Memorial Day 2022 on Clubhouse

We're gathering together tonight to offer one more Memorial Day weekend tribute to the people who gave their lives while protecting our freedoms. They made the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of us all. I don't know the words that can adequately express gratitude to them and to their families. In lieu of searching for words, we're presenting several musical pieces and a moment of silence in tribute to them. It's the least I can do. 

If you're familiar with Clubhouse, please raise your screen's digital hand and come join us on the stage - AKA "the kitchen" - where the audio is better optimized. Look for "..." on the upper right of your screen. Set your music quality to "music" while you're in tonight's room. (Remember to reset it to normal or high audio before you leave for your usual speaking rooms.)

We will open the room a little early, beginning tonight's arrangement in advance of the official start. Using the sound of military bugles we'll have a call for:

Assembly  and then 

To the Color, honoring the lowering of the flag today.

An instrumental version of 

America the Beautiful will greet people arriving 

I Drive Your Truck, sung my Lee Brice, recalls a father's reflections upon driving his son's truck after he gave his life for our country. 

This represents a small bit of the decision making that families of fallen soldiers tend to. 
Do you keep the truck? Do you drive it or memorialize it? What's is like for you when you do?

Eighty-Nine Cents in the ash tray
Half empty bottle of Gatorade rolling in the floorboard
That dirty Braves cap on the dash
Dog tags hangin' from the rear view
Old Skoal can, and cowboy boots and a Go Army Shirt folded in the back
This thing burns gas like crazy, but that's alright
People got their ways of coping
Oh, and I've got mine

I drive your truck
I roll every window down
And I burn up
Every back road in this town
I find a field, I tear it up
Til all the pain's a cloud of dust
Yeah, sometimes I drive your truck

I leave that radio playing
That same ole country station where ya left it
Yeah, man I crank it up
And you'd probably punch my arm right now
If you saw this tear rollin' down on my face
Hey, man I'm tryin' to be tough
And momma asked me this morning
If I'd been by your grave
But that flag and stone ain't where I feel you anyway

I drive your truck
I roll every window down
And I burn up
Every back road in this town
I find a field, I tear it up
Til all the pain's a cloud of dust
Yeah, sometimes I drive your truck

I've cussed, I've prayed, I've said goodbye
Smy fist and asked God why
These days when I'm missing you this much

I drive your truck
I roll every window down
And I burn up
Every back road in this town
I find a field, I tear it up
Til all the pain's a cloud of dust
Yeah, sometimes, brother sometimes

I drive your truck
I drive your truck
I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind
I drive your truck

My Country Tis of Thee

My country tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died!
Land of the Pilgrim's pride!
From every mountain side,
Let freedom ring!

My native country, thee,
Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love.
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills;
My heart with rapture fills
Like that above.


 

Strength of Spirit,  instrumental

Worldwide Harmonics

The Funeral (from American Sniper)

L'Orchestra Cinematique

The Star Spangled Banner
United State National Anthem

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?


If You're Reading This
Tim MacGraw

If you're reading this
My Mommas sittin there
Looks like I only got a one way ticket over here
Sure wish I
Could give you one more kiss
And war was just a game we played when we were kids

I'm laying down my gun
I'm hanging up boots
I'm up here with God and we're both watching over you

So lay me down
In that open field out on the edge of town
And know my soul
Is where my momma always prayed
That it would go
And if you're reading this
I'm already home
If you're reading this

Half way around the would
I won't be there
To see the birth of our little girl
I hope she looks like you
I hope she fight like me
Stand up for the innocent and weak
I'm laying down my gun

I'm hanging up boots
Tell dad I don't regret that I followed in his shoes
So lay me down

In that open field out on the edge of town
And know my soul
Is where my momma always prayed that it would go
And if you're reading this
I'm already home
If you're reading this

There's going to come a day
When you'll move on
And find some one else
And that's ok
Just remember this
I'm in a better place
Where soldiers live in peace
And angels sing amazing grace
So lay me down
In that open field out on the edge of town
And know my soul
Is where my Momma always prayed that it would go
And if you're reading this
I'm already home

Taps – with orchestration


Taps 

** A Moment of Silence **

And now the voices of our present and future:  children's voices

** Although the lyrics are included here, please listen to the children themselves if our phone audio settings allow us to hear them well. 

America the Beautiful
One Voice Children's Choir

My Country 'Tis of Thee

Cooltime Kids

There are adults who sing of the beauty of our country, its people and the hope that the great American experiment will succeed. 

This Land is Your Land 

Phosphorescent

This land is your land and this land is my land
From California to the New York island
From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me

As I went walking that ribbon of highway
I saw above me that endless skyway
Saw below me that golden valley
This land was made for you and me

I roamed and rambled and I've followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
All around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me

When the sun come shining, then I was strolling
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
The voice was chanting as the fog was lifting
This land was made for you and me

This land is your land and this land is my land
From California to the New York island
From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me

When the sun come shining, then I was strolling
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
The voice come a-chanting and the fog was lifting
This land was made for you and me

America the Beautiful

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare of freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

THANK YOU FOR ATTENDING!

Two additional pieces for you -  if you'd like to stay a bit longer. 

Home

Foo Fighters

Wish I were with you but I couldn't stay
Every direction leads me away
Pray for tomorrow but for today
All I want is to be home

Stand in the mirror, you look the same
Just lookin' for shelter from the cold and the pain
Someone to cover, safe from the rain
And all I want is to be home

Echoes and silence, patience and grace
All of these moments I'll never replace
No fear of my heart, absence of faith
And all I want is to be home

All I want is to be home

People I've loved, I have no regrets
Some I remember, some I forget
Some of them living, some of them dead
And all I want is to be home

American Home
Faith Hill

She's up before the sun, on the run,
Another dollar, another day, another cup of coffee,
Thank you Lord for giving me one more,
She still leans on her dreams but it seems,
Sometimes she's the only one who still believes,
That life is hard, so she takes it on,
With an American Heart

And it beats like a drum down in New Orleans,
Sings like a Motown melody,
It dreams like California,
Bigger than the Texas sky,
It bleeds,
It scars,
But it shines when times get hard,

And you can't break an American heart

From the small town Friday night lights,
To the Broadway neon burning up bright,
We're all the same and it's in our veins,
A spirit that you can't keep down,

A fire inside that'll never burn out,
If you are the owner of,

An American Heart
‘Cause it beats like a drum down in New Orleans,
Sings like a Motown melody,
It dreams like California,
Bigger than the Texas sky,
It bleeds,

It scars,
But it shines when times get hard,
And you can't break an American heart,

An American heart
And it beats like a drum down in New Orleans,
Sings like a Motown melody,
It dreams like California,
Bigger than the Texas sky,
It bleeds,
It scars,
But it shines when times get hard,
And you can't break,
You can't break an American heart,
An American heart
An American heart
God bless America
Land of the free
God bless America 

Photo:

The Echo

©2022 Connie Drapeau Kennedy

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