Being a huge Natalie Merchant fan I was probably aware of her song “Beloved Wife” from her solo debut album, Tigerlily, but I didn’t really connect with it until a couple years ago when the confluence of Donna’s ALS, our fast approaching 50th wedding anniversary and Radio Paradise added it to their rotation brought it to the forefront.
If I was going to have an actual service for Donna this would have been the only song that I would have had played at it. Of course, Donna died a few days short of our 48th wedding anniversary, but this tune would still be a perfect fit because we knew each other a couple of years before we tied the knot.
On a side note, there was another song that was an attention getter for me in Radio Paradise’s mellow mix rotation for the last year or so called Harmony Hall by the group Vampire Weekend. Probably wouldn’t have played it at any service, but there is a line in there that gets repeated about a half a dozen times and it was a little too on point for me, “I don’t wanna live like this, but I don’t wanna die.”