Tuesday, May 07, 2002

My brother sent me a clip of some lyrics from a bluegrass song:
It proves that sometimes a few words are worth a thousand pictures.

The rocking chairs on the old front porch
Move from a sudden wind
It's almost like my Mom and Dad
Are sitting there again
My brother's voice is calling
From his fav'rite climbing tree...

. . .

Sunday, May 05, 2002

The Legend of Andrew McCrew

by Don McLean

There was a mummy at the fair,
All crumpled in a folding chair.
The people passed, but didn't care
That the mummy was a man,


so tell me if you can

Chorus:
Who are you? Who are you?
Where have you been, where are you going to?
Well, Andrew McCrew must have lost his way
'Cause though he died long ago he was buried today.



Down on nightmare alley, where the shady people sway
a hobo came a-hikin' on a salty summer day
Well he hopped a freight in Dallas, and he rode out of sight
But on a turn he slipped, and he lost his grip
and he fell in-to the night.


Repeat Chorus

Well, Andrew had one leg of wood, the other leg was small.
And when he fell off the train that night he found he had no legs at all.
Well they found him in the thicket, and the undertaker came.
And they mummified his body for a relative to claim.


Repeat Chorus

But no one came to claim him, until the carnival passed through.
The carnies took him to their tent and they decided what to do.
Well they dressed him in a worn-out tux and they put him on a stand.
And millions saw the legend called the `famous mummy man'.


Repeat Chorus

Well, what a way to live a life and what a way to die.
Left to live a living death with no one left to cry.
Petrified amazement, and wonder beyond words,
A man who found more life in death than life gave him at birth.


Repeat Chorus

But what about the ones who live and wish that they could go.
Whose lives are lost to living and performing for the show.
Well at least you got the best of life until it got the best of you,
So from all of us to what's left of you
Farewell, Andrew McCrew.



Notes:
The song is based on an authentic case. Andrew McCrew toured with the carnival, posthumously, for about 35 years. He was buried in 1973.That was when Don McLean read an article about him and wrote the song. When the song came out, someone stepped forward and donated a headstone on McCrew's previously unmarked grave. The fourth verse of the song is carved on the headstone.