Ohio Valley Gathering 2009: I Grieve

It looks like the Ohio Valley Gathering has come to roost in Lexington, Kentucky. The festival used to alternate between Lexington and Owensboro, but the facility there was torn down so OVG will take place in Lexington next year as well. The Hilton downtown is a great location and the two days of workshops, concerts and jams went by too quickly, as usual.

I arrived early on Thursday afternoon and had a bit of a walk around before settling in back at the hotel. It was there that a call from my Aunt Loretta informed me that my cousin Paul's wife, Valerie, had passed away the day before. This threw me for a loop and I called Paul to check in with him and see how the boys, Chris and Darien, were taking things. After our conversation, I just couldn't get myself back into the usual festival state of mind, a feeling that persisted well into Friday night's open stage.

My heart was heavy for Paul and his boys. I awoke Friday morning and the tune that floated across my mind was Peter Gabriel's "I Grieve" from the album Up. Giving it a quick spin on the dulcimer, I decided that it would be the tune I performed that evening in concert. The video from that set is episode #115 of The Dulcimerica Video Podcast.

I Grieve
Music and lyrics by Peter Gabriel

It was only one hour ago
It was all so different then
Nothing yet has really sunk in
Looks like it always did

This flesh and bone
It's just the way that we are tied in
But there's noone home

I grieve...
for you
You leave...
Me
So hard to move on
Still loving what's gone
Said life carries on...
Carries on and on and on...
And on

The news that truely shocks
is the empty, empty page
While the final rattle rocks
Its empty, empty cage...
And I can't handle this

I grieve...
For you
You leave...
Me
Let it out and move on
Missing what's gone
Said life carries on...
I said life carries on and on...
And on

Life carries on in the people I meet
In every one that's out on the street
In all the dogs and cats
In the flies and rats
the rot and the rust
In the ashes and the dust
Life carries on and on and on...
And on
Life carries on and on and on...
Life carries on and on and on...
And on
Life carries on and on and on...

Just the car that we ride in
The home we reside in
The face that we hide in
The way we are tied in
As life carries on and on and on...
And on
Life carries on and on and on...

Did I dream this belief
Or did I believe this dream
How I will find relief
I grieve...

I wasn't sure if the tune would be a buzzkiller or not but my gut said to do it. It was hard not to choke up all through the first half of the tune and I had to pull up short a couple of times. It was much easier to carry on in the second half, which picks up energy and mood, offering the hopeful refrain "life carries on." By the time the audience began singing along, it felt like the right choice.

Throughout the rest of the weekend, many came up and said they had appreciated the song and offered prayers and condolences. Val's funeral service is today and I'm regrettably unable to attend - so this post is serving as a dedication of sorts as Paul and the boys move into this next difficult chapter of their lives along with Val's family. Life carries on.