There are approximately 13007 songs in the world which espouse the virtues of one’s home town. Songs with lovely, altruistic and melancholy lyrics, songs from deep in the heart of the writer. Songs that aim to take the listener back to his or her own cherished home town. Many of these great songs do just that. Songs like “My Little Town” by Paul Simon. Or one of those “heartland” songs by John Mellencamp. Or one of the hundreds of songs simply titled “My Home Town”, by writers from Bruce Springsteen to Paul Anka to Tom Lehrer. And don’t forget all of those masterpieces of cityism, “New York, New York”, “I Left My Heart In San Francisco”, “ I Love L. A,” and so many others. I love all these songs, and I love my home town. Portland, Oregon. I can identify.
But when it came to writing my own song about “my home town”, dang, I couldn’t go there. It’s surely not that I don’t truly love my hometown, with it’s fantastic range of people and places. And it’s not that I don’t have some wonderful childhood memories, scratching my way, bush by bush, straight up the side of Mt. Tabor, or sliding into second on one of the immaculate Little League diamonds at Alpenrose Dairy. Or that I don’t deeply appreciate our wildlife and proximity to the mountains and the ocean. Nope, none of that. I just had this overwhelming feeling, that, well, as far as songs go.....it’s been done.
So when a little melody popped into my head a couple of years ago, and it seemed like it might work for that kind of song, I wrote the words.....Santa Monica’s NOT........my home town. And my own brand of “home town” song was born. Santa Monica is, in fact, the title of my 2004 CD. Click here for a clip of the song.
LATE BREAKING NEWS! Marie and I are taking a week off, splittin' in the Airstream for parts unknown, get a little R&R, throw a couple overly fatty chateaubriand on the barby, maybe fill up the well. See you in a week or so.
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