Here you go, blog readers! By popular demand, part two of my imaginary interview.
Interviewer: Well, this has been a very LONG commercial break, but we are back with Marion Walsh, who was just getting ready to tell us about the song that she wrote for her father. Marion, can you tell us how this song came to be?
Marion: Well, as I explain on my blog, the song actually came to me in a dream. In the dream, I was opening up for Bob Dylan (yeah I know, it was a good dream!) and there was some trouble with the sound, but I was singing one of his songs. With him watching! Can you imagine!
Anyway, the first words to the song were
"on and on, on and on, best before the day is done" and the tune was there, too, and I woke up with the dream very fresh in my mind and I could not get the tune and those words out of my head. So I wrote it down and worked with it, tried to turn it into something, but had some trouble.
Fast forward a few months, Dad gets sick, I revisit the song, change the word "best" to "rest" in the first line, and then it sort of seemed to flow. I liked it. I sang it for Dad as he lay dying. Literally. He was fortunate enough to die at home, in the house that he built fifty five years before. He was in his own bed. I sat next to him and played my little song and got a smile from him. So I played it some more, but it didn't have an end. I just couldn't figure out how to end the song. It just sort of petered out. Then Dad died, and I had my ending.
Interviewer: Wow. How does the song end?
The last verse goes:
"On and on, on and on,
how beautiful your setting sun
stretching out across the sky
and your train is gonna be here by and bye..."
His death was a beautiful, mysterious, peaceful, peaceful, peaceful thing and so inspiring, I hardly know what to do.
Interviewer: What do you mean, you hardly know what to do?
Marion: I mean I just feel inspired, connected, like I can almost touch the other side, if you will...
Interviewer: The other side?
Marion: Yeah, the other side, you know, that place where inspiration comes from..or maybe you don't know, I don't know. I'm not sure what I'm talking about, really. It's just a feeling. I just feel inspired, that's all, like I want to do something, but I don't know what to do.
Oh my gosh, I can't explain myself at all I really do have thoughts in my head, I promise! ..must be the holidays dumbing me down or something..ask me the same question after New Year's.
Interviewer: Speaking of the New Year, any particular creative goals for you?
Marion: I would like to write more, sing more, love more, laugh more. And I would like to sing in Carnegie Hall. Please.
Interviewer: I'll see what I can do!
Marion: Thank you!
Interviewer: We only have a minute left, but I want to ask you something non-music related, something that I've heard about you that I just wanted to know. A silly thing.
Marion: Okay, sure, silly is good. What do you want to know?
Interviewer: Umm, I heard that you were once a member of the Donny Osmond fan club. Any truth to that little piece of useless gossip?
Marion: YES! It's true! I was a proud and very exited member of the Osmond Brothers fan club when I was in elementary school, maybe nine or 10 years old. I saved up some money, paid my membership dues and awaited all sorts of fun stuff in the mail, posters, magazines, all sorts of things, mostly made of paper, as I recall. My room was a shrine to all things Osmond. For example, here's something I learned from the fan club: did you know there is another Osmond brother who is deaf?
Interviewer: No, really?
Marion: Yes, really. Or that's what I understood at the time, anyway. In any case, my Osmond obsession was short-lived. I didn't renew my membership to the club, and ultimately I decided that I was a dork for belonging to the fan club, and I threw all the stuff out and moved on to, I think maybe David Cassidy.
Interviewer: Great, thanks for setting the record straight. How about this one: Is there any truth to the story about you and Courtney Love having a catfight?
Marion: NO! Where did that one come from? I have never even met the woman.
Interviewer: OK, we are out of time, thank you Marion for speaking with us today. Good luck with your song. Where can listeners get a copy of your song?
Marion: They can go to my cdbaby.com or itunes and purchase a download or a CD.
Interviewer: OK, Thank you Marion.
Marion: Thank you. Margaret. Meghan. Sorry. Meghan. Thank you Meghan.
