We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Shoot Me in the Head (before you put me in a nursing home)

from All the Way Home by Ben Travis

/

about

I wrote this song while sitting in the nursing home with my dad watching his condition deteriorate. He only had to go into the nursing home at the very end, and he was pretty bad by then. He spent a lot of the last days unconscious. I learned more about the night life of nursing homes than I ever wanted to, and it inspired me to write this song.

lyrics

(verse 1)
A woman pushes her husband down the hall
Outside the door
You won’t see any carpet here
They’ve got concrete floors

You can hear other people’s televisions
And an old man screaming just down the hall
And the funeral home made up a calendar
And now it’s hanging there on the wall

(chorus)
We all want to hold on to life
And hold our own
But shoot me in the head before you
Put me in a nursing home
(verse 2)
Fluorescent lights come on at night
And make our faces pale
And if it had better locks on the doors
You could call it a jail

There’s a cord with a button on the end
But it might be a while till anyone comes
And the man sleeping in the next bed
Wakes up in the middle of the night and hums

(bridge)
Yeah yeah, I can smell the food from here
Yeah yeah, we could be here for years

credits

from All the Way Home, track released June 1, 2004

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Ben Travis image

Ben Travis Nashville, Tennessee

I’m a Nashville-based audio engineer and producer. I work primarily with singer/songwriters and bands with original music to help them create a musical product they can be proud of without paying the prices of major studios.

I'm also an independent artist and songwriter. My music invites listeners to think and ask meaningful questions about the world around them. ... more

contact / help

Contact Ben Travis

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

If you like Ben Travis, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Saxophonist Isaiah Collier chats about his new LP and the influence of Pharoah Sanders.
listen now