Smoke From A Distant Fire

Sanford Townsend Band

In response to the dense smoke from wildfires that has drifted down from Canada into Michigan and many other states in the country, a friend posted a YouTube link to a live version of the song "Smoke From A Distant Fire" by the Sanford Townsend Band. It reminded me of how I became familiar with the group way back in 1976. FIFTY YEARS AGO!

I was shopping for records (vinyl LPs in those days, if you somehow wouldn't have known that) at Boogie Records on Central Avenue on the west side of Toledo. Boogie was my go-to record store despite that it was on the other side of town from where I lived. It was a locally owned small business, with an oldish dog that roamed the store looking for places to lie down. I had gotten to know one of the co-owners, Pat O'Connor, pretty well as he and I seemed to have similar interests in music. Knowing I was a huge Dylan fan/collector at the time, he even gave me a couple of items of swag that Boogie had received to promote a couple of Dylan records. One was a long-john-type shirt memoralizing the first leg of Dylan's Rolling Thunder Tour; the other was a large burlap material wall hanging with a screen-printed representation of Dylan, which promoted the Hard Rain LP, released after the second leg of that same tour.

Anyway... I was shopping for records one Saturday or Sunday, and looking through the alphabetically organized bins. As I recall, I had been taking a look at Pete Townshend's records when I flipped through those nearby. I came across the above record album‚ and the cover photograph intrigued me. I gave the back of the record jacket a look, but only recognized Kenny Loggins (he provided some vocals) amongst the band members and contributors. I also recognized the producers, Jerry Wexler and Barry Beckett, who would later produce a couple of Dylan's records. I took it up to the counter and asked the person (I don't believe it was Pat) if he knew anything about it. He said yes, then pointed up towards the ceiling, indicating that the music playing was that very record. I liked it, so I bought it. There is something particularly gratifying about having a whimsical purchase of an unknown band pay off.

"Smoke From A Distant Fire" is the opening track and it's wildly catchy, but the record has numerous gems, "Squire James" being another favourite, along with "Sunshine In My Heart Again" and the bluesy "Rainbows Colored In Blue". It's very much a pop record, which is somewhat contrary to the type of music I bought and listened to at the time—I suppose it still is—but the lyrics were strong and refreshing, a little off the beaten path.

I recorded the album to cassette and played it a lot during my commutes back and forth between Toledo and Bowling Green, where I would enroll for school later that year. Also during that time, I was still working at Commercial Aluminum Cookware (later renamed Calphalon after its signature product), and sometime in 1977, "Smoke From A Distant Fire" became a Top 40 hit, and was played on regular rotation on the local pop FM station. At first, I felt validated for having bought the record months before the single was released, but the more and more I heard it—as much as I liked it—I got sick of hearing it. (I didn't bother to buy Sanford and Townsend's subsequent records, Duo-Glide and Nail Me to the Wall.)

The single rose to #9 on the Billboard charts, and the record company, Warner Bros., re-released the LP with Smoke From A Distant Fire as its title. The band's name was changed to simply Sanford and Townsend and the cover art was revamped.

Sanford And Townsend

It would be years before I listened to the record again. I still have the LP but as I no longer have a turntable or decent stereo system, I've resorted to listening to it on YouTube, where I've created a playlist should I ever feel like listening to it again.

 

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Waltz Time (Again)

As I mentioned in my previous post, I'd written a couple more songs in three-quarter time back when I was writing songs. The first was written sometime in 1996, I think, not all that long after I'd moved out of my house in Lansing and into an apartment in East Lansing. I'd met someone at an open mic event, and while I was quite attracted to her, I was hesitant to get too deeply involved with her due to... circumstances. As I recall, the song didn't take very long to write (sometimes it happens that way), and musically, it's a little clunky, but I think I hurried it a bit in order to perform it at a subsequent open mic—the only time I'd performed it until now—so I'd almost forgotten how it goes. I considered adding a harmonica break, but I couldn't quite work one out to my satisfaction.

The other one regards a woman for whom I fell pretty seriously. A year or so after we'd met, I think, her eldest daughter was getting married, and to mark the occasion, I wrote a song for her, mother of the bride, called "Dress Her In White". There might even have been a parenthetical attached to the title at one time (something like "A Mother's Song" or something like that), but it's not written down that way in my book. I originally recorded it on a four-track recorder I had borrowed from a friend, and I asked her other daughter to add harmony vocals on the refrain, which turned out quite lovely. As with the wedding song for Barbara I mentioned in Part I, I failed to keep a copy of the recording for myself, hence a newly recorded version (without a harmony vocal).

