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Click on image credit links below each photo, for licensing names, details, tags, etc.. Most images cropped/reduced in size

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“The noise of thy viols…O Lucifer…

the workmanship of thy tabrets

and of thy pipes

was prepared in thee

in the day that thou wast created.

Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth…”

Isaiah 14:11, 12 & Ezekiel 28:13, 14

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Here’s a question for you…“Where does literary inspiration come from?”

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Here’s another question…“And why do most prolific music composers just run dry after a while?” (After all, you’d think that with time and experience, they’d only become that much more prolific in their composing!)

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And here’s another question…“Why do many of the really great songs and the really wonderful music compositions just seem to simply, ‘drop into the lap’ of composers?”

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And just one more question…“And just how could a very young child compose a sophisticated symphony, which requires translating years of maturity and life-experiences into music, which the child simply has not yet attained to?”

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OH COME ON!!! Even if they had a great big brain, they’ve just not experienced the many life-lessons required, to be translated into extremely sophisticated music!

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Well, read on, and maybe you’ll learn the secret that some have already learned…

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Stuck Luzifer – ca-1890 – wikimedia – public domain

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  CHAPTER 19:

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“I AM MUSIC” …

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“THERE’S A HOUSE…ON A HILL…”

(First line from the 1972 Gordon Lightfoot song, “Cotton Jenny”)

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Well, now that things were going well for me, a realtor friend showed me a little house for sale in a new subdivision over by Klamath Lake. It was a hilly area with lots of Pine trees. It looked like a little “gingerbread house” in a forest…on a hill.

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Really quaint!

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I liked it!

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So I bought it.

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And as with each new house I bought over the past eight years (I bought-and-sold houses as a money-making sideline back in those years), I was excited to move in. With all the trees and hills, this house was like living in a forest. It wasn’t a very big house. But it was comfortable for one or two persons. About 1200 sq. ft, or so.

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Jukebox – Wikimedia – cropped image – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Global license

The Scream – by E. Munch – Wikipedia – public domain by edvard munch c.1893

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NOT EXACTLY “A STILL SMALL VOICE”…

1st Kings 19:12

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And I was still really busy with this spiritual realm that I was now dealing with!

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Days were spent communing with the spirit.

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And as you can probably imagine, I had lots of questions for him: questions about the past. But especially questions about the future. And the spirit would sometimes answer me by ever-so-slightly nodding my head “yes” or “no”. Sometimes he would make my head to circle around (also ever-so-slightly), just like someone might do when asked a dumb question. Or circle as if to say, “maybe”.

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Other times he’d answer by speaking directly. It wasn’t exactly an actual audible voice. It was more like a small nondescript voice in my mind. But it was definitely a voice! When he talked, he’d often include my name in his comments. And he frequently joked as he answered.

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At other times, he’d make a statement, and then retract that statement, saying, “Oh, I was just kidding, Chuck.”

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The Scream of Nature – by E. Munch – Wikipedia – public domain by edvard munch c.1893

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BACK-SEAT DRIVER TAKES THE WHEEL

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I hadn’t returned to work yet, and so I’d often go for a drive. And he’d direct where to go.

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Frequently, I’d feel him take control of my hands on the steering wheel, and turned me in whatever direction he wanted me to turn.

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Alotta times, he’d have me drive to a very scenic little park east of town on “Lost River” (as you can see in this great photo!).

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Like I’ve already said, I was always asking him questions about the past, present, and future.

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“After all”, I probably thought to myself, “Why waste this golden opportunity to dig out info on eternal things from this eternal being!?”

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But I have to admit, his answers were kind-of vague, to say the least!

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Mazda Rx-7 dash – cropped and altered image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Stevenson Park – Photo by Chuck Collins of Klamath County H.R. Dept

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RX-7 LICENSE PLATE

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One day he said, “Chuck, you wanna know what your license plate stands for?”

