Do you remember that famous song called ‘Snowbird’ that was a huge door opener for Anne Murray and that even Elvis recorded? The writer of that song had sent demos around but there were ‘no bites.’ So, in desperation, one day he knocked on Johnny’s door. After listening to it, they drove over to Don Messer’s house and the rest is history Without that knock on the door and Johnny Forrest’s intervention, ‘Snowbird’ would likely never have seen the light of day!
Instead of taking the bus to do a show at a Ladner senior’s home, Johnny was kind enough to give me a lift to make the ‘gig’ on time. During that ride he chuckled about how sometimes we all make a mistake or two. His favourite was the time he did a one man show at a prison in Halifax. Not thinking everything through, his opener turned out to be Tom Jones’ great hit that begins with “Please release me, let me go….” What a riot! Apparently it took the warden and staff about twenty minutes to settle things down again.
Then I told him about a song that Canada’s Paul Anka wrote and Frank Sinatra went ballistic with, ‘My Way’. What a wonderful song, except imagine singing it to an audience made up of seniors, the opening lines of “And now the end is near…” perhaps could be skipped.
What’s in a name? A national anthem. I was born in Bolivia, South America, back in 1944. Spanish was, and still is, the official language. Therefore, ‘Danielito’ was my first name, and ‘Jose’ my middle name. When we came to Canada and moved to Gibsons Landing in 1950, a few years later some kids at school got ‘wind’ of that middle name and because of my thick glasses, they enjoyed singing the opening lines to the American anthem, “Jose, can you see?” (Oh say – Jose). It didn’t seem so funny at the time, but now it seems like a bit of a riot too. Funny how perspectives can change with time, eh?
Here is a little reminder of those years and that television show.