SING ME BACK HOME

 

“I don’t need fortune and I don’t need fame;

Send down the thunder, Lord, send down the rain;

But when you’re plannin’ just how it will be,

Plan a good day for me.”

From the song ‘Lord, I Hope This Day Is Good’ by Don Williams.

 

I was first introduced to Don William’s Country songs by my elder brother Franklin. I was in my Final year of B. Com, and my brother had brought home a tiny cassette-player. Along with it, he had, also, brought a couple of popular cassettes: Neil Diamond, Don Williams, ABBA, BoneyM and our own Mukesh (Hindi) and Jerome (Konkani). Those were his favourites, which, later, became my favouites, too. It was 1978-79. In these forty years, so much has changed and so fast. Nobody uses cassettes, LP’s, CDs anymore… Nobody uses those two-in-ones, three-in-ones or four-in-ones any more. Everyone uses his or her fingers just to click. For that matter, even the fingers are slowly vanishing… One just has to say: ‘Alexa play "‘Sing Me Back Home' by Don Williams"… And, here it comes:

 

‘Sing Me Back Home’ was not written or composed by Don Williams. Merle Haggard had done it. And, like all great songs, there is a powerful story behind the origin of this song… Merle Haggard was born during the period of ‘Great Depression’. When he was very small, he lost his father. Consequently, he took to small robberies and was sent into prison. One day, the famous Country singer of the day, Johnny Cash, had come to sing for the inmates. It’s here, Merle Haggard realized in his heart, that he could ‘sing his way back home’… Which, he, literally, did. Once he was released from the prison, Haggard devoted all his life in creating some of the most beautiful Country songs. Just as Johnny Cash had impacted Haggard’s life, Haggard went on to impact several famous singers’ lives over the following years…

“Sing Me Back Home’ was about Haggard’s fellow inmate, a hardcore criminal who was being taken to the gallows… It’s about his last walk!

In Life, pain and tragedy needn’t leave us hardened and harsh. We have a choice to use it for our self-healing… We can use them to grow through them.

People like Don Williams, Merle Haggard, Neil Diamond – and dozens of legends like them – have lasted in their field for decades. Despite the sweeping changes that have taken place in these years, the songs they wrote and sang, and the music they composed, have remained uncorrupted. Don Williams' fans believe, that he wore the same hat till he died! I would naively believe it, too.

 

Switching off from American music to American politics… I recently watched this video about Joe Biden and his wife Jill:

 

What makes the stories of my favourite Country-legends and President-elect Joe Biden, identical is the fact, that they ‘wore the same hats’ for decades. In Life, dedication and passion have no replacements. Pain and tragedies in life, too, have no replacements. Perhaps, the only replacement – and the most honourable one – is by converting them into something sublime… Something worth singing our way back home!

 

GERALD D’CUNHA

 

Pic's.: pixabay

 

Videos.: 1. DonWilliamsVEVO 2. Kennedy Center/Antonia Vassila

             4. TODAY