Millions of people tuned in to watch the funeral of former President George H.W. Bush this past week. One of the most touching moments of the funeral came when the Oak Ridge Boys performed a powerful rendition of “Amazing Grace.” The band first met Bush back in 1983 during his time as the vice president after President Ronald Reagan invited the band to sing at a White House barbecue.
“The vice president comes tearing across the White House lawn,” said band member Joe Bonsall. “Here comes George Bush running towards us, saying, ‘I can’t make it tonight, but I’m a huge country fan, I’m a big Oak fan. Will you sing some of your songs?'”
The band started singing their hit songs for Bush as he named off the tunes he wanted to hear.
“He started listing album cuts, so he wasn’t kidding,” Bonsall said. “We were just blown away that the vice president knew our music.”
They had promised Bush years ago that they would sing at his funeral, and they kept this promise on Thursday. They have many fond memories of Bush, including the time when he took them behind the Oval Office to reveal a stereo set blasting their songs, Bonsall said.
“He said, ‘Fellas, come here, I’ve got to show you something,’ ” Bonsall jokingly recalled. “I said, this is the leader of the free world, how he can hear anything with us blowing out of that speaker set? We’re singing (our song) ‘Dig a Little Deeper in the Well, Boys’ pumped up to 11, and he has the red phone right there, and I’m thinking, ‘If that thing rings, he’s not going to hear it.'”
The band said that they felt honored to perform for Bush one last time.
“Singing ‘Amazing Grace’ with our great friend laying there in the coffin in front of you, it really brought it home for us that he’s actually gone,” Bonsall said. “It was one of the greatest things that we’ve ever had the honor of doing. To say goodbye to him not only as a president and a world leader and a diplomat — it was saying goodbye to a friend.”
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