He captured his father’s stories through recordings

Guy Garvey did something that he believes everyone should do.     

He captured his father’s stories through recordings. And in doing so, he captured the “essence of his father,” he told theguardian.com.  “The recordings I made are not just a    

representation of him. They are an essential part of him – and they are treasured.”

Garvey, 44, is the lead singer of Elbow and a host on BBC Radio 6 Music. He told the  guardian.com that he has made “a fair few recordings in his time,” but the ones he has made of his “dad talking are now the most valuable recordings I own and have ever been involved in making.”

Garvey began recording his father Don’s stories 10 years ago, years before “Don was diagnosed with the cancer that killed him, aged 83,” the Guardian reported. He said, “I wanted to capture his stories – specifically, the ones from his childhood. Those stories were a part of my childhood, and there was a thought at the back of my head that they would be gone unless I recorded them.”

Garvey told the Guardian that he asked his father if he could record his stories. “I said, ‘Dad, do you mind if I record your stories and record you talking?’ And he said: ‘Why? Because you think I’m going to die? ’This was what I was afraid of. I said, ‘No, because I know you’re going to die – but I want to get your stories when you’ve got all your marbles.’ Then I pressed record.”

According to guardian.com, he recorded almost three hours, capturing stories he had heard many times, but he also recorded “stories you only get if you hit record.”

The Stories His Dad Told

Garvey told the newspaper that “with the microphone on, his father was more open to talking about love than usual and sharing his biggest regrets.” But what shocked Garvey was the story about “how scared his grandmother was when she first met a black man,” revealing “social attitudes of his generation.” 

One story that Don told a lot amused Garvey and his family, even if it had a sad ending. In the story, Don tells how he “once saw a Pekingese dog get run over by a bus in Manchester,” but its “posh lady owner,” who was chatting with a friend, didn’t realize her pet had died until she called ‘Come along.'” On the recording of this story, Garvey’s six siblings laugh and say, “No, Dad, not the dead dog story!” while “Garvey insists that his fathers keeps going.”

Garvey is sharing his father’s stories in a Radio 4 documentary, hoping that will encourage others to share their parents’ stories, he told guardian.com. “I understand why people don’t do it, because you’re saying: one day, you’re not going to be here. Who wants to think about that with your parents? There’s a sense it will be a macabre duty.”

Recording his father’s stories wasn’t “a macabre duty” for him. Instead, it brought them closer together, creating “new bonds between them,” he told the Guardian. 

He said he will play the recordings one day for his one-year-old son, Jack, “to get to know his dead grandfather.”

“This is about getting a sense of somebody through their speaking voice, getting a sense of their place in history, their concerns, what they were like to meet and to behold. Just the fact that these recordings have been made means they’re there to come across in the future,” he said in the story.

Let Garvey inspire you

Garvey captured his father’s stories through recordings. He discovered the bonds that connect families through generations.  Read all of his story here.