This song appears on three albums, and was first released on the Take Me To Tomorrow? album, and on the Changes album. It has also been released on the An Evening With John Denver album as a live version.


Oh lay me down in Forest Lawn in a silver casket
Put golden flowers over my head in a silver basket
Let the drum and bugle corp play taps while the cannons roar
And sixteen libertied 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 and a last salute they'll drop across 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 pale
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 passed

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
Forest's lightly higher fee
Oh take me when I'm gone to Forest Lawn

Amen

Words and music by Tom Paxton