The song "Faraway Friend" was written after I had left my East Tennessee home back in 1975 to join a touring magic show. During one of my visits home Forrest pulled out his guitar to play one of his newer compositions for me. The laid back tune transported me to a magical place of memories with Americana visions of yonder days of playing music, hopping trains, and dreaming the daring dreams of youth.
When he finished singing his song, Forrest told me that he had written it about me. I was simply blown away. It was one of those occasions in my life when I felt the power of friendship and the ties that reach over the expanses of time and distance. Ever since the debut of that song to my ears, it has echoed though my mind in those times when I too remembered friends who were separated by geographical spans, but always near to my heart and soul.
Recently when I mentioned that I was going to do this post Forrest gave me some background on why he wrote "Faraway Friend". He told me that I was a positive force among our friends--a voice of optimism. He said he had missed the way I would lift him and bring him to a stable realistic realm. This is one of the highest compliments that he could have paid me because this is what I have strove to do in my life and this song is a paean to a success achieved. Thank you my dear friend, Forrest.
You can hear the song if you click the link scroll down to clip #12 Faraway Friend on the song list on the music player toward the bottom of the page. While you're there you might enjoy listening to some of the other selections.
If you live in the Phoenix area you can catch Forrest in action this coming Saturday April 9, 2011 as he performs at the The 4th Annual Bluesbox Guitar Festival. See the complete details below. If you're there, be sure to stop by say hello to Forrest and tell him hello from his "Faraway Friend". Who knows, maybe he'll even treat you with the song.
Saturday, April 9th 2011
7 PM until 10 PM
A Shot of Java.
7003 North 58th, Ave.
Glendale, AZ
623.847.2423
****
69 comments:
You are lucky to have such a friend. Off to check out the song :)
How special to have your very own song. Beautiful post.
How wonderful to have a song written for you. I have only just started reading your blog, but in the short time I have "known" you, I can see how someone would call you a voice of optimism
That was a nice tribute to a faraway friend .
Mine for F is FUN : http://umaspoembook.blogspot.com/2011/04/whispering-tree-oxymoron-poetry-fun-f.html
How humbled you must have been to know you inspired a song. That is a great tribute to your character. :)
What a Fabulous story!
Lovely title ... and a wonderful inspiration to think of my far-distance friends, too! *sigh*
Whereever you are out there, I wish you all a wonderful sunny day with lots of joy and love! :-)
Karin
P.S. Today I did a little exercise: F for Freewriting! Enjoy!
Such a wonderful post. How lucky you are to have had such a great friend through the years.
What a lovely lasting tribute to your friendship. It's so lovely to have a connection with another person like that - just the way good friends should always be!
You are one of my A-Z highlights for today! :)
How wonderful to have a song written inspired by you.
You have inspired many other people Lee on Blogsphere, perhaps we can't write songs but we can say THANK YOU.
Yvonne,
Now that's a really cool friend!
oh wow...what an honor! You must feel special :-))
(And you ARE special! )
I love the story, and the song.
Doris
Now that's really sweet!
Wow! That blows me away. Cudo's to you for being such a friend that someone would write a song for you.
That's way cool Dude! Now I am glad you have you as a far away friend!
Gregg Metcalf
Colossians 1:28-29
Gospel-driven Disciples
It was nice to see your kind comments this morning. I'm fortunate to have nice faraway blog friends as well. Hope we can all get together someday.
Lee
How lucky you are to have a friend like that... and it sounds like he's pretty lucky too!
What a kind post. Sounds like you and Forrest are both lucky to have each other as friends.
My best friend (who is also faraway now :( but wasn't at the time) wrote a song for me years ago. It was called "Jesus, Keep us Friends"! it was probably one of the sweetest gifts anyone has ever given me.
ah, what a great friend, and I'm not surprised your life has given him such an inspiration, Lee!
What a sweet tribute! You do have a magical personality.
A nice thought from a friend.I have had fun going through a few blogs participating in this April fun.
Lee, what a lovely lovely story and it is so nice to read about this kind of friendship between males. How lucky you both are.
Karen
It's been days since I have been over here to see you! There is so much going on in the blogverse and I'm having a blast with your challenge. Thank you so much!
I just caught up on all your great posts. I love this one about friendship and I love that you shared it with all of us!
HMG
That is very cool. I barely know you but I can totally see what he said in you. It's nice meeting you and your friend.
Dafeenah
Awww, this is LOVELY!
What a fitting tribute to a friend who wrote a fitting tribute to you. And it's a beautiful song, too.
Great post, Lee!
Wow! That's amazing--what an honor to be the subject/inspiration of such a cool song. Thanks so much for sharing :)
I am very fond of the name Forrest. It's the name of my youngest son.
Beautiful post. :) Quite an honor.
What a fabulous friend! A song, how thought provoking and forever. Love this~
That is such a nice thing to have done. I wish I could write a song about anything. LOL! Oh well, I'm not dead yet!
Fantastic "F" post - I really enjoyed it!
What an honour, as you say, to have been the inspiration for a song.
Cheers, Jenny
Sounds like fun! Oh I love the blues!
