FAWM: February Album Writing Month 2004

Song #11 Grandpa Louie
Download MP3 Here!

Here is my song for Burr's songwriting challenge. It's about a very personal hero of mine...just this old guy who cared about baseball and hanging out. He was the best. It's how I want to be when I grow old.

The song kind of plods along...I'm thinking I would like to try to do this on a piano and see how it sounds.

Grandpa Louie
Words/Music by Matt Hopper

He would come down with his catcher’s mitt
And a gleam in his eye
White haired Grandpa Louie
“You gonna hit a home run, son?”
Was always his on deck pitch
He’d heckle batters spit on the flowers
He’d be there rain or shine

But one day we found out
Louie wouldn’t be in the dugout for the game that evening
His wife made the call
She said he’d be there if he could so just play ball

He was there for practice something was different
But he just laughed it off
Said not to worry there’s almost no pain
Let’s worry bout the all star game

And the day that we left town
Louie wasn’t on the school bus for the game that evening
His wife made the call
She said he’d be there if he could so just play ball

We had his funeral on the baseball field
Standing in the rain
We marched the bases with sullen faces
Stuck the winning baseball in
his open casket along with a trophy
and a little dirt from the mound

and the day that he left town
Louie told us we each had a gift to call our own
You could say he loved baseball
But you could say he loved each one of us a little more
His wife made the call
She said he’d be there if he could so just play ball
And so we did…