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My license plate was a special plate I ordered when I bought this car. It read “RX7-LTD” (My RX-7 was a limited edition. Hence the “LTD” on the license plate)

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But the spirit had another interpretation ready for me…“’RX-7′ means you’ll live another seven years, and then you’ll get sick and die. So the “RX” stands for Rx.” (Rx obviously being the common universal tag used to indicate prescription medications).

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“The “7″ stands for 7 years. And the “Limited” stands for your limited life ahead.”, said the spirit.

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This didn’t bother me too badly. After all, 7 years was quite a while! That’d give me until about 1987, which was a long time from now (It was still 1980 when this happened).

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And isn’t 7 years a long time?

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Right? Well…right?

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And not to mention, he promised the next 7 years would be filled with glorious things! A real win-win proposition, wouldn’t you agree!?

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“And you know what else?”, (said the spirit), “Do you want to know what else your little black car symbolizes?”

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Mostly everything was a guessing game with this spirit. So I played along with his question-&-answer game, and eventually he’d tell me… “Your little black (actually metallic cobalt grayish-black) car looks like a coffin, doesn’t it? It means you’re going to die in 7 years.” 

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And so, upon hearing this, I looked out my window at that little car and squinted and tried to see it as a coffin.

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“Well…yeah…maybe it does look a little bit like a coffin”, I admitted to myself. “Yuuuk!”

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Mazda rx7-1st Generation – wikipedia – GNU-free-user-license

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“ROUND, ROUND, ROUND, ROUND, I GET AROUND, YEAH!…”

(first line of Beach-Boys hit-song, “I Get Around”)

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Yes, I did a whole lot of driving during those days.

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And there was a whole lot of chatter going on between the spirit and myself. Sometimes he talked. Often, he’d just shake my head. If I guessed the answer, he’d simply shake my head very slightly, “Yes”.

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Needless to say, this could be a bit embarrassing when I’d come up to a stop-light! My head would be shaking. I felt like one of those little dashboard figurines that shake its head as you drive down the street! And I was always afraid the driver next to me would think I was crazy (can you imagine anyone thinking me to be crazy!? How absurd the thought! lol!), even though my head wasn’t shaking so much, as to be even slightly noticeable.

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But in spite of trying hard not to, I just couldn’t stop my head from shaking. If he chose to answer me by shaking my head, it was going to happen, whether I liked it or not!

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Anyway, this is how the spirit told me about all the things that were ahead for me.

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Jukebox – Wikimedia – cropped image – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Global license

Mazda RX-7 – 1981 – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

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“BLIND DATE & BLIND FAITH”…

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During this time period, a friend set me up with a date.

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You see, just prior to my troubles beginning, my girlfriend, at that current time, broke up with me. So a caring friend set me up with a blind date. Even though I was in no mental condition to be going on a date, I still went over to meet the very pretty lady.

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But when I went to her apartment, and while she was getting ready, the spirit began to put me through another “test of faith”.

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You see, while she was in the bathroom, the spirit told me I should lay back down on her bed, where I was sitting.

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Oh not for any wrong purposes. But just to lie there on her bed…which I knew was really crossing her boundary line, as well as making me look slightly ridiculous!

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But what could I do?

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If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be showing my faith.

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So I did (the spirit promising that he’d keep her away, “as long as you have faith, Chuck!”).

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Well that didn’t happened!

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Yes, I really felt a little foolish when I had to jump up as she suddenly entered the room! I’m not sure if we ever actually went out on a date, or not. But if we did, I never saw her after that.

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Oh yeah, now I remember! We went out for lunch or something.

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If only I’d known that passage in Scripture…“Then the devil took Him (Jesus) up into the holy city, and set Him on a pinnacle of the temple, And said unto Him, ‘If you be the Son of God, cast yourself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning you: and in their hands they shall bear you up, lest at any time you dash your foot against a stone’. Jesus said unto him, ‘It is written again, You shall not tempt the Lord thy God’.” Matthew 4:5-7

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So this passage prohibits us from doing something foolish, to prove our faith that God will help us at the last-minute, even in small situations of life.

