When I don't feel like wasting time trying to figure out how to express myself to others, I simply pick up my guitar, flip on the recorder, take a swig of Scotch Whiskey, and without having to wait too long, out comes a song, which has been waiting to be written and sung.
Thank God for guitars and scotch!
It's one of my curiosities in life. How can some people sit down one day and out of nowhere, create songs and music that others enjoy?
It has become obvious to me, that the listeners and the creators, while on the same wave link when the finished product is presented to the listening audience, the listeners don't understand the process, and the creators can't explain how it happens, "It just came to me, I wrote it down, put instrumentation behind it, and here's the song I wrote."
And yet, somehow, that's about the only explanation a creative song writer can come up with. Perhaps life's experiences play a huge role in it, but today, after creating hundreds of songs, I have no idea where they came from, but one day I picked up my guitar, turned on my recorder, took a gulp of my scotch whiskey, lit a cigarette and put it in the ashtray betweeen puffs, and 3 to 5 mintues later, I had managed to create a new song.
It still happens, almost everytime I sit down with or without an audience in front of me.
There it is, a song!
The Nashville Session 1978
Wow, what an opportunity I was given to record the songs I had written and to meet the Stars of Country Music who I admired so much, many of whom I had previously sang their songs.
Anyway, here are brief segments of my copyrighted recordings, now appearing on the internet for the first time.
I'll ask you to listen to the words I wrote at a very unique time in my life.
Each of these songs took about 3 minutes to write and I cannot even begin to understand where the words came from.
Somehow, they were inside me, just waiting to be set “Free”.
In 1978 I did my first recording session of several of the songs I had written at Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner’s Fireside Studio in Nashville.
The session was mixed and directed by Little David Wilkins.
The musicians backing me up, were Little David's Band, Elvis's Piano Player (before Elvis’s death), Charley Pride's Steel Player.
My only audience in the closed session, was one lovely lady who just happened to be married to the great singer/song writer Townes Van Zandt, who was an extraordinary singer/song writer during his life, and after his death, became a musical icon throughout the world.
Song # 1 - Ain't No Hunger - I wrote this from observations I had made at the time of the writing. The 70's were a times of not only "free" love, but also "lots of love". Relationships seemed to ignite, burst into flame, and the sizzle as the fire burned out. I suppose, it might have been confusing to many. And that's what I evidently tried to say in this song.
Copyright 1984
Song # 2 - Honk Tonk Heroes (The Best Two Damn Honky Tonk Heroes) - I wrote for Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson to sing. At that time I sounded a great deal like Waylon Jennings and I did all his songs when I played in front of an audience. Waylon & Willie turned the traditional Country and Western Music Industry upside down, as they played their Outlaw Country Music. I had started to sing Waylon Jennings songs 10 years earlier, in PhuBai, Vietnam, after watching a movie called Nashville Rebel starring him.
Copyright 1984
Song # 3 - Old Cowboys (He Ain't Going No Where - I wrote this about the father of my friend, A. K. Morgan. Mr. Morgan ran the Phelp's Ranch, which in the 70's, covered 23,000 acres, now known as Highlands Ranch and Lone Tree. Every Sunday afternoon, with the permission of Mr. Morgan, I was allowed to attend Polo matches on the Ranch. A.K. and other exceptional horsemen were the performers in a spectacular sport performance. A.K. and Ray Rose were both professional cowboys and horse shoers, and A.K.'s father was one of a dying breed of Gentlemen Rancher/Cowboys. When I wrote the words "Old Cowboys Never Win, But They Ride Anyway", it was about men, A.K., Ray, and Mr. Morgan, who took pride in and Simply Lived Their Lives the right way, with pride and conviction. Mrs. Morgan still lives next to the mansion.
