The Citizen: Rich: Mickey Mantle’s refrain

A few years ago, I asked Roy Clark, backstage at a show, about how he had come to sing that song at the Mick’s goodbye.

“I’ve never been more haunted by a song at someone’s funeral than I was by that,” I remarked. “It was beyond powerful.”

A shadow covered the country music star’s face and he nodded solemnly. “Mickey and I were good buddies,” he explained in a sad tone. “He always talked about that song. One day we were playing golf and he came up and said, ‘When I die, I want you to sing that song at my funeral. That’s my life.’ I shrugged it off. I said, ‘Naw, you don’t want that song.’ He said, ‘Yes, I do. Promise me.’ When he found out how sick he was, he called me up and said, ‘Remember: You promised.’”

For a moment, quietly remembering the intense, regretting words of the song, Roy Clark and I just looked at each other and shook our heads. “I had to do it,” he said softly. “And I guess he was right. It was his life.”

That song with its incredible lyrics is loaded on my iPod and whenever I play it, I am saddened by lines like, “I ran so fast that time and youth at last ran out; I never stopped to think what life was all about,” and the final refrain, “And now the time has come for me to pay for yesterday when I was young.”

It breaks my heart. But I bet it broke Mickey Mantle’s heart even more.

“THAT’S all!...This has been a Gaylord Production from Opryland Studios!”