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Jack London taken in Boston 1906 while on honeymoon
Printed with permission of The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Click the picture for a larger image
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Jack London, author of over fifty books plus his short stories, essays, poems and remarkable journalism is a legend. Even in his own time he was a legend. Some of us are pace setters. But I dare say that the path that he cut, and the pace he kept in the process, have given us a Literary Grand Canyon of Life's Triumph.
If perpetual motion ever existed on earth, it must have been within the intense energy of Jack London. He must of had a super atom. I can think of no other explanation that could possibly describe his amazing, and many accomplishments, in so short a time. Born- Jan.12, 1876 -- Nov.22, 1916, (40 years). His words breathe in deep the stars. Then, the imagination strives for perfection. For Jack this was easy. His infinite selection of words, pulled together by a powerful fervor for life, to live each day to its fullest. And that's the way Jack lived, like "Burning Daylight."
For years I've thought about writing a song about Jack London. But I always felt I'd fall short in adequately presenting such a paramount author, that the whole world is familiar with. So after a lot of consideration, it dawned on me that my words alone, would be weak in an attempt to bring "Jack London" into music. Therefore his words (18 Jack London book titles), would become the catalyst to a song, that will swoosh! the listener back into the Authors World. There is the idea that a ship being built inside a bottle can happen. I thought so until I realized that a ship, or in this case a song dealing with relentless energy, would take still more relative closeness, to the subject matter. Therefore the song must be sung in the first person, as if Jack London is alive, and thinking once more. This way the song loses no power, or expression, or genius, which Jack London the man most certainly had.
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