Bill Sammon

Bill Sammon: Vocal, Acoustic Guitars, Bass

J. Scott Gaeta: Drums, Piano, Organ, Electric Guitar, Harmony Vocal

 

“This one is a simple inventory of the contents of my father's sock drawer. It's where he kept his small knick-knacks, odd remnants, and souvenirs from places he'd been. They tell quite a story about what was special to him. You can learn a lot about your old man from digging around in the sock drawer. I'll bet your father or grandfather did this too. What little treasures did they keep in there?”

 

A picture of the Virgin Mary caught my eye and stared into my soul

and I noticed she was peeking out from underneath an old Life Savers roll

and a silver cross right next to her from a rosary chain that had to be long gone

I'd found a hundred treasures from the thousand roads my father'd traveled on

 

A small pearl-handled pocketknife showed signs of bein' stuck in the dirt

and the gold & silver cufflinks that used to decorate his favorite shirt

There were cards with names of friends who had flown away into the great beyond

and a faded wrinkled Polaroid of Mom the day she tried to be a blonde

 

It was just a chest of drawers made of hardwood and ornamental steel

where my father kept his secrets folded up and tucked away for all those years

and the scattered loose ends of his life were hidden there where none but he could see

and I'm feelin' that he kept them all this time just so they'd be found by me

 

Old business cards from businesses that folded up and closed long ago

and laces from some pairs of shoes, which ones they are, I'll never know

and a plastic purse designed for coins that held a rosary chain without a cross

So many fractured memories in a sock drawer that would otherwise be lost

 

There's a ticket from a shop where he had taken something in to have it pawned

and a handkerchief all stained with sweat and grass from when he used to cut the lawn

There's a pin with silver wings and a dried out pack of Camels in a bag

and a Kodak slide of a pin-up girl wearing nothing but a 48 star flag

 

So now I'm boxin' up all these artifacts and storing them away

because somehow I know this collection will be added to someday

and somewhere up the road, some young child will go through that drawer of mine

and that's how generations tell their stories to the next one down the line

 

It was just a chest of drawers made of hardwood and ornamental steel

where my father kept his secrets folded up and tucked away for all those years

and the scattered loose ends of his life were hidden there where none but he could see

and I'm feelin' that he kept them all this time just so they'd be found by me

 

A picture of the Virgin Mary caught my eye and stared into my soul