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Oh, if only I’d known this passage, it would’ve saved me a whole lot of grief! And not just in this little situation, but even more, in a few “bigger situations”!

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Cause he was always compelling me to do outrageous things to, “Prove you faith, Chuck!”

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Mazda rx7-1st Generation – wikipedia – GNU-free-user-license

James Tissot Brooklyn Museum Jesus Carried up to the Pinnacle wikimedia US public domain

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SECOND DATE:

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“DATE WISHES SHE WAS BLIND!”

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About this same time, I somehow met up with a certain lady I knew from the club I played at on the weekends (actually, Thursday nights through Saturday nights, from 8 pm to 1 am). Well, to make a not-so-long story even shorter, I asked her to go with me to Reno for the weekend.

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So this extremely pretty lady and I zoomed off to Reno.

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I badly wanted to make a good impression on her! I was wearing my best slacks and big fat gold/diamond ring and oh man… was I dressed to kill!

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Fancy new sports car to boot!

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So there I was…cruisin’ down the highway to Reno! Me…my slinky metallic-black RX-7, and a beautiful babe sitting next to me! The wind blowing through our hair! The bright lights of that infamous gambling mecca just over the horizon! Spending our time at the gambling tables! Or perhaps going to a dinner show and watching some world-class entertainer!

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“What could be better!?”, I ask you…“What could be better!?”

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Ol’ Heff woulda been proud!

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Well…probably not!

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Hugh Hefner – Glamourcon 2010 – Wikipedia – Photo by Glenn Francis of www.PacificProDigital.com – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

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AT THE “CASINO-NOT-SO-ROYALE”!

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Anyway, we arrived there five hours later and got a room at one of the casinos. I can’t remember which hotel we stayed at. I usually stayed in a suite at the recently built MGM Grand Hotel. But maybe I didn’t for some reason. I just can’t remember. Maybe Harrah’s. It’s not really that important anyway. But I wanted to impress her, so I’m gonna go with… the MGM Grand. It was brand-new and very impressive!

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Yeah, it was definitely the MGM Grand! Now I remember!

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Okay, so I’ve set up this story properly.

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But as one radio old announcer always used to say…“And now…for the rest of the story!”

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I GOT “BORED-STIFF”…LITERALLY “BOARD-STIFF”!!

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No sooner than we got there, and up into our large and very impressive suite, my entire body went stiff like a board!

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I mean, I couldn’t even bend at all!

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Oh yeah, I could walk, but just barely! I didn’t know what-in-the-world was happening to me!

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And so, we decided that I should go to the emergency room of the local hospital. So we walked to my car (actually, she walked…I waddled…totally humiliated! She had to stuff me into my small little car.)

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This was definitely not the best way to impress a lady! 

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Well anyway, she drove me to the emergency room of the local hospital. And after an hour or two, they released me, giving me some medicine, shrugged shoulders, and no further encouragements.

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Mazda rx7-1st Generation – wikipedia – GNU-free-user-license

Photos of Reno & Grand Sierra (formerly MGM) courtesy Wikipedia, public domain.

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“TAKE THE ‘GONG’ WAY HOME!”

(satirical wordplay on the 1979 Supertramp song, “Take The Long Way Home”) 

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Well, needless to say, this brought my “perfect weekend” plans to a screeching halt!

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She drove me home…me still stiff as a board! Cruisin’ down the highway, still wearing my best slacks, my big fat diamond ring and oh man…and…uh…dressed to kill.

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And the not-so-bright-lights of Kalamity Flats (Klamath Falls) just over the horizon!

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I repeatedly apologized. And she was a good sport.

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Yes, she was as gracious as she was beautiful. 

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And I was as mortified as I was…uh…oh whatever!

