“Copenhagen” by Lucinda Williams

In 2011, this beautifully haunting song, written and sung by the immensely talented Lucinda Williams, appeared on her album, Blessed. Williams wrote “Copenhagen” after the sudden death of her manager, Frank Callari. In Lucinda Williams’ own words, “We were in Copenhagen when we heard of his death. The song is very literal. I’m proud of that one, lyrically. It was snowing a little bit and we had the night off and found out about it. Tom and I and our tour manager at the time walked down the street from the hotel and went to a bar and I ended up talking to these people all night, drinking and crying and trying to deal with the suddenness of it.”

The vivid lyrics uttered from Williams’ seductively raspy voice create a comforting feeling for the listener of someone familiar with how challenging grief can be, regardless of how old you might be.

The vivid lyrics uttered from Williams’ seductively raspy voice create a comforting feeling for the listener of someone familiar with how challenging grief can be, regardless of how old you might be. After describing how the “thundering news hits me like a snowball
struck in my face and shattering,” Williams acknowledges how grief and loss know no age boundaries, admitting, “And I’m 57 but I could be 7 years old,/Cos’ I will never be able/to comprehend the expansiveness/of what I’ve just learned.”

Credit: sandiegotroubadour.com

“Copenhagen” continues with a chorus that demonstrates how Williams is struggling to come to grips with the finality of death and the absence of a manager and good friend whom she deeply cared about. The repetitive nature of  the line, “But you, have disappeared/You have been released/You are flecks of light/You are missed/Somewhere, spinning round the sun/Circling the moon/Traveling through time/You are missed” shows that she is both trying to convince the loved one who has died that he is far from forgotten by those who cared for him as well as explaining to herself, in a way, where he might be now that he is no longer physically present.

The honesty and raw emotion from the severity of grief over the loss of someone you loved deeply that is expressed in this song make it a perfect choice to be played at a memorial service.

The honesty and raw emotion from the severity of grief over the loss of someone you loved deeply that is expressed in this song make it a perfect choice to be played at a memorial service. A service is often a collective gathering of loved ones in mourning, and listening to this song allows for a kind of shared reflection on the permanent, physical absence of a loved one; one can reflect on the grief associated with a loss that will somehow linger on eternally, in some form or another.

Thundering news hits me like a snowball
struck in my face and shattering
Covering me in a fine powder and mist
and mixing in with my tears

And I’m 57 but I could be 7 years old,
Cos’ I will never be able
to comprehend the expansiveness
of what I’ve just learned…

Read the rest of the lyrics here.