Juniper ( Ready To Remember )

Fifty Years has flown by!

In 1976 I was living in Manitou Springs, Colorado….trying to get established as a working musician and songwriter. This story song was inspired by some of the heartiest trees on the planet, but evolved completely from my imagination and was performed rarely since it had so many verses to remember! The first time I tried recording it was in my garage, when I got together with bass player Doug Seiter and drummer Jano Mossman to record some demos for club work. Doug brought over his four track Teac reel to reel and we went to town cutting everything “live to 4-track”. Doug sang harmony on this version:

VERSE 1:

Juniper Juniper columbine…Cottonwood and bristle cone pine

Take me back oh make her mine…I can’t forget September

I got a sack full of stories to tell…I got a dream and a wishin’ well

I got a hatful of rain to sell…And I’m ready to remember

CHORUS:

Ready to remember the streams running cold

Ready to remember the aspens turning gold

Ready to remember my fingers running through her hair

The taste of love when all the love was there

VERSE 2:

We were both just seventeen…Plenty wild and plenty green

Then the winter came in between…and I left her in December

Now I been to China and I been to Greece…I chased every kind of golden fleece

I traveled the world but I found no peace…And I’m ready to remember

REPEAT CHORUS:

VERSE 3:

( Juniper Juniper columbine…Cottonwood and bristle cone pine

Take me back oh make her mine I can’t forget September )

Sure enough I found the street…Where we lived our love complete

I found the street but the house was gone…and no one could remember

FINAL CHORUS:

No one could remember the streams running cold

No one could remember the aspens turning gold

No one could remember my fingers running through her hair

The taste of love when all the love was there

Juniper Juniper columbine…Cottonwood and bristle cone pine

Take me back oh make her mine…I’m Ready To Remember

Copyright 1976 Shadric Smith All Rights Reserved.

A couple of years later in 1978 I found myself in Otho, Iowa working on an album project that ended up being called “The Billy Buffalo Band”. We recorded “Juniper” as a special favor to Doug Lee, one of the backers, but it never made it onto the final release. Chuck Henderson played guitar and Gary Durr played bass and sang harmony on this version:

Chuck Henderson & Gary Durr at Junior’s Motel studio, Otho, Iowa 1978.

This second version of Juniper ( Ready To Remember ) ended up on an “album” collection I released in 2013 called From The Archives. These recordings are still available via DistroKid and the streaming services. Please check them out sometime!

Thanks for reading and listening this far. Have a great day folks!