Viewers left 'sobbing' after grandad's 'dying wish' posted on TikTok
19.03.2024 - 08:23
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
An 83-year-old grandad has become a TikTok sensation overnight after penning a song about his final wish.
Joe Deans and his grandson Daniel Astles, 25, turned a poem he wrote about his last wishes into a song and uploaded it to the platform. The viral video has been viewed over 240,000 times, and has received a huge response by people moved by Joe's story.
The song, called Gerry's Ferry, tells how Joe wants his ashes spread on the River Mersey from the Mersey Ferry, as he always loved walks by the river when he lived in Liverpool, reports the Liverpool Echo.
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Songwriter Daniel, who shared the song on TikTok under the name Astlesmusic, said he always knew his grandfather was 'very special', but now 'everybody gets to see it.
The song was written and recorded at Joe's home in Southport, where Joe recently moved from Liverpool to live with his daughter after his wife Maureen passed away last year. Joe and Maureen were married in 1968 and spent 55 years together.
Daniel, who runs songwriting workshops for people with disabilities who want to write songs, has set up a recording studio in the shed. The amazing space has room for a drum kit, a double bass and a piano.
After his lovely wife Maureen passed away, Daniel's grandad Joe started thinking about what he would want his last wishes to be.
Daniel said: "Since my nan died, my grandad has been writing a lot. He wanted to see if I could do something with what he'd written. This was the first poem he'd done where I said, 'No, this is your song here.'".
"I had to convince my grandad to sing on it. It took us about a day to record it and then after he listened to it, it choked him