George Michael
The Grave
George Michael @ MTV studios
George Michael has recorded a cover of Don McLean’s famous anti-war song ‘The Grave’ which aired across MTV Europe on March 3, 2003 in a hard-hitting personal statement about the issue of war. The performance did take place at MTV studios on 1st March.
Prior to that on 28th February he performed The Grave on the V Graham Norton show.
On 6th March another performance brought George back to Top Of The Pops. The last time he was there was together with Andy
when in 1986 The Edge Of Heaven was number one.
McLean penned ‘The Grave’ in 1971 and it was included on the highly acclaimed ‘American Pie’ album. Renowned for its hard-hitting yet haunting verse, the lyrics of ‘The Grave’ remain largely unchanged in George Michael’s version.
Don McLean has released the following statement:
I am proud of George Michael for standing up for life and sanity. I am delighted that he chose a song of mine to express these feelings.
We must remember that the Wizard is really a cowardly old man hiding behind a curtain with a loud microphone.
It takes courage and a song to pull the curtain open and expose him.
Good Luck George-
Don McLean
The Grave: Lyrics
The grave that they dug him had flowers
Gathered from the hillsides in bright summer colors
And the brown earth bleached white
At the edge of his gravestone
He’s gone
When the wars of our nation did beckon
The man, barely twenty, did answer the calling
Proud of the trust
That he placed in our nation
He’s gone
But eternity knows him
And it knows what we’ve done
And the rain fell like pearls
On the leaves of the flowers
Leaving brown, muddy clay
Where the earth had been dry
And deep in the trench
He waited for hours
As he held to his rifle
And prayed not to die
But the silence of night
Was shattered by fire
As the guns and grenades
Blasted sharp through the air
One after another
His comrades were slaughtered
In the morgue of marines
Alone, standing there
He crouched ever lower
Ever lower, with fear
“They can’t let me die
They can’t let me die here!
I’ll cover myself
With the mud and the earth
I’ll cover myself
I know I’m not brave!
The earth, the earth
The earth is my grave.”
The grave that they dug him had flowers
Gathered from the hillsides in bright summer colors
And the brown earth bleached white
At the edge of his gravestone
He’s gone
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