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As we were driving home, I began to suspect that this entire ordeal (or should I say…this entire “horrordeal”) was brought on by my unseen spirit companion.

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Mazda rx7-1st Generation – wikipedia – GNU-free-user-license

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“A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass (donkey), and a rod for the fool’s (my) back!”

Proverbs 26:3  

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When we got back to Klamath that night, my body quickly returned to normal again. She said goodnight to me…with no further encouragements…never to see her again!

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And by that time, I realized that the whole incident was courtesy of my unseen spirit “companion”. Yeah, that old Hope-You-Guessed-My-Name Guy was at it again!

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But thankfully, the spirit never put me through that same phenomenon ever again.

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Other stuff?

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OH YEAH! 

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Just not this particular one.

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Devil Goat – Wikipedia – Public Domain

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“A woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together”

Luke 13:11

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Well, if there’s some morale, or life-lesson, or any further encouragement from this rather embarrassing experience it might be the following…

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You see, I much later discovered the story, from The Gospel According to Luke, Chapter 13, in which an evil spirit caused a woman to be bent-over for eighteen long years, prior to Jesus meeting her, casting out that spirit from her, allowing her to stand upright once again!

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Thus, the life-lesson learned is, these spirits do indeed have the powers to do such things which outwardly appear to be merely physical ailments! And thankfully, this phenomenon didn’t last eighteen long years like that bent-over person in that Bible account.

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Christ healing an infirm woman on the Sabbath – James Tissot 1886-96 – Wikimedia – Public Domain

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SONGS FROM HEAVEN?…

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One sunny day, about a month after moving into this house, I felt the urge to take my guitar out of its case, and sit down in the living room. And before long I had a nice chord progression worked out, along with some nice lyrics. 

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“Is it time to start giving me songs?”, I inquired.

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The spirit was silent.

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So I kept up composing this song… .

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“Too many people in this town. There’s confusion…uh…uh…growing…” .

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“What should I say next” I asked the spirit.

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But the spirit was still silent.

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So I continued till the words and chords finally came…

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1ST VERSE

“Too many people in this town..

“There’s confusion growing all around…

“Long to hear the wind outside my door…

“Long to see an eagle homeward soar… .

2ND VERSE .

“This city’s got me upside down…

Gotta get my feet back on the ground…

So I’m gonna pack my bags and go…

To that place I left so long ago…

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CHORUS

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“Oregon I’m coming, Oregon I’m comin’

“Oregon I’m comin’ home to you…

Oregon  I’m comin’,

Oregon I’m comin’,

Oregon I’m comin’ home—-to you.

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REFRAIN

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Can’t remember the words to the refrain! Sorry

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3RD VERSE

I left that land so long ago…

Went to the place where money people go…

Tried to get myself up to the top…

It’s time for this ol’ spinnin’ wheel to stop…

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CHORUS

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“Oregon I’m coming, Oregon I’m comin’…etc….

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LAST VERSE

“I guess that I’ll be movin’ on……

Can’t find a reason to hang on…

And when I get myself back home…

You know I’m never gonna roam…”

CHORUS ONE LAST TIME…

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“Oregon I’m coming, Oregon I’m comin’…etc….

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END OF SONG (THIS SONG WAS ABOUT MY GOING TO THE BIG CITY TO GET INTO THE MUSIC BUSINESS, SEE CHAPTER…One Flew Into The Cuckoo’s Nest, Part 3: “Do You Believe In Magic?”)

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“Are those the right words?”, I asked. The spirit made my head to nod, “Yes”.The spirit did no talking during this time. He only made my head nod either “yes” or “no”. And so, this song went on like this until completion. At the time, I thought it was a great song. But over the years, I began to suspect that he really wasn’t interested in making that song a good one. And truth-be-told, it was possibly just a mediocre “Oregon version” of John Denver’s Colorado schtick…

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Or, maybe not.

