This is a song about how fragile life can be. I wrote it shortly after September 11th, 2001, which explains the last verse and the reference to the towers tumbling to the ground. The other verses tell about the day my mother died many years ago. The chorus came about as a memory as a kid of being stuck on a playground merry-go-round, and just "hanging on for dear sweet life" while other kids kept it spinning faster and faster. Many times my life has felt like that, and I think if I can just hang on long enough it will get better.
Click the link below to hear the song.
The one thing I remember of that clear blue autumn day
I�d been walking on the hilltop where the dead had come to rest
The irony came later as I laid down to sleep
I�m holding on the handle, spinning on and on
The night my mother left us, I was barely twenty-five
The one thing I remember of that clear September day Copyright 2002 David Elon Preston
Was how my world seemed so at peace from where I stood
As I looked down at the village where I had come to stay
My life was turning out just the way it should
The leaves were falling gently on their graves
Deep in contemplation, I stood there as their guest
It�s as clear as if it happened yesterday
When my father called to tell me she was gone
I laid there softly shaking, too stunned to even weep
How was I to ever carry on
Hanging on for dear, sweet life. One slip and I�ll be gone
Life is but a candle, in a gust its blown away
Let them know you love them every day
Much has passed along the wayside since that time
I�ve seen life turn into tragedy in the blinking of an eye
I�m just thankful for chance to be alive
As I watched the towers tumble to the ground
Was thinking life is like a flower, here then gone away
In a gust of wind its petals Heaven bound
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