Oh, My Father - Emerson, Lake & Palmer (1971)

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"Oh, My Father" was recorded in 1971 and though not originally included on the album, was released as a bonus track on Emerson, Lake & Palmer's second studio album, Tarkus. I think this is a really beautiful song and I've had some of this video sitting around for years and each year I hoped to finish it on my dad's birthday or for Father's Day. Here it is for my dad and for all the dad's who have left us and with things left unsaid.... on Father's Day 2020. Remastered FLAC Audio!

Greg Lake discusses the song in an interview with Goldmine Magazine:
GM: Until you needed CD bonus tracks! For example, “Oh, My Father,” among the “Tarkus” extras ... what a beautiful song!

GL: That’s very kind of you, although I have to say, it was never actually meant to be released. It was never even a proper record. I made it right after my Dad died ... and I made it out of grief, really, this sense of not having said what I could have and should have said before he passed away, and then being faced with the reality that it had happened and there was no going back.

I never intended for it to be a record for release at all, and in fact the song as you hear it is completely unfinished. It’s just an idea I wanted to get out of my system, and I never went back to it because I never wanted to. I purged my system of that moment of grief. I documented it and it was a done thing. I’d said what I needed to. I didn’t want to sell it, I didn’t want people to hear it, it’s a very personal thing.

GM: Why did you agree to it coming out now?

GL: They wanted new material, they wanted something that was ... that people hadn’t heard, I suppose. It’s been such a long time, and they pleaded ... and to be honest with you, over the years, certain people have heard it and they loved it. “Oh, you should release that, Greg,” and in the end I thought, “Oh, why not?”

[Lyrics]
Oh, my father, I feel so sad
As I stand upon your grave
I weep for the things that you never had
And the past that you never paved
I'm crying for the things that I never said
And all the love that I never showed
For my heart is as deep as the ocean's bed
And it took a stone before my love freely flowed
While my body is young
And my eyes are old
With the wisdom
Of a loved one's death
But all my suffering
And sorrow will turn to gold
Which I'll treasure with every breath
It's a bitter lesson that I have learned
Seems a shame it was too late for you
But the love between us will always be interred
In a place in my heart built for you