This Old Guitar (My Sacred Life, Sunday)

Thanks to a couple of dear blog buddies who happen to be far more than buddies to each other, Kelly and Sylvain, I was reminded this week of an old friend with whom I have spent almost no time in years. She stuck with me through all the travails of my 20's and 30's, never once smirking at some of my silly decisions or foolish choices through the years.

She is a good bit younger than I am, yet she has such an unbiased view--free of the close personal involvement which most of us find skews our judgment--that I know when she speaks, I am to listen.

Sylvain mentioned this week that he was thinking of getting back into playing guitar, and his blog post coincided perfectly with stirrings inside of me to let my guitar out of her case for the first time in years.

She is my Ovation Custom Balladeer, a magical acoustic guitar created in 1977, and my most-reliable friend through all of the years since. She and I were the perfect match, as I had not a clue what to do with a guitar when I purchased my Ovation--I decided on a whim to learn guitar on my own--and she is not a snooty, high-end guitar, but a friendly, easy-to-play, full-of-joyous-sound guitar. Anyone who has played an Ovation acoustic guitar knows I speak the truth: no one else's guitar sounds even close to the same. You may love it or find it annoying, but you can tell it blindfolded by the unique sound it produces. Rich, smooth, full, and sparkly, a crispness to the sound even as it is so mellow to hear...a player as much a rookie as I was then could manage to make pretty music with her.

I honestly don't remember what I paid when I bought the guitar, but I know it was well under 200 dollars. We spent hundreds of hours together, and most of those hours were just the two of us. After some months, I was able to share her with other people--I was once a quite-good impersonator of Cat Stevens, enough so that my Brit friends would bring new arrivals down to my dorm room to insist on a demonstration, which I would provide after payment was duly received and quaffed (Heineken--we were in Germany, and it was available across the street from the dorm in the formula which was the native, Dutch version, not the imports to the US which are not very tasty...really, not very, at all. Don't go there).

We will be a bit nervous when she first emerges after the long slumber, but after a bit of reacquainting, I'm betting we could do this song again. It was one of my favorites sung by a Colorado boy now long gone, John Denver.

My research turned up the fact that almost every serious guitar player who also writes songs and is of a certain age has written a song named "This Old Guitar." Neil Young has a song by that name on his most recent album. I remember this particular song, the feelings I have for it, and the joy it brought me when I was, exactly as the song states, in need of help through some lonely nights.

I'm a bit of a different sort in the way I care for things, so my "old guitar" is indistinguishable from a brand-new Ovation (she is a discontinued model, is my Ophelia. But I am, too, so it's okay). She never, *ever* suffered any sort of abuse at my hands, and heaven protect the crazy person who would bring her harm! None of the folks I have let touch her have been that insane, fortunately. Heck, the pick guard looks like it was attached to the guitar yesterday. I know, I know...real guitar players would laugh at the idea that a guitar, one which was truly loved to death by the player, could possibly look as good as mine with no restoration work at all. It's okay...I never pretended to be a real guitar player. I am a real singer who is not good enough to sing without an instrument leading the way, and a guitar is much easier to tote around than a baby grand.

These lyrics, then, are dedicated to Ophelia, my Sacred Sunday focus today. May she and I, once more, create beautiful music together. This is for her, and in memory of John Denver. And, thanks to Steve Goodger, who, as far as I can tell, had absolutely nothing to do with the writing of This Old Guitar.



This Old Guitar


This old guitar taught me to sing a love song,
it showed me how to laugh and how to cry.
It introduced me to some friends of mine and brightened up some days.
It helped me make it through some lonely nights.
What a friend to have on a cold and lonely night.

This old guitar gave me my lovely lady, it opened up her eyes and ears to me.
it brought us close together and I guess it broke her heart,
it opened up the space for us to be, what a lovely place and a lovely space to be.

This old guitar gave me my life my living all the things you know I love to do
To serenade the stars that shine from a sunny mountainside,
and most of all, to sing my songs for you, I love to sing my songs for you,
yes I do, you know, I love to sing my songs for you.