© 2006, MUSIC AND LYRICS BY LEROY BARFKNECHT Thinkin' actually happened and was written in the 70's. An old wino walked up to me downtown Salem while I was waiting at the streetlight. He pointed a finger in my face and said "Think." I thanked him and told him I would do it just to get him to leave. He came right back a second time and repeated it. What could I do? I thanked him again then he finally walked away. What was that all about?? © 2006, MUSIC AND LYRICS BY LEROY BARFKNECHT This started off as a poem titled Something of God in the mid 70's. It was inspired by the awesomeness and wonder of a newborn baby. Thirty years later, new verses were added and the right musicians enhanced the melody. © 1981, MUSIC AND LYRICS BY LEROY BARFKNECHT This song came into being the same night You Don't Feel was written. My little boy hugged me and said, "Don't let it get to you Dad." © 2006, MUSIC AND LYRICS BY LEROY BARFKNECHT To Really Live probably came out of the 70's and was my own Psalms to the Creator about the daily frustrations of life. Unique to me, is that the answer to my lament, and the great truth of the song came some 30 years later. I walked by my radio at work and heard Chuck Swindoll blurting out "Man shall not live by bread alone." I realized, To Really Live was just completed after laying in the drawer so long. It overwhelms me how time and timing enter into life's scheme of things! © 2006, MUSIC AND LYRICS BY LEROY BARFKNECHT Daddy, I'll Miss You originated on a ski trip one weekend in Eastern Oregon. I told my buddy Dennis "No big deal, let's write a hit record." After several hours we gave up. We couldn't produce anything. As I laid in bed, I remembered when I left the house how my little girl cried that she was going to miss me. I got back up, and in a few minutes the song was born. I had the song all along ... I just had to find it. Fortunately, I was also able to find a reel-to-reel tape of Jerusha singing this song when she was a little girl (probably around 6 years old). It was fun to hear the two voices some twenty years apart. ©1977, MUSIC AND LYRICS BY LEROY BARFKNECHT Back On My Knees was first titled Oh, Jesus Have You Got a Twenty on Me. It was written in 1977 and started out as poem about a very sick baby and a worried parent. It was then tailored to enter a CB song writing competition, hence the twenty jargon in the first title and chorus. ©1981, MUSIC AND LYRICS BY LEROY BARFKNECHT You Don't Feel originated from a night spent on the couch back in 1981. It took a whole night to sort out a typical husband/wife miscommunication! ©1975, LYRICS BY LEROY BARFKNECHT, MUSIC BY ELAINE BARFKNECHT In 1975 after taking a poetry class at a community collage in Salem, this first poem titled Oh How You Please Me was conceived and written. The following day it was given to my sister-in-law Elaine who the same day originated a melody. It was copy written, re-titled, re-written with many attempts to publish, but unsuccessful. It needed to rest 30 years and wait for the right singers, the right musicians, and the right studio to produce it. It is now titled Thank You, a song of joy and thankfulness from experiencing a new baby and the gift of a 53 Ford which overwhelmed me. We now give it back to God and you. © 2006, MUSIC AND LYRICS BY JERUSHA L. WHITE Send Me was written by my daughter, Jerusha. It was an outpouring of her heart from experiences shared with two of her senior friends, Elizabeth and Al. She was honored to sing the song for 1,300 people at a Holiday Retirement Convention in Maui, May 2006. Bob Black, Dave Duffus and I were honored to accompany her with the music. The song was a great success and moved many people to tears! The first verse is about Elizabeth, who at 86 years old had to face the death of her husband. The second verse is about a man named Al, who is 85 years old. He asked to keep Jerusha's tissue of tears to remind him that someone loved him, and would cry over him when he died. That night she finished writing the song! Thank You Lord for letting us be part of it! © 1977, MUSIC AND LYRICS BY LEROY BARFKNECHT Pennies for Jesus came from our church service as our little toddlers would cry out for pennies for Jesus to throw in the collection plate. A few years later the little kids stood up front and sang the song for the congregation. The little voices you hear at the beginning of the song are Jerusha and Jesse, about 6 and 4 years old. © JUNE 2006, MUSIC AND LYRICS BY LEROY BARFKNECHT For the Baby You Have Given was just an overflowing of joy and thankfulness after experiencing the birth of our first baby. This song was sung at a church talent show 26 years later by the baby, Jerusha, (now 30 years old) and me. © 2006, MUSIC BY LEROY BARFKNECHT, LYRICS BY LEROY BARFKNECHT AND BEV BARFKNECHT My Dad's My Dad was written between midnight and two in the morning. My cousin Bev and I recounted the similarities of our Dad's who were brothers. Fortunately I got to sing the song to my Dad while he was still alive. I recall him playing harmonica with me and keeping the beat by patting my shoulder as I sang. I remember the "old duffers" with tears as I sang the song for them. I'm glad that I had a chance to share it. The interview of Dad was unique. I searched for days though boxes of reel-to-reel tapes to find it so I could insert it in the song. We did a good job, Bev!