Grave Digger

The group Cantus took myself on a journey one day when I heard their song Gravedigger. The parts flow so well together and the meaning behind the song is so dark and mysterious that it captivates you. I'm about of a new octet group at our school and when we first heard it, the song seemed a little weird and a little boring, but after listening to the words and actually hearing the different harmonies we all feel in love with it. The first song of our new group is about the death of the lives before us. Isn't that a little ironic?

Gravedigger was written by the lead singer of the a cappella group Cantus because of the loss of a loved one close to him and now shares his message and feelings with the rest of the world. The song starts off singing about a man named Cyrus Jones. He lived from 1810-1913 and made his grand-kids believe that 103 years was forever in the world of life. Later the song is sung about a woman named Muriel Stonewall and how she had to watch her kids be buried due to World War II. Finally a sings about little Mikey Carson who only lived for eight years. Now how do these people connect to each other? They all were about of this world and are now gone and no one knew of them. They are everyday people who lived everyday lives and each died at different points of their lives. So why was this song written I bet you are wondering? Well the purpose of this song is to explain that each live matters and even when death unleashes its vale that the impact of a person is still thought about. This song goes through three completely different stories and is able to convey the same message. The reason why I think this song has connected with me in an emotional way is because I don't feel that people appreciate how valuable life is until it's gone. The lyrics spoke to me in a way that most songs don't because of how dark they were, but they speak of an inevitable truth. All people will eventually pass and the road is different for everyone, but the impact each person leaves is immense.

I can't wait to perform this song with my octet and hopefully portray the message to people in a way that changes how they view music, and maybe even about their lives. "Grave digger, when you dig my grave, can you make it shallow so that I can feel the rain."