I climbed a big Ozark hill in Arkansas today to check my messages, and hiked back down the big hill not saying too much, head full of memories... On the hill, I received word that a dear friend of mine, Paul Craft, in Nashville, had passed on. He was one of the first people I met in Nashville. We had spent a bunch of time together in years past, just hanging out, and co-wrote a handful of tunes. Our way of co-writing was not the usual. He would reach into one of his several 3 ring binders of alphabetized, yet unfinished skeletal songs, and say here, take these back to Illinois with you and finishem. And I did, and he was always very happy with the results. The songs Ive written with him all start with the letter I, because that was the part of the alphabet he grabbed into. They were all sad songs, cause he knew thats what I could relate to. It was a fun little exercise for me. I didnt take it too seriously, but I think he did. He kept talking about those songs, every time wed meet. I guess I should put those tunes on a cd, like he always wanted me to. I wished Id gotten around to it earlier. One thing I am glad that did happen was that Paul finally got into the Songwriter Hall of Fame. It seemed like he was just waiting for that to happen. He talked to me about that. The wait.... He was a hilarious and quirky songwriting genius, funny and sad in the same package. Sometimes more funny than sad, and sometimes more sad than funny. I am so glad he was honored by the Hall of Fame while he was still with us to experience it. Its just what he had been waiting for. I am gonna miss you a lot, Paul, our dinners over on West End, where you n me and mr bowlin laughed so much, and I am wishing I had finished more of those songs that started with the letter I. RIP Paul.
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 03:03:17 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015