Man, 96, Enters Song Contest To Pay Tribute To Love Of His Life

[Family Ties Forever!]

Aw, so sweet.

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Man, 96, Enters Song Contest To Pay Tribute To Love Of His Life
Kurt SchlosserTODAY
11 hours ago

video

In perhaps the greatest possible contrast to the dominant story of the day (Sunday night's MTV VMAs), we've come across a video which will restore your faith in the beauty and power of music.

Fred Stobaugh, a 96-year-old man from East Peoria, Ill., entered a song-writing contest held by the town's Green Shoe Studio earlier this summer. Fred's entry was unique, in that this was an online contest. He read about it in a newspaper and mailed his submission the old fashioned way, in a large manila envelope. Inside was a love story in the form of a simple song, a tribute to his recently deceased wife, Lorraine, with whom he'd spent 75 years.

In a video on YouTube, Green Shoe, through interviews with Fred and producer Jacob Colgan, shares the very touching story of how the studio decided to turn Fred's written lyrics — for a song called "Sweet Lorraine" — into a professionally played and produced piece of music. Fred's entry made the point of noting his age and that he had written a song for his wife — the woman he fell in love with at an A&W stand in 1938. He said he was not a musician, and that he was not actually a very good singer. He also noted that Lorraine had passed away a month earlier.

The contents of the package and the lyrics Fred put to paper were enough to hook Colgan. "Listening to the lyrics and the passion behind the lyrics, and the letter he sent us. It was just so heartwarming," Colgan says in the video.

"After she passed away, I was just setting in the front room one evening by myself," Fred says of when he wrote the song. "It just come right to me almost, I just kept humming it ... it seemed like it just fit her." The 9-minute video builds slowly. A gentle acoustic guitar plays beneath Fred telling his story and Colgan describing events from his end. Midway through, Colgan is shown working on the professional version of the song. He says he's been a singer-songwriter for years, but admits he hadn't previously been so nervous delivering finished music to someone.

And at the 6-minute mark, as Fred puts on headphones, we get to hear "Oh Sweet Lorraine" along with him for the first time. It's here in the video, with vintage photographs of Lorraine and Fred playing across the screen, that the tears begin to flow. And judging by the many comments on the YouTube page, we weren't alone:

"Tears still running down my face ... touched my? heart!!" wrote Daphne Hollingsworth.
"What a very special man you are Fred. I am certain that Lorraine is smiling down on you. The love you two shared is what we all wish we could be blessed with," said 66Negrita.
"I'm 70 years old as a man who is not normally prone to crying — but I must unashamedly admit this? brought tears to my eyes. God bless you Fred," said alanaid1.

In a story on the Green Shoe website, Fred says, "The song really helps me. It really helps me. It just seemed like she's just sort of with me. Which I know she's smiling, she's smiling down and she likes that song, I know."

[ponytail]

Nothing like starting the day with a good cry. That was beautiful!

[Janice]

Wow, that's really something. I watched it alone, cried like a fool. Then played it for my husband; cried harder the second time. God bless Fred. I hope the memories of his sweet Lorraine keep him strong.

[JamesG]

'Oh Sweet Lorraine': A 96-year-old man's love song for his late wife jumps into the iTunes Top 10
by Grady Smith
Aug 28, 2013


Take a quick look at the Top 10 songs on iTunes today, and you’ll see all the usual suspects: Robin Thicke, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Eminem.

But take a second look, and you may notice a short little lullaby called 'Oh Sweet Lorraine' that’s currently the ninth most downloaded song in the country. Where’d it come from?

Well, from an unlikely source: Fred Stobaugh, a 96-year-old Illinois man with no previous musical experience, who lost his wife of 73 years, Lorraine, in April. On a whim, the widower entered a songwriting contest that he saw advertised in a local paper with a love song he’d written for his bride.





Green Shoe Studio, the company running the contest, couldn’t accept his handwritten entry (the competition was digital-only), but they were so touched by his story that they decided to produce his song — and a short documentary about it — anyway.

That video, which was posted in July, recently went viral, and the exposure has sent 'Oh Sweet Lorraine' soaring up the charts.



“She was just the prettiest girl I ever saw,” Fred says of meeting Lorraine in 1938. “Real timid-like. I just fell in love with her right there.”

The couple married in 1940 and had three children and four grandchildren. They would have celebrated their 73rd anniversary in June. “After she passed away, I was just sitting in the front room one evening by myself, and it just came right to me,” he says of his song. “I just kept humming it and singing it. That’s how I came to write it. It just fit her.”





The resulting song is simple, but that’s the beauty of it. “Oh sweet Lorraine,” the chorus begins, “I wish we could do all the good times over again.”

The song continues, “Life only goes around once, but never again.” It’s heartbreaking, it’s beautiful, and it will make you cry.

http://music-mix.ew.com/2013/08/28/o...ine-love-song/

[Family Ties Forever!]

I think that's great that his song went viral. It was so sweet of him to write it for his late wife.

[MacLeaper]

What a sweet story. Thanks for sharing. It's so great to see a picture of love that lasts a lifetime and beyond- that's what God made it to be. May God bless Fred and comfort him in the loss of his wife.

[IllinoisTVFan]

I saw this on another site and it made me bawl. It reminded me a lot of my grandparents who were together 67 years until my grandmother passed.

[catlover79]

That is one of the most romantic things I have ever heard. How sweet. God bless him.