Garcia Media Life

I’m blogging some background on the songs on Dylan’s Ghost.  Here’s the story behind the title tune. The photo above is me and my son, Charlie, performing in Reston, Virginia about six years ago, just a couple of weeks after the song “Dylan’s Ghost” was written.

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The title song of the album is a tribute to my son and a recognition of what I’m sure happens with all parents when they have what I call the “full-circle moment.” That’s when all of a sudden you realize your child is all grown up and some of the things that used to inspire you, now inspire them too.

First of all…here’s Charlie:

This song was written in early 2009 in New York City. I had the great fortune of living in a really nice apartment on the Upper West Side. Here is the approximate location:

I woke up one Saturday morning and it was snowing hard. There are few more beautiful views in this world than the Manhattan skyline in a snowfall. From 18 stories up. Just gorgeous.

Anyway, I checked my e-mail, and my then 18-year-old son, Charlie, who was living in Atlanta, had sent me an audio attachment. It was him singing Wagon Wheel– a song started by Bob Dylan and finished up by Old Crow Medicine Show’s Ketch Secor, 40 years later and would become a country hit for Darius Rucker in 2013.

Charlie’s version, the Old Crow Medicine Show edition, was so sweet and sung with such passion. And I’m realizing as I’m hearing this, that my son has discovered Dylan and the whole genre with the “folk” pedigree now known as “Americana.”

So with Charlie’s voice echoing in the room and watching this beautiful snowstorm- a song was born.

Dylan’s Ghost
By Robert Garcia/Copyright 2015

 

It’s snowing sideways but I’m smiling on the inside
And I’ve got a warm heart thinking of you
Who knew?
It was a cold day like this when I brought you home
Wrapped in a blanket and a prayer
A lifetime to share

Now I’m listening to you sing
As the ghost of Dylan rings
From your soul
You make me whole

Someday you’ll know maybe sitting in a falling snow
What’s it’s like to watch something grow
So strong
So true
So you

The Southbound Train pulled into the station
Rocking like a Wagon Wheel
Anyway you feel
And I don’t know about the destination
I’m just along for the ride
Right by your side

Now I’m listening to you sing
As the ghost of Dylan rings
In your soul
You make me whole

Someday you’ll know maybe sitting in a falling snow
What’s it’s like to watch something grow
So strong
So true
So you

Producer, Jeff Severson’s guitar (and Dobro) work on this tune is just spectacular. The mix of the driving finger-picking that animates the song from the start is complimented perfectly by Jeff’s many guitar riffs weaving in and out like magic. It’s a small thing but I love the replication of the sound of a steam engine just as the line “The southbound train” starts the second verse coming out of Jeff’s ridiculously good guitar break.

The phrase “southbound train” has two origins. It’s the name of one of the best tunes Graham Nash ever wrote and it also symbolizes what would soon be Charlie’s trek south from Washington to Atlanta and finally, to Nashville, Tennessee where he currently resides.

You also now know why the train was rocking like a “Wagon Wheel.”

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Dylan’s Ghost- Songs of a Lifetime is available for digital download at I-Tunes, CD Baby, and Amazon Music. Purists who would like a hard copy of the CD can contact me directly at robert.garcia.56@gmail.com and we’ll make arrangements to ship it out to you.