The Somberly Unifying Story Behind Dave Matthews’ Song “Gravedigger”

When the Dave Matthews Band rose to prominence in the early 1990s, it was clear that rock and roll and jam bands alike had a star on their hands. The heights that the frontman Dave Matthews would hit were still unclear. But with Grammy wins, millions of records sold, and even more tickets bought, he’s certainly held his own outside of DMB.

In 2003 Matthews decided to go out completely on his own without his DMB bandmates and release the solo album, Some Devil. That record earned him more recognition and another Grammy Award for his performance on the song “Gravedigger.”

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But what is Gravedigger about and what do its historical lyrics mean? Let’s dive in.

Tombstones

Of the song, which artists like Willie Nelson have covered, Matthews has likened it to walking through a graveyard and seeing the headstones of the various people buried throughout. It makes sense given all the people he highlights in the lyrics, from Cyrus Jones to Muriel Stonewall and Mikey Carson.

The people in the song seem to be real. Muriel Stonewall has historical records, and so does Cyrus Jones. And Matthews’ song provides little epitaphs for the real-life characters. He sings,

Cyrus Jones 1810 to 1913
Made his great grandchildren believe
You could live to a hundred and three
A hundred and three is forever when you’re just a little kid
So Cyrus Jones lived forever

Muriel Stonewall
1903 to 1954
She lost both of her babies in the second great war
Now you should never have to watch
As your only children lowered in the ground
I mean you should never have to bury your own babies

Inspiration

The inspiration for the song comes from a conversation Matthews had with a guitar tech, Craig, who like Matthews, lost his father. The passing of a parent affected Matthews as a little kid and hearing his tech talk about it inspired the song. Matthews started to think about the role of a gravedigger, that final figure a body encounters before it’s buried in the ground. And thus the song came.

The chorus of the song is sung by someone imploring that gravedigger to show a little mercy, to let the body be buried closer to the surface so that it can still feel a bit of the rain. Sings Matthews to conclude the song,

Gravedigger
When you dig my grave
Could you make it shallow
So that I can feel the rain

Gravedigger
When you dig my grave
Could you make it shallow
So that I can feel the rain
Feel the rain
I can feel the rain
Gravedigger

Ring Around the Rosy

Matthews quotes the famous nursery rhyme, “Ring Around the Rosy” which has long (though likely erroneously) been associated with plague and death. So, Matthews uses it for effect in this dirge of a song,

Ring around the rosy
Pocket full of posy
Ashes to ashes
We all fall down

Conclusion

In the end, the song and its lyrics are meant to honor people, in general, and a few of them more specifically. It’s meant to highlight how the inevitability of death is something that unifies us.

Photo by Theo Wargo/WireImage