Author: Samuel A. Johnson

Here is a song I wrote in about 1974, commemorating a pilgrimage some friends and I took to Los Alamos, NM on August 6-9 to call attention to (and address and bemoan) the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We were a rag-tag group, walking from Taos to Los Alamos through Santa Fe, sleeping in fields, and carrying signs. The inspiration was from Saint Francis, who walked about similarly, calling people to join the “new madness.” We met with the director of the Los Alamos laboratory, who assured us of the necessity of building earth-destroying bombs that he hoped we’d never have to use again. After I recorded this, a friend sent it to Joan Baez, who, I hope, had a chuckle.

And, a while later, after hiking and camping along the Conejos River in southern Colorado, I wrote this peaceful song. I recorded it recently, and I can’t sing so well anymore, so…

More soon. Thanks for listening!

Here is the first song I ever wrote, at age 18, after visiting a ghost town and hearing a lame Windex ad. I used the first four notes of the Windex tune and wrote a couple verses, since slightly revised. Here’s “Tumble Down Shack.”

And my latest song, January 2021, Theme 152, titled “What’s Ours Today.”

Theme 137, using trombone and bassoon solo instruments to make little arpeggios and colors. Two minutes and forty-three seconds of bliss. More on the way to, someday, a symphony. Hmmm.

And, as always, a poem to keep you thinking.

This is to help cheer you through 2020. As always, use headphones or good speakers!