Tom Paxton › Lyrics › Forest Lawn

Oh, lay me down in Forest Lawn
In a silver casket
With golden flowers over my head
In a silver basket

Let the drum and bugle corp play taps
While cannons roar
Sixteen liveried employees sell souvenirs
From the funeral store

I want to go simply when I go
They'll give me a simple funeral there I know
With a casket lined in fleece
And fireworks spelling out 'Rest In Peace'
Oh, take me when I'm gone to Forest Lawn

Oh, lay me down in Forest Lawn
They understand there
They have a heavenly choir
And a military band there

Just put me in their care
I'll find my comfort there
With sixteen planes in a last salute
They'll drop a cross in a parachute

I want to go simply when I go
They'll give me a simple funeral there I know
With a hundred strolling strings
And topless dancers with golden wings
Oh, take me when I'm gone to Forest Lawn

Oh, come, come, come, come
Come to the church in the wild wood
Kindly leave a contribution in the pail
Be as simple and as trusting as a child would
And we'll sell you the church in the dale

To find a simple resting place
Is my desire
To lay me down with a smiling face
Comes a little bit higher

My likeness cast in brass
Will stand in plastic grass
While hidden weights and springs
Tip it's hat to the mourners filing past

I want to go simply when I go
They'll give me a simple funeral there I know
I'll lie beneath the sand
With piped in tapes of Billy Graham
Oh, take me when I'm gone to Forest Lawn

Rock of Ages, cleft for me
For a slightly higher fee
Oh, take me when I'm gone to Forest Lawn