“All the memories came flooding back… Old Mrs. McAvoy eating that horrible chicken and the terrified child running from the burning wreck.” — Vivian Stanshall, 1972, “Rawlinson End.”
Just about everybody agrees that the two greatest benefits of music are the connection it makes with us emotionally, intellectually and spiritually, and its uncanny ability to bring back memories, whether cherished or unpleasant.
It happened to me yet again during the funeral Friday morning of Ginnie White at the United Church of Wayland. At her stern direction, she had a bagpiper play “Amazing Grace,” “Danny Boy” and “Goin’ Home.” That last piece has a personal history with me that spans more than a half century.
Please forgive me. I’ve written about this before, but I still consider it to be a story worth telling more than once.
“Goin’ Home”is a popular folk song, once sung by Olivia DeHavilland in the 1948 movie “The Snake Pit.” It has been sung beautifully at many occasions before and since.
It actually is the second movement of Czech composer Anton Dvorak’s “New World Symphony,” which he wrote while visiting the United States in 1893. He attended the funeral of a Native American chief and heard the golden voice of African American baritone Thacker Burleigh and was deeply moved and inspired.
Those who have heard this melodic, slow moving and reflective piece often are struck by the opening theme played by a cor anglais.
Dvorak, while writing to a friend back in Bohemia, said, “The music of the American Indian and the American Negro is like a lovely flower growing amongst weeds.” He predicted that if the United States ever made a musical contribution to world culture, it would be through these two groups.
I was first introduced to this piece by a unlikely source, super jock Tom Waterfield, a roommate in the spring of 1967 at Grand Valley State College. I had already been smitten by Bedrich Smetana and “The Moldau,” foisted on me by another roommate, Walter G. Tarrow, known in this publication today as “The Subterranean.”
When I went home from college for the summer of 1967, I decided I could not live without the “New World Symphony” and “The Moldau” until returning to GVSC for the fall term. I bought the two records at Gerry Dodd’s shop in downtown Grand Rapids.
After I scored an A in music appreciation in the winter term of 1968, roommate Bruce Obits told me he needed a course in fine arts and I said I’d help him pass the class. At one point, I played him that second movement, “Goin’ Home,” from the “New World.” He was so moved that he asked me if he could take it home to play it for his mother. When he returned, he said she asked him if he would have it played at her funeral.
But the roles were reversed five years later. Bruce Obits died of Hodgkins Disease, a cancer of the lymph system in November 1973. It broke my heart at his funeral when the minister put on the second movement of the New World Symphony and declared to those in attendance, “Yes, friends, Bruce is goin’ home.”
The story took an unusual twist in 1981 when I was diagnosed with Hodgkins Disease, prompting me to cry out to the doctor that I had lost a good friend and roommate to that cancer. He and my oncologist, native Nigerian Dr. David O. Bankole vowed that I would not suffer the same ultimate fate.
Indeed, I’m still here more than 37 years later. But I admit I feel guilty that Bruce didn’t make it and I was spared. And I really hope that age 25 he really was “Goin’ Home.”
We are all blessed in that you are still here, my dear friend. I will always cherish the first time you played for me “The Moldau” just as I cherish our friendship over these many years.
Music can have a very profound effect…it is stronger than most can grasp. It has a message that only the listener can understand and the message may not be the same to all.
Music appreciation should be a requirement in schools…but that will never happen….excuse my rant, but this old musician/ educator feels there is a real need for music to be apart of everyone’s life
I clicked because I thought perhaps it would celebrate “Goin’ Home by The Rolling Stones on the Aftermath album. A fine piece of rock music . It was good to remember Obits. I hope his widow and son are doing well. Bruce was a good guy. I’m glad you survived, and wish Obits would have had the same outcome.
David, I loved this piece of writing for a few reasons. First, it was a beautiful tribute to a friend. Second, it spoke to our reactions to grief and personal survival. Third, it waxed poetic about the power of music on the human soul. Fourth, I was able to “participate” in Ginny White’s service knowing her and how she loved that hymn. Fifth, you have opened my eyes to another classical music experience I need to explore (because I’m terribly wanting in that area). Finally, it produced Harry Smit’s response about the need for music education in our schools. He’s right on the money. So many aspects of music education add value to other disciplines, like math, language arts, psychology, and personal serenity. You brought tears to my eyes and hope to my heart. Thanks, deeply.
Aw shucks, Ma’am