SONG BITS
Welcome to this special page! This is the area that I've created in order to provide further details on a song-by-song basis. This will include a very special photo for each song, licensed through the good folks at ShutterStock photos. To me, finding the "perfect" photo that best represents exactly what sort of visual idea I had when I was inspired to write each song - is a fabulous feeling! I love these song photos, and I'm sure that you will appreciate the new addition of this page, which takes you behind-the-scenes with ideas and comments about what inspired the song.
Let me just respond to a potential question regarding the various song photos shown here: why are so many young ladies pictured for the individual songs, especially in albums 1-3? Here I am today, in the 65+ age group! My response is, at the time I wrote the songs I was a young man in the Army, age 18-20 and serving in Berlin, Germany. In choosing a photo that best represented each song, I carefully chose photos that I felt best represented a particular woman I was inspired by AT THAT TIME. As my albums and song content matured over the several decades later, you will notice that photos I've chosen were older more mature women, couples, and places. As I matured, so did my song content also, and I hope that the various song photos best represent that maturity as well.
I wanted to do some things here that I couldn't do over on the main menu page, from a design standpoint. This page will also include some "technical bits" about various recording and mixing issues that is geared primarily for my studio musician peers who also record much like I do. Those notes will provide some details as I continue to document my own recording and mixing info for each song. This section of my website will be a constant work in progress, as I'll stop by to update it very frequently. I hope that you'll enjoy viewing it as much as I will in creating it! ~John
Album #1 - A Pocketful Of Songs
The photo at the left represents the Cover of Album #1,
A Pocketful Of Songs, under license from Shutterstock .
It is designed as a LINK, so when you click on it, it will take you down a level, to a separate page - dedicated to the "bit by bit" details of each of the songs on this Album.
I was a kid 18-20, picked up an acoustic guitar, and started writing songs. This "Pocketful" album was all I thought there would ever be - just a collection of tunes I began to carry with me everywhere I went. Friends asked me to play and sing my songs, and it became something I could share. Little did I know that the tunes would just keep on coming . . . . .
Album #2 - If You're Looking For Magic
The photo at the left represents the Cover of Album #2,
If You're Looking For Magic. The image is used under license from Shutterstock.
It is designed as a LINK, so when you click on it, it will take you down a level, to a separate page - dedicated to the "bit by bit" details of each of the songs on this Album.
Songs at that time period were often of magical and fantasy themes, and some friends mentioned that it seemed like I "lived in my own magical world". These sorts of songs just kept on tumbling out. This 2nd Album is a collection that continued, following Album-1.
Album #3 - Keepin' Time
The photo at the left represents the Cover of Album #3,
Keepin' Time. The image is used under license from Shutterstock.
It is designed as a LINK, so when you click on it, it will take you down a level, to a separate page - dedicated to the "bit by bit" details of each of the songs on this Album.
In this 3rd collection of tunes, I was dwelling on the subject of Time - feeling like I was drifting back and forth in time. I also realized that given the work and the traveling that I wanted to do, I would never have "enough time" in my lifetime. Thus, the theme of this Album.
Album #4 - On A Wing And A Prayer
The photo at the left represents the cover of Album#4,
On A Wing And A Prayer. The image is used under license from Shutterstock.
It is designed as a LINK and when you click on it, it will take you down a level, to a separate page - dedicated to the "bit by bit" details of each of the songs on this Album.
This album turned out to be a double-album volume of Contemporary Christian work that was a joy and a privilege to write. It's always been a special hope & prayer of mine that someone, somewhere, will come to know God's gift of salvation through these songs.
Album #7 - The Way I Think Of You
The photo at the left represents the album cover of Album #7, The Way I Think Of You, and is used under license from Shutterstock.
It is designed as a LINK, so that when you click on it, it will take you down a level to a separate page - dedicated to the "bit by bit" details of each of the songs on this Album.
These songs were from special time periods in my life, and represent a more "mature" style of writing and of feeling, than my earlier works. There was a focus on actual relationship issues, favorite vacation memories, the grief of loss of dear friends, and even a song dedicated to Princess Diana who always inspired me.
