That Old Monarch Guitar (For Tucker McMullen)
This is a song honoring my late brother, Tucker McMullen. I began writing it on September 4, 2020, the day that Tucker passed. The bridge of the song was added for his memorial held at Rio Nido Roadhouse in July of 2021. The song is both autobiographical (me) and biographical (Tucker). It is a song of praise, a song of love, and a song of loss. We love you, Brother, and miss you every single day.
An interesting detail: the visual performance is from that Memorial in Rio Nido, CA. However, the sound was quite noisy during the recording of the performance (both the restaurant and the pool were open to the public). Therefore, the audio of the song is a performance that I recorded in my living room right after adding the bridge to the song.
At first, I was just going to do a slide show of photos of Tucker, but after about two minutes into the song, I wanted to use a clip of me playing, and I found that it synched up surprisingly well. I slowed the video down in a couple of places to have the mouth sync better, and the live performance repeated the chorus after the second verse, which this earlier recording did not. So, here it is, a video/audio mashup of "That Old Monarch Guitar."
That Old Monarch Guitar
There's a certain subtle sadness that slips in almost unnoticed;
Reminding us of what we've lost, and how much it hurts to care.
But there, within that sorrow, beam those oft forgotten moments
Bearing scenes of joy and wonder that we had a chance to share.
You are my brother... You are my friend
You are the spell spun from your fingers
As they danced upon the strings
You are my hero...You are my heartbreak
You are the singing in my soul that has no end
You were twelve and I was fifteen when we got that first guitar,
A little Monarch with a body hard as steel.
I was mesmerized by lyrics while you captured melodies
And we shared how fine those steel strings made us feel
At first you rarely sang at all as you spoke through your guitar
Though the harmonies were swelling in your heart
After years there in the shadows your marvelous voice came through
Lending ever deeper layers to your art
You are my brother... You are my friend
You are the spell spun from your fingers
As they danced upon the strings
You are my hero...You are my heartbreak
You are the singing in my soul that has no end
From a duo to a trio to big bands and back again
You played your licks and made the sound your own
The flow from heart to mind to hands
Was yours and yours alone
So, it seems so wrong to realize that final spark has flown
Bridge:
We're giving thanks for all you gave
To this family of friends
For your laughter and the twinkle in your smile...
When you'd raise your voice to sing
And you made that guitar ring...
Much too soon we've had to share this sad goodbye
There's a certain subtle sadness that slips in almost unnoticed;
Reminding us of what we've lost, and how much it hurts to care.
But there, within that sorrow, beam those oft forgotten moments
Bearing scenes of joy and wonder that we had a chance to share.
You are my brother...You are my friend
You are the spell spun from your fingers
As they danced upon the strings
You are my hero...You are my heartache
You are the singing in my soul that has no end
©2021 Tim McMullen
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