Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris enlisted the help of her friend and fellow songwriter Guy Clark to compose this elegy to her father, who passed away in 1993.
Clark performed the song live at the ceremony for Harris' induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2008.
[Verse 1]
I meant to ask you how to fix that car
I always meant to ask you about the war
And what you saw across a bridge too far
Did it leave a scar?
Or how you navigated wings of fire and steel
Up where heaven had no more secrets to conceal
And still you found the ground beneath your wheels
How did it feel?
[Chorus]
Bang the drum slowly, play the pipe lowly
To dust be returning, from dust we begin
Bang the drum slowly I'll speak of things holy
Above and below me, a world without end
[Verse 2]
I meant to ask you how when everything seemed lost
Your fate was in a game of dice they tossed
There was still that line that you would never cross
At any cost
I meant to ask you how you lived what you believed
With nothing but your heart up your sleeve
And if you ever really were deceived
By the likes of me
[Chorus]
Bang the drum slowly, play the pipe lowly
To dust be returning, from dust we begin
Bang the drum slowly I'll speak of things holy
Above and below me, a world without end
[Verse 3]
Gone now is the day and gone the sun
There is peace tonight all over Arlington
But the song of my life will still be sung
By the light of the moon you hung
I meant to ask you how to plow that field
I meant to bring you water from the well
And be the one beside you when you fell
Could you tell?
[Chorus]
Bang the drum slowly, play the pipe lowly
To dust be returning, from dust we begin
Bang the drum slowly I'll speak of things holy
Above and below me, a world without end
Bang The Drum Slowly was written by Guy Clark & Emmylou Harris.
Bang The Drum Slowly was produced by Malcolm Burn.