Love Di ♥
You are both blessed to have each other. Wonderful friendship rocks! :)
Wow, your 'alphabet blog' series entries are unique and very interesting! Kudos! ;) I'll have to remember to check back here after April is over!
Cheers.
To have a song like this describe your lifelong aspirations, must've been exhilarating! What true friendship you two must share.
My Blog
Always nice honoring a friend.
http://fredasvoice.blogspot.com/2011/04/f-is-for-food.html
Great post. Sounds like you are both fabulous friends.
Arlee Bird, Rock Star.
Wow...so nice of him to write a song about you (inspired by you)
You must have been a good friend to him...
Graywolfie
Http://graywolfie.andrewandgrace.net
BOID ~
An ultra-cool post and a good song, too! (The next one, "Cafe Song", is really pretty and kinda sad. I dug 'em both!)
"Faraway Friend" has a kind of Gordon Lightfoot feel to it, and I like Gordon Lightfoot - although your friend looks more like Billie Holiday. (I'll bet he hears that a lot, eh?)
Unfortunately, I have to work Saturday night, otherwise I would definitely be making plans to go see him play. On Sunday I'll be going to the 785th annual Glendale Jazz & Blues Festival. Too bad your friend isn't scheduled to play there.
~ D-FensDogg
'Loyal American Underground'
wow! what a great song! as a music lover i had to scurry off and listen to it first. i agree with Yvonne and others here that you do/have inspired many along this path of life.
btw Lee, i still think about your post from last year. "Hell Burned Down" i laugh or smile every time i think about it.
Sadly I live a 2 hour's drive away from Phoenix. It's nice to have such great friends that live so far away. I have a few amazing friends that live all over the world. I wouldn't trade them for anything.
What an inspiring example of how friendships have such an impact on the lives of people involved.
Touring magic shows sounds exciting!
I hope the festival performance goes well but I'm no where near that side of the country to be able to check it out.
I have been lucky to develop some associations with many people all over the country and some from other nations but I'd be hard pressed to call them friends because we all don't know each other THAT well and I believe that good friendships are so hard to find, so when you have one like Forrest and when he has one like You, it's definitely a cause to celebrate and be thankful for.
The Madlab Post
Listening to it now . . . it's a great song!
Wonderful post!
Wow, what a great song! How lucky you are to have such a dear friend.
My post for letter F is up ...
http://mom2nick.typepad.com/heres_whats_new/2011/04/f-is-for-food-network-magazine-.html
Thanks for looking.
Laura T.
That's quite something inspiring a song, and then by a friend. I don't think more words are needed.
Good friends are one of the best parts of life. Very nice song. Thanks for the blogging challenge. I have "met" such wonderful people since it started.
Sheila Staley : Reviewer & Writer
Book reviews and Author Interviews at my blog at http://whynotbecauseisaidso.blogspot.com/
That is way cool, having a song written that was inspired by you! I'll go check it out. :-)
ewhat a beautiful tribute to your ffriendship
What a special feeling you must have !
You certainly have inspired a lot of us with the challenge of A to Z !
Thanks everyone for the many nice comments. I'll let Forrest know to check them out.
Lee
cool f take.
far award friends, family members, or relatives are all awesome.
What a lovely post!! I remember your other Forrest post too. You must be very proud to have inspired him to create something so lovely :)
What a great story! I have to admit that you had me at, "after I had left my East Tennessee home back in 1975 to join a touring magic show." :O)
Lee-
Sorry your AZ trip does not allow for a visit but I certainly understand why not.
Larry
It's a reflection of a special person to have a special friend like that. Kudos to you and your friend.
Now following.
LOVE your blog. Bummed I missed out on the A to Z challenge. :(
I can't decide which of you or Forrest has paid the other the higher compliment here...
... fortunately I don't have to. Thanks for sharing an example of how friendships ought to work. :-)
Friends are truly one in a million, especially ones who create songs for you! I am enjoying this A to Z challenge, so thank you for developing this.
Hugs,
Crystal
How wonderful to have been the inspiration for a song!
I was excited to tweak some words from a song last week.
Such a lovely friend to have and he is lucky to have you :)
Wool'n'Nuts
My thanks to all for your kind comments.
Lee
Wow, how wonderful to be the inspiration for such a beautiful song! Thanks for sharing, loved it.
Hi Arlee - my name is Kerri, and I am enjoying your "Tossing it Out" blog! My blog address is http://www.practicingcontemplative.blogspot.com/ Looks like I'm too late to sign up for the April challenge - I'll try a later one!
Lee, this is beautiful. I love blues, I'm going to click when I'm done here.
So far I'm hanging in and meeting some great people. Thanks!
~ that rebel, Olivia
What a fabulous way to discover how much you mean to someone else! I loved reading your post!
Been loving the A-t-Z Challenge!
Corinne
www.corinneoflynn.com
How blown-away you must have been! What a wild couple of years you must have had!
Thanks for sharing such a touching memory.
Thanks for these later comments. Glad you all are hanging in the challenge and hope it continues to be something you find rewarding.
Lee
What an amazing thing to mean so much to someone that they write a song about you. I'm sure you absolutely deserved to be honored that way.
Post a Comment