The Influences of friendship and Devotion
Inspiration to Create
One March I was diagnosed with a brain tumor by my local doctor. The doctor just told me that I would need to see a neurologist and have surgery as soon as possible. He said nothing about the severity or prognosis of having such an operation and this upset me greatly. In fact, when I drove myself home from the hospital, I got lost twice in my own neighbor hood. My surgery was scheduled in two weeks and during that time I had to resign from my job and find something to busy my mind for those fourteen days. My mind raced with the dismal possibilities of what might be the outcome of my brain surgery. I decided that if I was to leave this world, I might as well leave something behind for posterity. I also thought that I might show the respect and devotion my father had for my family and me, and my feelings for losing a friend in a war.
I was going to write poetry at first, then I decided to create a song. My first effort was a song about my father and his love for my family and how I wished that I could tell him how much I loved him. I wrote and re-wrote the lyrics to this song and at last, I finished it. I showed my wife the song and other former workers in the school where I taught before my resignation. They all thought the lyrics were well written and later I decided to send the finished work to a publishing company in Nashville, I wrote to them and asked that they share any royalties with my family because I believed that I might not live much longer. I told them of how my father had inspired me to write this song because he had helped me and held me up when I felt like falling down.
It was sent and I got no reply right away, so I assumed that they were not impressed. I felt the need to continue writing and decided to write a song in honor of my friend who had given up his life for his country in an Asian war. The song I wrote was about the pride that I felt and how we should all stand for what each of us believed in as Americans. I wrote a company in California and asked that they publish the song and send any royalties to my family because I felt that they would need support in the event that I passed away due to my cancer. Of course I was disappointed when I got no response. Later after I had gone through the operation and gotten good news that I would be able to resume a relatively normal life, I was shocked to hear my song about my father being sung by a well known singer. This song became the benchmark and song that made them much more famous at the time. Somehow I felt that I had been used by the publishing companies and became depressed. I learned the hard way that I should have had my work copyrighted before I sent it into the company.
Imagine my mental state, when I heard my other song's lyrics sung by a singer during the time our nation was involved in a war. The original titles of both songs were replaced with parts of the original lyrics. There was no mistaking both of my songs because the words were left unchanged in the body of each song produced, I think about how things may have been different for my family if I had made an effort to have the work copyrighted before I sent them. I was under a lot of stress at the time that I wrote the lyrics because of my medical condition. Because the two songs were such hits and did so much good for those who heard them performed, I felt great pride. I truly felt that my father would have been proud of me and that my friend who had perished in the war would have been honored to have heard the songs written and inspired by them both.
I'm sure that many other songs have been taken from writers down through the history of the music industry. I do feel relieved that these two works have been so well received and hopefully inspired many people in our country. I know some day my work will be written in the Lord's Book of Life and He will acknowledge that I had done a good work. I wish the singers of my original work no ill will and feel honored in many respects that they added beautiful musical scores to produce the songs. The artists that sung them did a great job and certainly gave the honored ones for whom the songs were written much deserved credit.
