Dear Peter
I thought of you and your mother during the Janis Ian concert in Singapore on Saturday, 26 February. She was introducing a song which I thought she’d written but turned out to be a song that’d been started by the late American folk singer Woody Guthrie that his daughter had asked Janis to complete. When you see the first line, you’ll understand why I thought of you and your mother:
“If I could only hear my mother sing again …”
The late Woody Guthrie had started writing the song as a tribute to his mother who was a great inspiration to him, and had encouraged him in his career despite being in poor health herself. Similarly, Janis Ian had often spoken of her mother’s place in her life and career. She even started a foundation in memory of her mother to raise money for women who had put their families before themselves and never got the chance to go to college. To date, the Pearl Foundation has raised money to fund six perpetual scholarships at Goddard College, her mother’s alma mater.
Peter, you, too, have kept the memory of your mother alive through your weblog. And this song is for you and your mother.
| I Hear You Sing Again (Woody Guthrie/Janis Ian) If I could only hear my mother sing again
I know the troubled times that turned your hair to grey
© Rude Girl Publishing™ |
Click here to listen to the song.