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I dunno.

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“(GOD) HE IS THE GREAT SOURCE, MY INSPIRATION…”

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Jimmy Webb, one of the most celebrated secular song-writers in the music business (no mediocrity in his songs!), once made this statement… ”I couldn’t write a song without God. Sure, I could hack out hackneyed phrases and clichés, but to write anything meaningful I have to be in tune with God. He is the great source, my inspiration, the current that I have to connect to. Sadly I’ve not always used the gift He’s given me—the answered prayer—as best as I could or should have. I’ve made mistakes. I’ve done things I wish I hadn’t done.” (Incredible compositions such as “Wichita Lineman”, “Up, Up, And Away”, “Galveston”, “By The Time I Get To Phoenix”, etc., etc….)

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Jimmy_Webb,_2011-Michaeldemartin for wikipedia share-alike license

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“I’VE BEEN ALIVE FOREVER”…

(Lyrics from the Bruce Johnston song, “I Write The Songs”)

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The spirit also told me, “I have a lot of people in the music world who have received my songs.”

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And he even led me to believe me that the song, “I write the songs” was about him.

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“I WRITE THE SONGS”……by Bruce Johnston

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“I’ve been alive forever And I wrote the very first song I put the words and the melodies together I am music, and I write the songs”.

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“My home lies deep within you And I’ve got my own place in your soul. Now when I look out through your eyes I’m young again, even tho’ I’m very old” …

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“…Oh, my music makes you dance and gives you spirit to take a chance And I wrote some rock ‘n roll so you can move. Music fills your heart, well that’s a real find place to start. It’s from me, it’s for you It’s from you, it’s for me. It’s a worldwide symphony” …

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[Chorus:] “I write the songs that make the whole world sing. I write the songs of love and special things. I write the songs that make the young girls cry I write the songs, I write the songs”

“I am music and I write the songs…” 

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Okay, so I totally believed the spirit, that this song was indeed written by him and about him. After all, the song was about some spirit entity who has been alive FOREVER! And he writes all the SONGS! Yeah…this all made sense! After all, he was giving me songs. Why would I doubt that he was giving other people songs too?

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You can form your own conclusion about this.

Satan presiding at the Infernal Council – Wikpedia – US Public Domain

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“The noise of thy viols (stringed instruments)…O Lucifer…

the workmanship of thy tabrets (percussion)

and of thy pipes (wind instruments)

was prepared in thee

in the day that thou wast created.

Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth…”

Isaiah 14:11, 12 & Ezekiel 28:13, 14

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Stuck Luzifer ca-1890 wikimedia public domain

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“TRY”

Here is another little song he gave me…

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“When you try to understand…

All the power you have at your command…

When you try to see the light…

Take a little time to make it right…

Yes you have the gift of love…

It goes with you like a shining dove…etc…

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I wish I could remember more of this song lyrics. But I think you get the idea. Kind-of a “look-for-the-light” type of song. But it was Christian enough for biblically-challenged me, at that moment in time.

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PAUL TELLS ALL!

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Paul McCartney made the following statement… “I woke up with a lovely tune in my head. I thought, ‘That’s great, I wonder what that is?’ There was an upright piano next to me, to the right of the bed by the window. I got out of bed, sat at the piano, found G, found F sharp minor 7th — and that leads you through then to B to E minor, and finally back to E. It all leads forward logically. I liked the melody a lot, but because I’d dreamed it, I couldn’t believe I’d written it. I thought, ‘No, I’ve never written anything like this before.’

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But I had the tune, which was the most magic thing!”

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Paul,_George_&_John-wikipedia-share-alike license

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This particular song, “Yesterday”, by Paul McCartney, was voted best single hit of all time by Rolling Stone Magazine and MTV in the year 2000.

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To go to next chapter , just click here…

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Ch.20  “And I Write The Songs”… 

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More songs by a pretty good song writer.