In
London, Ont. I was having the lousiest day of my life. I
was in a truly foul mood. I sat fuming on a city bus. A mom
& child sat in front of me & the kid turned around.
The kids face & eyes & honest, concerned stare
broke my mood. (Verse 2).
Many years later, in Duncan's Cove, NS, my girlfriend (a
script & prose writer) and I were dog sitting for a
friend. The little house was right on the ocean (Verse 1)
and had a finished side building too. We declared a race to
see who could come up with something first. I stayed in the
house and programmed the entire song on my synth., wrote
the words almost exactly as they are now, and finished the
tune, with time to cook supper. (She did really well too.
The story she worked on become a film that won five
international awards.)
I went into a studio with a female vocalist (Liz Rigney,
now a well known television host/reporter) and cut a demo.
With the fresh cassette dub, I visited my folks and played
it for them in their car. They had paid for the synth so I
thought it fitting that the first decent song I made with
it should be played for them. In fact, it was the first
time I had ever played them anything I had written. It
sounded great in the car as we sat there. The folks'
reaction was "Oh, well, umm. That nice dear. Should we go
on inside the apartment now?" I don't know what reaction I
expected, but know I didn't get what I was hoping for. So,
it was years before I played them anything again.
Sean
Kirby transposed the song to guitar and into the key of C.
He did a great version of it on his CD called Trust. He
taught me his version and that's close to the version I do,
although I try to play it with a Neil Young-ish edge. This
required a different approach to the music intro and
breaks, the bridge section and the ending of the song.
Sean's is the kinder, gentler version that my Mom,
strangely enough, always seems to have in her CD player
when I drop by.
Sean and I see no reason why another (male or female)
singer couldn't release their version of this song. I'd
like to hear a voice like Mary Chapin Carpenter or Buddy
Jewell sing this one.
Contact
me with
your ideas on who should record this song.