Expert: Stephanie Reynolds - 1/18/2004

Question
I was wondering who the people are in "Gravedigger" off of Dave's solo album.  Does he have any special relation to any of them?  What do the dates mean? Are they in relation to anything as well?

Answer
Gravedigger, is about the one thing that unites every person on Earth: death. No matter of race, religion or point of view one day we will "all fall down." Dave Matthews has certainly dealt alot with death in his life (father, sister, childhood friends) and I believe that he had alot of curiousity about it. He's admitted in interviews that he was/is contemplative of suicide. I mean, who hasn't at least thought about it? The concept of the gravedigger, the man that is with you at the end of your life....at the end of all of our lives is the one thing that brings us all together. We're all mortal. We're all the same people. We all die.

Gravedigger takes 4 people (Cyrus Jones, Muriel Stonewall, Mikey Carson, Mr. Vertigo) from completely different walks of life and times. The one thing that brings them all together is the Gravedigger.

There are the usual Dave aspects of living life to it's fullest in there. The want to still be able to FEEL THE RAIN even after death to me is the unwillingness to die. To live life as much as you possibly can. Life is short, but sweet for certain.

So I suppose in summation, I believe that Gravedigger is a very haunting and beautifully written message....LIVE! Dave said that a friend of his once told him "your death is set the minute you're born. It's the only thing for certain. Why rush towards it? You might as well stick around if anything for curiousities sake."

Hope this helps!