John G's Mp3's

st_03aB50

Hello Friends, here are twelve songs that I offer up to you, songs that I feel represent a good part of my life.
Some are great recordings and some are so so, but all are real events that took place in my life.
Even the covers have some signficance to me. Along with the ability to listen I've given a little blurb on each song,
hoping you will capture the moment the way I did when I wrote them.
Enjoy!

Written in the late 70's, this song is based on an experience I had while camping at Enchanted Rock in central Texas.
I had a dog named Sativa at the time, quite a remarkable animal. If it wasn't for Sativa I would have been pretty lonely in those days.
When I play this song I usually tell people my dog wrote it, and She did!

While living in Flagstaff AZ I worked as a recycle truck driver for a few years, One day I was doing one of my pickups at a restaraunt.
The place was adjacent to a Youth Hostel, I looked over and there she was, I watched as this young woman with one arm was cleaning rooms.
I was amazed! Later that day I went back to the yard to empty my truck, and there she was. Her and her brother had volunteered to help at the recycle yard. She helped me unload my truck,I never did learn her name.

This song is written by James Keelaghan, based on the book "Youn Men and Fire" by Norman McClean about the Mann Gulch fire, August 1949.
When I first heard the song I was astounded, then when I read the book I was stunned.
The events in this story warrant a film, I'm surprised one was never made.
I had to learn the song!

While in Flagstaff AZ I lived 15 miles out of town on the edge of the National Forest.
I was raising goats and had some chickens so I was always on the lookout for predators.
One day I saw this wild dog he was a nice looking dog and seemed very intelligent.
After a few attempts to chase him away from my chicken coop, I realized I had to shoot him.
Well, the song says it all.

As a teenager I lived in Houston TX, I was in a band at the time called "The Midnight Shift" which later became "Toby".
There was a guitar player in the band named Gary Powers, he was a bit eccentric, very intelligent and a great player.
One day he had a nervous breakdown, we were never sure why, but, I think his parents pushed hime too hard.
Soon after, he came to my apartment to let me know he was being sent to an institution.
It was the last time I ever saw him.

Now this song is one of those that wrote itself. At the time, I was reading a book by Elizabeth Kubler Ross on death and dieing.
At the same time I was listening to NPR and heard a story how the then Governor of Arizona wanted to make it an English Only State.
Well with almost half the population being Hispanic and there being at least 10 Native Amreican tribes in AZ, I thought it was ludicrous.
The rest is History. This song won me first place and 1,000 dollars at the 2006 Spotlight to Stardom in Durango CO.

This is a little Diddy I wrote when I was feeling like people just weren't paying attention.
It's one of those realist songs, some would say it's a bit depressing but Life is truly accentuated when mortality comes to the forefront.

I have always loved John Lennon's work and this song has always intrigued me. I loved the raw feeling he got in his recording of this song.
Needless to say I tried to keep the same feeling. I used a very strange little recording plugin to get the multiple voice sound, it was fun doing it.
It's time to remember!

I rarely write love songs, but this one was another of those "it wrote itself" songs.
Too often we are afraid to feel love for fear of losing it.
Being head shy has become the norm in our society of fast food and fast cars!

A good friend of mine died of aides, someone who was at his death bed told me of his last hours.
He told me that as he took his last breath he was surrounded by a glowing light. Just shortly after he left I wrote the song.
For some reason the song came out as a country gospel.

Do you ever just get so damn tired of stuff?
You know, tired of how you feel, tired of people, tired of stuff that keeps getting in your way.
Tired of the drudge, tired of not doing what you want to in life. Tired of being scared of not being loved.
Well I was tired when I wrote this one.

I was thirteen when I wrote this song. It was the first song I ever wrote.
I never forgot it even though I've written lot of songs I've forgotten. I finally recorded it in 2005,
it took me 38 years to finally record it, sheesh!
Any how it was a lonely summer evening and I was sitting out on the drive way watching the shadows dance
from the gas lamppost in the yard (remember those). My parents weren't doing too well and I had just learned to play guitar.
You might say it was the first of those songs that wrote themselves.