Why Don't You Write Me a Letter?

from Songs For Fred by Jay Williams

/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $1.50 USD  or more

     

  • Buy the Full Digital Album

about

Virtual friends. The terms seem oxymoronic to me. Quality time, that's what defines friendship, and it's about the only kind I remember with Fred. This photo of him was taken in Angeles Crest National Forest, just north of Los Angeles. We used to hike here often, especially on Sundays, to clear our heads from the parties the night before. At these times, dialog tended to dissipate, and we just felt the communion with our surroundings, and each other. Our relationship felt like a raft on a lazy river; it was steady enough to meander along just fine without paddling. Fred could amuse himself endlessly, he was an eternal artist and child, always poking into rocks and crevices, photographing patterns in logs or sand. Be around him long enough, and you started picking up his technique. A whole new world opens up. Funny, my biggest fans of this song are kids, before they are old enough to have cell phones. We are naturally curious; I wonder what happens to that in a world where all the answers are as close as Google. But friends, sharing the same porch or riverbank, are a source of endless wonder.

lyrics

Why don’t you write me a letter
Pause for a moment or two
Grandma is feeling much better
We had a big storm pass through
Rebecca will graduate this spring
Willie got married last fall
Why don’t you write me a letter
Promise that soon you will …call

Please do not send me an email
Text messages I don’t do
I like your thick yellow paper
I like your big curlyQs

I like to picture you sitting
Taking the time to compose
Your undivided attention
I’m kind of selfish, I ‘spose


Do you recall how we sat on the porch
Sometimes for hours on end
Sharing our thoughts like the clouds drifting by
We were at My place… not My Space… my friend


Why don’t you write me a letter
Best wishes etched on the page
Envelopes cherished forever
Things you just can’t click and save

Seems like the more information
The less real truth I can find
I think I’ll write you a letter
Just to say you’re on my mind

credits

from Songs For Fred, released September 23, 2014

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Jay Williams image

Jay Williams Bainbridge Island, Washington

Grew up in L.A., next door to Rodney King. Foster kid, on welfare, muttsville. Heard John Prine at the Roxy when I was 16, changed my life. Stumbled into KROQ in the 1980s, got my 15 mins of fame. Moved to the Northwest, found community, then lost them when compassion became their justification for fascism. I'm over humans. These songs feel like phantom limbs. Cats are my gurus now. ... more

contact / help

Contact Jay Williams

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

If you like Jay Williams, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Featured guests are the golden-voiced Baby Rose and psyche soulsters Brainstory.
listen now