Nowadays, there are accolades and acclaim when children excel in the arts. Parents beam with pride, teachers and trainers line up to tell us how it happened on national tv. It wasn’t always like that.
Truth be told – there is a long tradition of children and young people writing and performing their music without any fuss at all. Kris Kristofferson wrote his first song, I Hate Your Ugly Face when he was eleven. I don’t know when Tom Ghent wrote his first song, but this one from his teens, Sour Grapes, has everything that I love in a tune. From the mouths of babes, huh?
Listen Up
Where’d THAT Come From?
Best to let the artist tell it himself.
I wrote this song when I was 15… It falls somewhere between an anti-love song, and a protest song…. I really don’t know why, but by the mid-60s a whole bunch of folk singers had this as part of their “sing-along” repertoire….My late great friend, Hamilton Camp, is singing along with me on this cut, and Mama Cass put it out on 2 of her LPs in the early 70s….. Go figure !!!
Tom Ghent
Lyrics
When no more raindrops can fall from the sky,
All the mighty oceans have gone and are dry,
And the summer sun’s just as cold as the snow,
That’s when I’ll love you, baby,
That’s how you’ll know
Chorus
Oh, but I'm only saying all this to make you feel bad
You could have been the best love that I've ever had
And then one day you turned your back on me
And it's sour grapes a-talkin' 'cause you hurt me, don't ya
see?
Now when every generation of children has grown and when all of man’s ideals have been overthrown and when the seeds of life are no longer being sown I will – that’s when I’ll need you, baby,
and call you my own
Chorus
Oh, but I'm only saying all this to make you feel bad
You could have been the best love that I've ever had
And then one day you turned your back on me
And it's sour grapes a-talkin' 'cause you hurt me, don't ya
see?
When just one key can open each and every door,
Yes, and when God and Mother don’t mean nothin’ anymore,
When there’s no fightin’ on any foreign shore – Ah well
That’s when you’ll know that I want you back once more
Chorus
Oh, but I'm only saying all this to make you feel bad
You could have been the best love that I've ever had
And then one day you turned your back on me
And it's sour grapes a-talkin' 'cause you hurt me, don't ya
see?
it's sour grapes a-talkin' 'cause you hurt me, don't ya
see?
Credits: Featured Image – No Known Copyright – Source Pagebreak is PD