November 27, 2025
Volume 55 - No. 48
The Musical Wordsmiths
(Above and Right) Neil Diamond by lyle e davis Those of us who scribble for a living are understandably impressed with those special people who have the talent of being wordsmiths . . .putting words together to express a thought, a feeling, a life. How often have us guys wished we could put our feelings into words and melodies . . . and submit them to that special lady in our life? Troubadours
and
poets,
down
through the ages, have been able to string words and thoughts together to tell a story . . . to incite emotions . . . to bring back memories. Often those words stay with those of us who are mere mortals. Some of the artists I most admire include Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, John Denver, Neal Diamond . . . We attended a Kris Kristofferson concert in Escondido about 20 years ago. Amazing They guy came out
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on stage, spotlight on him, one microphone . that was it. And he had us spell bound for well over an hour singing one song after another . . . all the songs were his. He wrote them, Most of them I had never heard of . . . but the words were beautiful. A number of them, of course, were his big hits. To my mind, Kris Kristofferson was not a great singer. He himself acknowledged this when he was first asked to record a demo. His voice was nothing to write home about . .
but his ability to put words together and say things that you and I only wish we could do . . .magic! Many of his songs still linger in my mind and I recall the beautiful lyrics of them . . . I like the version sung by Ray Price . . . Don’t look so sad, I know it’s over But life goes on and this old world will keep on turning Let’s just be glad we had some time to spend together There’s no need to watch the bridg-
Wordsmiths See Page 2