First, a little practical poetry:
Yeah well he was the kind who’d pay no mind
When he was bumped into.
He was the kind that let you find out
All that he knew.
He never got uptight, never started a fight.
Never threw so much as a dart.
He was a man after my own heart.1
That was my dad. Firm in his principles, without being obstinate. Devout Christian, without being an extremist. A man’s man, without machismo excesses. A gentle man, without being a wimp. A quiet man, whose voice was heard. I wish the way I’ve lived my life could be described in the same fashion.
When he said goodbye why some people cried.
Like a fool I say he don’t die.
He was a man after my own heart.2
A man must carry on.
In memory of my dad, 8/1/1919 - 12/7/1984.
-k-
1 - The Stranger (He Was The Kind), written by Jerry Merrick.
From the album A Man Must Carry On, by Jerry Jeff Walker.
2 - ibid.
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2 Comments
Very nice lyrics-I never heard of Jerry Merrick before. I hope my son will have similar sentiments when I’m gone. My dad is a cypher-never saw him after I turned 5, not much before then either.
Truth be told, I’d never heard of Jerry Merrick before either. In doing the research for this post, I found that he wrote the song I cited. He’s got a record out now, and seems to be doing OK. His website is here: http://jerrymerrick.com/index.html
His record label is here: http://www.sutherlandrecords.com/
The latter site has some iTunes compatible samples; Jerry’s home site has some RealAudio (ugh) compatible samples.
-k-
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[...] 23 years ago, at about this very hour, my Dad passed away. It was even on a Friday, as it is today. Driving home tonight, I thought it appropriate to comment on his life again on this old blog. I thought about what to say, then looked back to what I’d already said. [...]