A few years later, I wrote another one for the same woman at a time it seemed to me we might have a future together. This recording took me at least a dozen tried to get a reasonable performnce. At various times, I sung the wrong words or hit the wrong chord.

As with almost everything I've recorded of late, my voice strays from correct pitch occasionally—I'm not in the least a trained singer, after all.

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Unless otherwise noted, all writings and photographs on this blog are copyright Patrick T. Power. All rights reserved.

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A Thing For Waltzes

Back when I regularly wrote songs, I occasionally wrote in waltz (3/4) time. Possibly the earliest one came as a result of trying to write a song honouring my mother. The plan was to write four verses, one for each of her sons, and as I was lying in the tub with my writing book and pen in hand trying to work out the verses, the thought occurred to me that in addition to having had four sons, there was a stillbirth between me and the birth of my youngest brother. The song didn't take long to write, and it seems only fitting that it's brief.

I'm not sure if my mom ever heard it. I burned an early recording of it to a CD and sent it to her, but I think she couldn't get it to play correctly.

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Another one I wrote not long after that was based on a dream I had. I am terrible about recalling my dreams but I guess this one was vivid or surprising enough that I worked it into a song. The dream involved a friend of my then-wife, Penny. Penny and I and her friend and her husband spent a bit of time together socially, whether at our homes or at local gatherings or events. In case you're wondering, no, I didn't harbour any fantasies about her, but there she was in one of my dreams one night, dancing with me. The song, in all likelihood, is longer than the dream lasted.

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In the summer of 1997, I wrote a three-verse waltz as a gift to a friend in the D.C. area who was getting married. I'd been invited to the wedding but it just wasn't within my budget at the time to make the trip, so I wrote the song as a gift of sorts. I recorded it and sent a cassette tape to her, but didn't keep a copy for myself. I can't for the life of me recall the melody, but a few months ago I asked her if she still had it as I had recently come across the lyrics in my book. She does, but after thirty years, it's not readily accessible. I hope she comes across it some day, I'd like to get a copy.

DEAR BARBARA
Copyright 2026 by Patrick T. Power. All rights reserved.

Dear Barbara, I'm sorry I can't make the wedding
I'm sorry I can't join in that feast
but my car's broken down and I haven't the money
for making that long trip out east

as much as I've planned for this day
I simply could not make ends meet
so maybe we should see it this way:
I won't dance all over your feet

Dear Barbara, I love you as much as a friend
can love you from so far away
so, wrapped in a melody this gift I send
to you on your wedding day

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My friend Susan turned 50 in 2004, and I had this brilliant idea to write a quick song and send a recording of it to a friend of hers in Florida so that it could be played at a party being held in her honour. Susan happens to be the biggest Wizard of Oz fan ever, so I just had to incorporate that into the song somehow, along with a favourite phrase of hers, "ooh la la!", which since I've been to Paris several times sinice I wrote the song, I couldn't help but change it to what the French actually say.

In the fall of 2010, I wrote probably first song—more a ditty, really—since moving to San Francisco. In fact, I hadn't been writing all that many songs since 2006. I recall waking up realizing it was my friend Marya's birthday, and words and a melody just tumbled into my head, featuring the word Marya uses to help people pronounce her name.

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I have two more that I've written since 2006, but I've not played either of them in quite some time, so I might have to post a Part II once I re-learn them.

Note: I've not played guitar or sang regularly for the last fifteen years, so my fingers are a bit clumsy, and my voice cracks a bit and wanders out of tune, so bear with me.

 

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Unless otherwise noted, all writings and photographs on this blog are copyright Patrick T. Power. All rights reserved.

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first kiss, part II

anna was the first
alice was the first
that meant something
that involved tongues

she too had the experience
i lacked
but that i welcomed
with open arms
and open mouth

we sat on her backdoor steps
and in my heart of hearts
i felt love
and loved
for the first time

there is something about being
literally connected
with someone
at the lips
that changes the world

 

first kiss

 

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Unless otherwise noted, all writings and photographs on this blog are copyright Patrick T. Power. All rights reserved.

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first kiss

it wasn't momentous

several of us had gathered
at our twin friends' place
above a vfw hall
with the plan
to pile into a vw bus
for a night
of christmas carols

anna held mistletoe
above her head
and beckoned me
i obeyed
obliged

i think i was sixteen
she would have been fifteen
i suspect now
what i didn't consider then
that this was not her
first kiss

maria
her best friend
my one-time crush
stood by
and i wonder
still
all these years later
if it all was
just
for
a
laugh

 

part II

 

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Unless otherwise noted, all writings on this blog are copyright Patrick T. Power. All rights reserved.

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