June 23, 2023 (Song #2001): “Hard To Say I’m Sorry” written by bassist Peter Cetera, who also sang the lead vocals on the track, and producer David Foster and recorded by the band Chicago. Happy Birthday to Chrissy Brennan, Jen Purdy, Brianne Chasanoff and Ann Mueller. xoxoxoxo LYRICS & SONGFACTS APPLE MUSIC SPOTIFY

T-41* brings me to 1982 and one of the saddest days of my life (sorry to be a downer), but it also opened a door on something that has sort-of become my special party trick, so to speak: you’ve heard of “The Wedding Singer”? Well, I’m “The Funeral Singer”.

In the summer of 1982, people in our town endured several horrible teenage deaths within just a few days of each other.  It was a super sad time for all of us and, if you don’t want to read about it, I suggest you skip today’s story.

At first, I couldn’t figure out what was going on when the yellow phone rang while I was still in bed. It was my friend Tommy McMahon’s sister, Ann Marie.  We’d spent the entire day before at the McMahon’s house, hanging out in Tommy’s bedroom (where I heard today’s SOTD), and she’d meant to ask me, but she’d forgotten, which is why she was calling now, a few hours before the actual funeral: “Will you sing in Tommy’s funeral today?”

I remember thinking: “This is not something you can say ‘no’ to.” and saying “Of course, which song would you like?”.  She said that he and Sharon, his girlfriend, loved the song “Yesterday”.  “Of course, of course, no problem,” I said, even though I’d never played the song before.  I quickly got out of bed, dressed without showering, grabbed my guitar and ran down to the living room to the Great Songs of the Sixties songbook to learn the chords. When my friends came to pick me up for the funeral, they were aghast to see me standing in the door with my guitar. “What are you doing with that??” and, then, speechless as we made our way to Assumption Church on Riverside Avenue.  Our friends all filed slowly into the church and someone led me to the choir loft – by myself.  I could see all my friends and half the town filling the aisles and seats (Tommy was a very popular football player from a well-loved Westport family).  When it was time for me to sing, I remember singing the first few words, but then nothing else; I blacked out.  Afterwards, as I came down the narrow stairs from the choir loft, I grabbed a friend’s arm and said: “Did I do okay?” and she patted my arm and said: “You did fine…”  I thought: “No, no, no, I’m not asking if I was good, I’m asking if I actually sang the whole song.”  To this day, I still don’t know.

P.S. I’ve never posted “Yesterday” as a SOTD, mostly because it’s too sad for me.  I chose today’s SOTD instead, because it reminds me of that time more than any other song and there’s a sweetness that makes me grateful for friends, even if their time with us is too short.