singing
with him, even though she isn’t there
Elvis whispers softly,
“Are you lonesome tonight?”
He dreams of howe they
used to dance and hold each other tight
The Platters bring the
curtain down, and with their final line
Once again she’s with
him at last at twilight time
Chorus (two times):
If you would like to
listen to the song on Spotify, Here’s a
link to it. Provide a username and
password, and you’ll be good to go with a free account.
https://open.spotify.com/album/2JJLGAngMnssbq56cwIPHA
If you would like to listen to the song on Apple Music, here
is a link to it.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/last-man-standing-single/883669630
If you would like to listen to the song on Amazon, here is a
link to it.
https://www.amazon.com/Last-Man-Standing-Meyer-Mcguire/dp/B00KQPWUL6
No comments:
Post a Comment