Loose Ends: a response from Larry's Last Radio Show.

Note: We love Loose Cannon Boost comments and last week’s post about Larry Duckworth’s final radio show engendered some thoughtful observations including one from Tom Swearingen. Tom was part of our group of songwriters at Playa working on his specialty, cowboy poetry.

His comment:

Thank you for telling his story. Memorable quotes from our visit with Larry..."I know the sun is coming up and I have a lot to do. The sun will go down and I'll still have a lot to do." "I didn't know how to ride for a name. Couldn't ride for 'Simplot'...wouldn't fit on the iron." "My God has me in His arms. You write on that and you've wrote something."

The quote about cattle brands is sort of an insider’s joke about one of the largest ranches in the Great Basin owned by the same Simplot that grows and makes many of the French fries we eat. Tom remembered, “As you recall, the walls at the Pioneer were covered with old photos of cowboys, ranching, and the walls were burned with brands.  When Larry talked about not riding for a brand, ‘I ain't breaking no leg for Simplot,’ and ‘I didn't know how to ride for a name...couldn't ride for Simplot...wouldn't fit on the iron,’ he was pointing out the brands on the wall.” 

A swirling dust devil of spirit churned around Larry Duckworth that fateful day when Greg and I met him and we were recruited to lift his wheelchair up the high school stairs so he could do his last radio show. I hesitate to even use the word dust devil but there was a mood of devilish delight in that radio show. And certainly, we didn’t know at the time that his radio show, all eleven years, was a hero’s journey.

In a mere 48 hours, mortality hung in the balance. Why, all these years later, does Tom still recall quotes from Larry when he met him for breakfast at the Pioneer Saloon after the radio show? I didn’t remember this breakfast but Tom did.

Then Don Charles shared a song which came from one thing Larry said to our group when he and his son came to Playa the next morning and we serenaded them. He told us,  "You guys are going to the moon but I'm going to the stars!"

From that line Don wrote the following song.

You can hear it here. Don Charles and Deb Gessner make up D Squared. They are some of my favorites.

“Ducky Waits for the Pleiades”

Wish I may I wish I might 
Wish upon a star tonight
On a star tonight 
On a star tonight

If my star should fall from the sky
I'll sing like a bird but I won't know why
I won't know why
Won't know why

If my star should tumble to the earth
I'll dig like a dog in the cool dark dirt
The cool dark dirt
Cool dark dirt

If my star should wheel and spin
I will know just where I am
Just where I am
Where I am

And if my star should shoot the moon
I'll steal your heart with a ukulele tune
A ukulele tune
Uk-ukelele tune

Wish I may I wish I might
Wish upon a star tonight
On a star tonight
On a star tonight

Copyright 2015 Buzzard's Luck Music/ASCAP

Tom Swearingen was the first to meet Larry when he performed at the first Leon Flick/Sunny Hancock Memorial Cowboy Crisis Fund benefit in Paisley in 2015 with Jessica Hedges and Ross Knox.  Larry introduced himself after the show and asked for a CD for his radio show. During that final radio show Larry pointed out that same CD and told us how much he enjoyed Tom’s poetry and commented, “it’s the real deal.” I was glad to tell Larry that Tom was part of our group at the Playa just so he knew it wasn’t just a bunch of artistes.

Tom wrote me recently, “I did write a couple of (unfinished poem or song) verses during our Playa residency inspired by the Pioneer visit with Larry. Vivid memory.”

His memory is clear as the night sky                                                         

He can see his past in the light                                                                    

Of the millions of stars bringing glimmer and shine                           

To his long 'go lived cowboy life                                                                 

This old hand lived a life worth doin'                                                        

Look at those pictures on the shelf                                                                                           

An album full of mem'ries made living the dream                              

Reason to be proud of himself 

Tom Swearingen 

Note: Thanks to Playa for bringing Greg and me out to work with other dedicated songwriters and poets. It was an amazing group of people including Don Charles, Deb Gessner, Nelson Soucek, Tom Swearingen, Dave and Carla Eskelsen, Alisa Fineman and Kimball Hurd. Also, thanks to the director at the time, Deborah Ford, and the wonderful Courtney Oertel who became a friend and our manager.