Grammy-winning Dave Alvin, a solo artist and former member of The Blasters and The Knitters, wrote "The Man In The Bed" about the strength of his father, who suffered from Parkinson's Disease. “Now the nurse over there doesn't know that I ain't some helpless old so-and-so,” he sings. “I could have broken her heart not that long ago.” The heartfelt tribute can be found on his 2004 album, Ashgrove, and
Parkinsong, Volume One: 38 Songs of Hope, which benefitted Parkinson’s research. “We had a moment on the day he died where he was begging me to take him out of the nursing home, and I couldn't do it, you know? And so that's really kind of where the song came from,” Alvin told U.S. public radio network NPR. Buy it here. — K.B.