Songs can be like creatures of the forest, leaving tracks behind signaling where they come from and where they might be intending to go. There is always a path to follow but these creatures can be tricksters, leaving sign over broad landscapes of time and activity, misleading its followers.
Other times the sign is clear and were left with profound impressions …
The song Fathers Day came about by way of a path that had been walked for decades before, by my grandfather Richard Cressey. He died when I was just a little boy but the signs he left behind became living breathing manifestations of my own sense of self, purpose, community identity and life trajectory.
My thoughts, feelings and opinions about the world were captured decades earlier in a sermon my grandfather gave at a church on Father’s Day at the Congregational church in Middleton, Massachusetts. My grandfather was not a deeply religious man but he was a bridge builder, community organizer and lived his life in service to others.
A message of mutual understanding and respect between generations was something that I identified with deeply, exemplified in the work that I have done for 30 years. I did not hear the sermon until well after I was on a path similar to his own.
Little did I know years later, the manifestation of this song would grant an opportunity to reveal our juxtaposed paths and the signs left to create it. Songs are living breathing creatures and evolve over time and generations, leaving behind signs for guidance, meaning making and purpose.
Fathers Day
Patient nature, bend an ear to what I have to say
You may resist, words spoken on Father’s day
Laughter ringing, from the steeple, floating on the breeze
Heart is open, from this box I put my mind at ease
Fathers feed the dreams of our futures sons
Sons find wisdom in what was done
Listen to the song
Before its come and gone
And I’m just praying
When does a man, shut his mind to the other side
Admire and respect, the kind of man with whom you’d disagree
Fathers feed the dreams of our future sons
Sons find wisdom in what was done
Nothing to lose but conformity
Listen to the song
Before its come and gone
And I’m just praying
“It will take the very we can all give, young and old, and the best from those who are not yet born, to solve the problems that lie ahead as far as the mind can reach.
Certainly, an attitude of tolerance and of mutual respect and understanding between generations will help.
Let us pray…
Our father eternal spirit of truth, help us to communicate with one another. Help the fathers to feel and understand the yearnings of the sons.
Help our sons to be able to differentiate with wisdom and with discernment, between those things that are worthy in our heritage and those that should be discarded.
With understanding, with cheerfulness and of live spirit, let us father and son apply ourselves to the truly monumental tasks that lie ahead - Amen"
- Richard Cressey