Have you ever had something that you put off for a long, long, time until it was too late? That is what this song is all about. Working on this collection of songs, caused me to think about my musical taste and why I was so drawn to the genre’s I was drawn to. I have, as long as I can remember, been drawn to rock, blues or funk bands that had a decent brass section: Bands like Chicago, Blood Sweat and Tears, Tower of Power, and of course Lighthouse. This all came about because I wanted a cousin that I was very close to at one time, to be part of the band I was putting together.
In 1984, the Edmonton Oilers won the Stanley Cup for the first time after just being in the National Hockey League (NHL) for only five years. There are somethings to understand about Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. This is a hockey town like no other, they truly love and support their Oilers. There was a period in Oilers history where the original owner was trying to sell the team to Huston, Texas and the city came together to purchase the team from the owner.
For many years, this melody and these words have been churning in my head wanting to come out. This is the prayer that I live my life by. It took a lot of courage and strength to step out and move to a foreign country and make a new life in California. It had always been a dream of mine to do this, but that meant leaving many things that I knew very well into a situation that I knew very little about as far as live here.
I have had this song idea in my head for a long, long time and always felt that it was the finishing piece to a song or an album. This song is being released a little different than the way I have released songs in the past. There is an album coming that will hold most of the songs that I have released over the past year with some alterations to them and remixed and mastered. However, the arrangements will be about the same. For The End and Goodbye I am initially releasing what I call a shorter version of the song which is around 2:44 that is also termed as the Radio Version. The one that will go onto the album will be the full version of the song and it run somewhere in the 6 minute range.
Over 7 years ago we rescued a Carin Terrier dog and named her Penny. We have never had a Carin Terrier before and were just in awe about her personality and just who she is. We learned later from other parents of Carin Terrier’s that these are very common traits with this breed.
Mary and I might be a bit bias but we think that there is just something extra special about Penny. She totally respects our property and knows what is her’s to chew on and never messes with our stuff. The funniest is watching her when she has to make a decision like should she follow Daddy or Mommy, hum that will depend on who is closest to the Kitchen and who is more than likely to give her a treat. Yea that is the other thing is that Penny is somewhat of a food addict. Not that she is hungry but the fact that she might miss out on an opportunity to get more food and wow does she eat fast.
This is a declaration of my intentions to stay in my new found home in California. When I first moved to California for work, my original intention was to stay here for a couple of years and then go back to Canada. However, since then things really changed for me. I met Mary and it was like suddenly the person I had been looking for all my life was right here in the land that I loved to visit and have always been drawn to.
One of our favorite places to go is to the beach. Living in Southern California we have access to many of these beaches and we have a few favorites. We just find it very peaceful and very inspiring. You can feel down in the dumps and a visit to the beach can change all that just from being there.
My wife and I have had some of the most awe inspiring talks while at the beach. It often brings back memories about fun times we have had and we talk about some of the things that we have seen. It also inspires us to dream and talk about things we would like to see and do in the future.
First off this is not a song that I wrote. It was written by Tommy Sims, Gordon Kennedy and Wayne Kirkpatrick. It was originally recorded by Wynonna Judd and released in 1996 on her Revelations album but she never released this as a single. The song was recorded by Eric Clapton and produced by Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds for the 1996 movie “Phenomenon”. Eric Clapton also released this song on his 1999 Clapton Chronicles: The Best of Eric Clapton album which is the one you will find on Spotify.
This is a sad song and yes it really happened to me. I think this was probably the first time that I really fell in love and one of those situations where I new there was an expiry date and yet the heart wants what the heart wants. This break up really did a number on me as I lost my confidence and became very cold and almost distant to other relationships that I had after this.
This is the first song that I ever wrote about my wife, Mary. We like playing games it is one of the things that we like doing together besides just hanging out. She is the first person that I have ever met that has the same temperament as myself. When I first told some of my friends about Mary they would ask me what is she like? I would reply that she is just like me except she is a woman.