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This song writing thing is a fairly new endeavor for me. In August of 2011 we were at a country and bluegrass music festival in Flinton, Ontario. As always after the stage show many went roaming around to listen and join in to jams that were going on around the park. My friend Dale and I were at a session across the road from our motorhome site and a young girl (I was 68 at the time so anyone under 50 is young in my mind) came along and asked me if she could listen in. I said , "I don't see why not," and so she listened for maybe an hour or so until everyone started to disappear back to their campsites. I heard her say, " I haven't had this much ******' fun in my whole life, I've Gotta' Get Out More." Right there I said to myself, "That's a good name for a country song." I must have thought of it all night because the next morning I sat down and wrote most of the song called, "I've Gotta Get Out More", from her idea. The whole thing took me less than an hour and I put music to it later, at home. If anyone would like to hear it I can send it to them, the rough home made recording that it is. Or you can listen by clicking on the title below.
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That was my first song although I had tried my hand at poetry but never got very far. Since then I have written a few more, maybe 6 or 8 as of the end of 2012. The last one I just finished is called "My Old Man" and was written about my father. The idea has been in my mind for a long time. My brother Lorne, who is a bit older than me, asked me one time why I never called Dad the old man. I said it just didn't seem right to me and the song explains why. My Mother died when I was seven, my brother Murray was five and my sister Joyce was three months old. In the song I said, "He was never my old man, he was Mom and Dad to me.
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I just finished another song, it's called, "You Let Me Down". It may be my best yet, but that's just my opinion. You never know where an idea will come from. We were visiting friends and we were sleeping on an air mattress. In the morning Debbie got up first and when she did the mattress had lost some air and I sunk to the floor. I said to her, "You let me down. That stuck in my mind for a while and eventually I wrote the song. Of course it has nothing to do with the mattress but the idea was planted in my mind. I drew some old feelings out about two failed marriages and some things that were buried for a long time. My first wife said one time, "Don't ever leave me", but she was the one that left. I did cry my heart out over things that happened and that is in the song as well. I think this song writing has been good therapy for me in dealing with emotions that I have kept inside for a long time.
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RiverEdge Studio
