This Episode contains more songs for classmates.
"Offering and Receiving Grace" was written for my classmate, Bev. When she was in high school she loved to run. It was the early 60's and the boys were intimated by her. Instead of fessing up to our insecurities we teased her. After high school I lost touch with her. Eventually I realized that I both needed and wanted to apologize to her, but I didn't know how to get hold of her. Then unexpectedly she sent me a Facebook friend request. The song tells the story about how, following up on that request, it's never wrong and never too late to "practice offering and receiving grace."
One of our classmates, Bill Morlin, was a well respected investigative journalist. As I explained in the song I wrote for him, "He went places Dr. Jeckyll hides to show us where the truth lies."
As I was writing songs for the Class of 65 I read an article about one of our classmates, Mike Forster. The article talked about how after the death of his wife he had begun talking beautiful photos of old buildings and cars around Spokane. What I realized is he was inspiring us all to see "this old world in a brand new light looking through a camera with an artist's eye."
The next song, "My Witness," was dedicated to Gail Bronson Harsh. She had taken the loss of her daughter and made the world a better, safer place for all of us. What the songs says is "we all need a witness to the stories of our lives and I wanted to tell you I am grateful you are mine." She had been a witness to her daughter's life. We were witnesses to her life. Important stuff.
Finally I pick up a banjo that was more than a hundred years old. It was the first banjo I ever owned. I explained how I'd given it to a friend of mine years ago and my wife had bought it back fifty years later and given it to me for my birthday. I didn't understand at first why I had trouble putting the banjo down. Then I realized that when I played it all these years later I felt my old fingers were now intertwined with the fingers I first played it with as a young boy. Such thinking gave new meaning to the song "Will The Circle Be Unbroken."
On my website, markpearsonmusic.com, you can find an accompanying blogpost talking about a song from the Podcast. This time the song is: "Offering and Receiving Grace."
The album, Class of 65, is available for streaming.
You can also see the complete CLASS OF 65 concert on my YouTube Channel.
