DESCRIPTION:
This is a song I have been working on about Huntington's Disease (HD). HD is the hereditary brain disorder that took the life of my wife Kathy in 2015. I want to tell it as a story without getting too sciencey. When I include words like genes it sounds like clothing. It is still a little long. It is very roughly the story of Kathy but told by a male (so I could tell the story). Once I do a better recording, I'll create a video with a little more education and some facts on HD overlayed on it.
More info:http://lehndorff.com/music/2016/07/10/the-huntingtons-waltz/
Although I wasn't thinking of it as I wrote it, this would almost be the dialogue spoken by the son in "Inside the O'Briens" the novel about Huntington's written by Lisa Genova. HD is also the disease that took the life of one of my heroes, Woody Guthrie.

The Huntington's Waltz © 2016 Peter Lehndorff, all rights reserved

When my dad got sick I guess I was nine
We walked on eggshells. He was mad all the time
He fell down a lot. Slurred when he talked
Looked like a drunkard. But never touched a drop.

He went to his doctor / He went to a shrink.
Even that med school didn't know what to think.
But no one brought up his family tree.
How his mom and his grandpa had a strange malady.

If I knew then / What I know now
I couldn't change much /of anything /Anyhow.
It was 50/50. Life's a coin toss
When you have to dance the Huntington's Waltz
When you have to dance the Huntington's Waltz

They had him committed back in '83
Some brothers and cousins had the same disease
A ticking time bomb began to go off
Then we all started dancing the Huntington's Waltz.

I did gymnastics for my school team
I was never a star, but pretty good on the rings.

When I turned forty, more or less
The Huntington's caught me. My life was a mess
Cobwebs of proteins / started killing my brain
I pushed you away. Somehow you remain.

If I knew then / What I know now
I couldn't change much /of anything /Anyhow.
It was 50/50. I lost the coin toss
When I had to dance the Huntington's Waltz
When I had to dance the Huntington's Waltz

Damned if you have it. Damned if you don't.
Damned if you're tested. Damned if you won't.
Some Sisters and brothers they have it as well.
Their kids and grandkids, only time will tell.
There's hope for the future? I guess there's a chance.
That the youngest of them won't have to do this dance.
I guess I'm pretty lucky to know how this ends
Thanks for sticking with me I love you, my friend.

If I knew then / What I know now
I Wouldn't change much /of anything /Anyhow.
It was 50/50. I won the coin toss
When you danced with me at the Huntington's Waltz
When you danced with me at the Huntington's Waltz