Copyright 1979
Song # 4 - Moonlight and Roses - It would be impossible to describe the "electricity" of the un-harnessed emotions, expectations, and eventual total fulfillment of the audience attending the next to the last Elvis concert I attended at the Elvis Concert in Dallas just prior to his death. It was the most exciting event of my life. I wrote Moonlight and Roses for Elvis to Sing to Pricilla and when you listen to the words, you'll hear the story of a man seeking a "real and unconditional relationship" and he eventually finds someone who brings that foundation into his life.
Copyright 1984
Song # 5 - Breaking My Mind (You Been Breaking My Mind) - "You been breaking my mind, tearing me to pieces, throwing it all away". Once again, the turbulance of the 70's comes to play. We had it all, but would walk away from the good and the bad, without hesitation. Interesting.
Copyright 1984
The Denver Session 1983
It was one of those spur of the moment times, when you set procrastination behind and decide to "Just Do It".
I had completed writing a number of songs and had wanted to get them recorded in studio.
Fortunately I had several friends who had never been in a recording studio before, and they were willing to give up their time and music talent, in exchange for the opportunity to create a product.
So off we went to American Recording Studio in Denver and in just a few hours had laid down some very good tracks.
And two of the performers were still in their mid-teens, both had just started becoming experts in the instruments they had chosen.
Song # 6 - My Low Down Ways - This doesn't require a lot of ananlysis. It's as old as men and women. In this story, the woman simply doesn't understand the ways of the "Wild One" she was seeing. "That woman, she don't understand my low down ways". You sort of get the impression, the man is sort of proud of not giving into the situation, but he's not really sure it's the right way to be.
Copyright 1984
Song # 7 - I Could Fly (Every Now And Then) - I wrote this for Dolly Pardon to sing. The chorus, "Every now and then, I get a feeling I can fly", bring visions of people overcoming, at least temporily, overcoming all obstacles in their way. I like the song.
Copyright 1984
Song # 8 - In Retrospect (That Long Hard Travelings Gonna Get To You) - I wrote this about my life until that point in time. I had grown up, graduated from High School and College with a learning disability that prohibited me from reading and recalling what I had just read, become a Marine Officer, become a Combat Veteran in Vietnam, had achieved a reasonable amount of financial success in Corporate America, had hung out and played with movie stars and leading music entertainers, and was at that time in my life, had to ask, "How can I achieve more than I've already achieved?".
And so I sat down and wrote this song.
Copyright 1984
Song # 9 - Sometimes They Last (Sometimes The Feeling Last And Sometimes They Don't) - One of my favorite songs. "Sometimes the feeling last and sometimes they don't". Wow. I'm not sure where it could have come from, other than observation of other's lives. I was single, never married, and these words flowed out, evidently based upon observations of others I had known in life, some making their relationships or marriages work, and some not. To me, it is a metamorphosis in the relationships we have in our lives. Sometimes relationships work, and sometimes they simply don't.
Copyright 1984
Song # 10 - Woman You Got Me Drinking - I can't remember exactly why I wrote this or when, but it appears that it was at a time when I was looking for an excuse to drink. Whatever prompted the song, I got over it and I'm proud to say, I no longer need an excuse to drink. Anyway, not a bad song.
Copyright 1984
Song # 11 - The Feelings Grow (Like a flame that never dies) - This is one of my favorite songs. How words like that could come of my mind when I was writing a song, I have no idea, and I would never be able to emulate the gentleness of them with using music as my medium. It really fascinates me.
Copyright 1984
Song # 12 - Hold Me Tight - This song is about two people who just happen to meet, the time is right, and they decide to enjoy the moment. "When two lonely people chance to meet", is sometimes justification to live in the moment. I like this song.
Copyright 1984
Song # 13 - I'll Never Know What Makes A Man - Time and time again, I've seen people make decisions that are not, at least in my opinion at the the time, good for them. This song is about the nomadic philosophy and need to remain free from ties and relationships with others. It's simply life, but as I listen to to the words, once again, I surprised at the thoughts that rolled so freely as I wrote some 300 songs, most of them still incomplete, but it has arrosed my curiosity to once again look at the partials and complete them.