"Hmmmm"

So I’m going through my emails one day – I get mail from several different sites and try to stay on top of answering it all – and I got one on the waynewatson.com site from a guy named Sam in China. He wrote some very nice things about my work and mentioned one song in particular.

I get lots of requests/comments for and about old recordings and even a few people still looking for trax to sing to.

The song he wanted to hear had touched his life in the early 80s and he couldn’t find it anywhere. Well, that song along with the entire album (along with more than a few others) is simply out of print.

“New Lives for Old” was the title of my second album with Milk and Honey Records. And yes, I suspect it was available on LP and 8-track tape. On the cover, I was sitting at a table with a water pitcher and an orange. I was in the picture and it was my project and I’m still not sure of the significance of the orange. As far as the water pitcher goes, well, you know . . . people get thirsty.

I’ve been spending a lot of time, lately, putting stuff on the new waynewatson.com site and the other day, as I’m loading in some old recordings that I uncovered on a recent visit to my Mom’s house, I ran across the song that Sam from China asked about . . .“The Sacrifice.”

So, I sent a copy of the song to Sam and he was overwhelmed. He responded with joyful “Thank Yous” and I thought “well, that’s a nice end to the story.

Not yet.

A few days later, Wednesday before New Year’s, we went to the Texas Bowl game here in Houston. Baylor vs Illinois. My wife’s a Baylor grad and had lots of friends there. I’ve had some Baylor connections over the years myself.

One old friend from way back is a guy named Chris Womack. Chris and I haven’t really stayed in touch as both of us have been busy doing whatever it is we do. But Chris, I recently found out, is married to one of Megan’s Baylor friends. So at the game, we’re wondering if Chris and Susan are at the game. I pulled out trusty iphone and text Chris, “Are you at the game?”

As it’s been a long while since the Baylor Bears graced the stage at a post-season bowl game of any kind, lots of Baylor faithful found their way into Reliant Stadium that day.
“Yes!” he responded. “We’re in section _____.”

We were, literally one set of stairs away from them so we trotted down for a short hello.

I can’t remember the last time I saw Chris. It’s probably been twenty years or so. But this random incident was strange because of the email from China a few days before asking about the song “The Sacrifice.”

I wrote that song with Chris.

I’ve only done co-writes with 4 or 5 people over the course of my 30 year career and Chris was one of the early ones. I remember writing “The Sacrifice” with him at my house in Baton Rouge. I listened to the song again the other night. It was a time when every line, every word meant something. We tried to make it all meaningful, not just fluff our way to a hooky chorus. I still like it.

You never know the impact of what you say, what you do or, in this case, what you write. It might last for decades as this song has. I can’t remember the last time “The Sacrifice” even entered my mind but here in the course of a few days, a guy in China is desperate to hear it, I find it and send it to him and, two days later after two decades have passed, I run into the co-writer.

Hmm.

I don’t know the meaning of things like this. You know? I’m entertained when I listen to the radio and hear a particular word at the very second I’m passing a sign with that same word. I don’t know what that means either.

I don’t know if God just gently nudges somebody in heaven and says “Hey, watch this” or if He just lets the world operate on His path and random things like this happen to give us something to talk about.

Anyhoo….It makes you think. And it makes you Thank.

Blessings

Wayne