This week’s theme for Song Lyric Sunday is – perhaps a little morbidly – something that you would like to be played at your own funeral.

That isn’t to say that I haven’t thought about it occasionally (who among us has not?, as Anthony Trollope might have put it.). However, it’s a bit tricky as my top three choices have already been deployed in response to other SLS prompts. If you’re interested, they are ‘Stella Blue’ by the Grateful Dead, Leonard Cohen’s ‘Bird On The Wire’ and ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ as performed by the crowd at a Liverpool home game.

So what does that leave? Nothing religious, that’s for sure and definitely not ‘My Way’ – which, by a distance, is apparently the most popular choice for such occasions, at least in the UK.

Well, if in doubt turn back to the Grateful Dead and a Garcia/Hunter ballad:

When the last rose of summer pricks my finger
And the hot sun chills me to the bone
When I can’t hear the song for the singer
And I can’t tell my pillow from a stone

I will walk alone by the black muddy river
And sing me a song of my own
I will walk alone by the black muddy river
And sing me a song of my own

When the last bolt of sunshine hits the mountain
And the stars start to splatter in the sky
When the moon splits the southwest horizon
With the scream of an eagle on the fly

I will walk alone by the black muddy river
And listen to the ripples as they moan
I will walk alone by the black muddy river
And sing me a song of my own

Black muddy river
Roll on forever
I don’t care how deep or wide
If you got another side
Roll muddy river, roll muddy river
Black muddy river roll

Black muddy river
Roll on forever
I don’t care how deep or wide
If you got another side
Roll muddy river, roll muddy river
Black muddy river roll

When it seems like the night will last forever
And there’s nothing left to do but count the years
When the strings of my heart start to sever
And stones fall from my eyes instead of tears

I will walk alone by the black muddy river
And dream me a dream of my own
I will walk alone by the black muddy river
And sing me a song of my own

Written by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter

Song Lyric Sunday 2 July 2023