Home

For Mary's funeral I downloaded some songs that I felt were particularly representative of her and my memory of her. One of these was Love's Old Sweet Song. The version I liked best was by Deanna Durbin. Mom always raved about her, so I downloaded a complete album from her--there was also a beautiful version of the Ave Maria, which Mary loved, on that album. I listened to this often in the first couple of months and it occurred to me that there were two songs on the album about home, which was such a constant theme for Mary toward the end of her life. I can't help but think that Mary, or some guardian angel, led me to those songs. I'll put the lyrics below.

Oh, this is a funny thing--in the song Beneath the Lights of Home there's a line that I heard wrong. The actual line is: Turn the hands of time for me. I thought she was singing: Send the hounds of time for me, which I personally think is much more poetic! In looking for the lyrics, I found that others have often misheard this line. According to the following link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondegreen, many people have thought she was singing: Tell the Huns it's time for me! Apparently, this mishearing of a lyric is called a Mondegreen!

Home Sweet Home

'Mid pleasures and palaces
Though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble,
There's no place like home.
A charm from the skies
Seems to hallow us there,
Which seek thro' the world,
Is ne'er met with elsewhere.
Home, home, sweet sweet home,
There's no place like home,
There's no place like home.

I gaze on the moon
As I tread the drear wild,
And feel that my mother
Now thinks of her child;
As she looks on that moon
From our own cottage door,
Thro' the woodbine whose fragrance
Shall cheer me no more.
Home, home, sweet sweet home,
There's no place like home,
There's no place like home.

An exile from home,
Splendor dazzles in vain,
Oh, give me my lowly
Thatched cottage again;
The birds singing gaily,
That came at my call:
Give me them and that
Peace of mind, dearer than all.
Home, home, sweet sweet home,
There's no place like home,
There's no place like home.

Beneath the Light of Home

I can see the lights of home
Shining brightly o'er the foam;
Beckon to me while I roam
Away from the lights of home.

In that little old sleepy town
Nothing happens after the sun goes down;
Noting but moonbeams roam around
Beneath the lights of home.

Turn the hands of time for me,
Let me live in my memory.
Once again I long to be
Beneath the lights of home.