At 2:30 this Morning, April 1, the spirit of Sandy Mason left this world, but not really. She will always be with us though her songs
When I moved to Nashville in June of 1976 to join Cowboy Jack Clement’s crew of “dreamers, poets and clowns” one of the first people I met was Sandy Mason, who qualified on all three counts. Sandy walked on her toes, her eyes were always shining, her smile dazzled. She was permanently excited, glad to be alive, and she made you glad to be alive just by being around her. At that time Sandy was excited because Crystal Gayle had just recorded her song “When I Dream.” The song was a dreamer’s anthem:
When I dream, I dream of you
Maybe someday you will come true.
Crystal Gayle did have a hit with the song, which helped keep the wolf from Sandy’s door for many years. But the song belonged to Jack Clement. On my first official recording session in Nashville in early 1977, I had the honor of playing acoustic guitar on Jack’s recording of “When I Dream.” It was the best recording I ever played on. Jack totally inhabited Sandy’s lyric:
I could have a mansion that is higher than the trees
I could have all the gifts I want and never ask please
I could fly to Paris, oh, it’s at my beck and call
Why do I go through life with nothing at all?
But when I dream, I dream of you
Maybe someday you will come true
I can be the singer or the clown in every room
I can even call someone to take me to the moon
I can put my makeup on and drive the crowd insane
I can go to bed alone and never know her name
But when I dream, I dream of you
Maybe someday you will come true
This is classic clown material. Laughing on the outside; crying on the inside. Sandy had lived the life of a clown as a ventriloquist, starting when she was a young girl, eventually working all around the country, but always returning to her native Pittsburgh, where she met the pianist and arranger Charles Cochran. Together they wound up in Nashville and inevitably became part of Jack Clement’s musical family. Jack also recorded another of Sandy’s songs on his first album:
All I want to do in life
Is to love somebody with all of my might
That was it for her. Love was it. Accept no substitutes. Even if you get your heart broken. And you will. Sandy did. But that never stopped her. She’d get back up on her toes, eyes shining, smile dazzling, and tell you about the newest song she was writing.
It only seemed natural that Sandy would soon come to write with Roger Cook and John Prine, who had also been drawn into Cowboy’s vortex. Roger and John were also true believers in the power of love. Roger had written the anthem “I’d like to teach the world to sing in simple harmony” and John had simply asked us to open our hearts and say “hello in there.” Sandy, Roger and John all shared a belief in simplicity. What could be simpler than love? This is what they wrote:
You may live alone
And close your eyes, some folks do
You may dream a dream
That’s twice your size all night through
When the morning comes, who’s to tell
Your dreams to? Only you
Only love, love only, only love will do
Only love, love only, only love comes true
Nothing else, you see, there’s nothing else
Only love, only love
I have known a love
Within my heart, one or two
Where one love would end
And one would start I never knew
If love should come your way
You’ll learn to say, I love you, I love you
Only love, love only, only love will do
Only love, love only, only love comes true
Nothing else, you see, there’s nothing else
Only love, only love
When Sandy learned recently that her days were numbered, she didn’t hesitate. She packed up her few belongings and headed for the sea. She wanted to be able to hear eternity in the waves and see beyond the horizon. She wanted to be as close as she could get to the love which is at the heart of our existence.
Nothing else, you see, there’s nothing else
Only love, only love
[There will be a Forerunner Music reunion of sorts at Douglas Corner Cafe in Nashville on June 8, 2015 with a focus on Sandy]
The great Cowboy Jack Clement singing his favorite song in this outtake from the Gordon/Neville documentary, which Sandy posted on YouTube:
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