Story Behind The Song

Story Behind "Bridge of Roses" - by Barbara Robinson The story is made up except for the relationship between the mother and dog. My mother and the Chihuahua, Chachi, had a very close relationship the last year of her life when she was dying of cancer and heart failure. He sat with her in her bed 24/7 the last year without leaving her side except to go potty. She was on oxygen and bedridden, so the dog was a huge part of her life. One day, shortly before she died, I ran to the store to get her meds. She was not supposed to get out of bed because she was on oxygen and very weak. She was so weak she could easily fall. When I came back a half hour later, I walked into the living room where her bed was and she was standing up holding 11-pound Chachi in her arms and up against her chest while very slightly dancing to "Can't Help Falling In Love" by Elvis playing on her cassette player. She loved Elvis. I told her she was crazy because she could have fallen or kinked the oxygen hose or caused it to fall out of her nose causing her to suffocate. She just smiled at me and continued dancing with Chachi until the song finished and then I helped her and Chachi back into bed. That image of she and Chachi slightly rocking to that song never left me. She died shortly after. The rest of the song is pure imagination.

Song Description

About losing one's mother and carrying out her last wish.

Lyrics

BRIDGE OF ROSES
(Robinson/Papageorge)

V1
Mother's cancer made her cry in pain
As she rocked her dog and Elvis sang
She reminisced about the good old days
With her and Dad at their favorite place
A Bridge of Roses up the road
Of which she spoke in a voice that broke

CHORUS
How I love
That Bridge of Roses
Where thousands of
Wild blossoms bloom
Throw my ashes in the river
We'll be together
In that perfume

V2
She told me down where the river flows
Was the place where dad kneeled to propose
She had his funeral at the riverside
And placed his ashes there when I was baptized
She wished they'd had so many more days
But somehow, she still could say

CHORUS
How I love
That Bridge of Roses
Where thousands of
Wild blossoms bloom
Throw my ashes in the river
We'll be together
In that perfume

BRIDGE
With her dog right by my side
I took her ashes to the bridge
The rising sun cast a bright pink sky
As it came up over the ridge

END CHORUS
How I love
That Bridge of Roses
Where thousands of
Wild blossoms bloom
Throw my ashes in the river
We'll be together
In that perfume
Throw my ashes in the river
We'll live forever
In that perfume

©Robinson/Papageorge 2019