Yes, I've had quite a struggle with personal pride, a very complex one.
However, in my later years, I've replaced most of the pride with the
simple belief that the rest of the world needs me, whether it knows it
or not. The same could be said for each of you.
At any rate, this list of songs is of some personal history interest,
and the last two songs are good ones. In fact, those who have heard me
perform request He just wanted to be himself again and again. Its
popularity cuts across the political and spiritual spectrum.
When I wrote Penny I was in graduate school, on
my own, depressed and poor, but, as you can see, that sense of personal
pride would not die.
In Listen to your friends Jimmie struggles with
the gay urges inside him without actually speaking the love that dared
not speak its name.
291-32-3848 was actually written for/about my now
deceased first lover, David Johnathon Miller while we were living together.
And My song was written for me by me about the same
time and during my TA therapy training with Jim McKenna.
I began to suspect that my first lover, David, was going to leave. Who
was the one gives him permission to do so from an ok place.
As a man in my sixties, I've truly been
around for a long, long time. This song has an adolescent
cockiness about it that I still draw on.
What can I say? If you ever get a chance, you should listen to He
just wanted to be himself. I had one P-FLAG mother tell
me, "I never really understood my gay son until I heard your song."
What a compliment!