Cashing in with John!
John Schmid from Ohio was on a two week tour of Cork and Waterford and included a couple of days in Youghal at the invitation of the local Baptist community.He did a full length concert in the Mall Arts Centre on Saturday October 4th.
John Schmid and his daughter Katie with Ernie Tromsness and Mervyn Scott from the Youghal Baptist community, Music teacher Ann Fitzgerald and Pobalscoil Na Troinoide students
In co-operation with Anne Fitzgerald from the Music department in the Pobalscoil, he spoke and sang to around 60 students on Monday afternoon, October 6th. In the first 20 minutes he treated the students as if they were inmates in a prison in Ohio and his mixture of real life stories and Johnny Cash songs went down really well. Throughout the rest of the time he sang from a wide repertoire of songs including the “auctioneer’s song”, other funny songs and a song especially for Chemistry students. You could have heard a pin drop as he sang “Howard Gray”, a song based on a true story about one man’s regret for taking part in bullying another pupil in his school.
John received warm applause from the students for his time with them and they made a presentation to him of a piece of Waterford Crystal. (This was very fitting because during his stay in Waterford he had managed to trace his Great Grandmother’s roots to a Town land between Tramore and Dunmore East) Mervyn Scott from the Baptist community hopes that John Schmid will be able to return to Youghal in the near future.
HOWARD GRAY
By Lee Domann
Most every one I knew put the whole Gray family down
They were the poorest family in that little country town
Howard always looked too big for his funny ragged clothes
The kids all laughed at him and Jimmy Jones would thumb his nose
Howard sat across from me in seventh grade at school
I didn’t like it much but mama taught the golden rule
So when the spitballs flew at him I never would join in
I guess that was the reason Howard thought I was his friend
And after things would quiet down sometimes I’d turn and see
The grateful eyes of Howard Gray lookin’ back at me
Howard Gray, Howard Gray, somehow they got their kicks
Out of treatin’ you that way
Deep down I kind of liked you but I was too afraid
To be a friend to you, Howard Gray
One day after lunch, I went to comb my hair and saw
They had Howard pinned against a locker in the hall
They were pokin’ fun about the big hole in his shirt
They had his left arm twisted back behind him ’til it hurt
To this day I can’t explain and I won’t try to guess
Just how it was I wound up laughing harder than the rest
I laughed until I cried but through my tears I still could see
The tear-stained eyes of Howard Gray, looking back at me
Howard Gray, Howard Gray, I can’t believe I joined them all
Treatin’ you that way
I wanted to apologize but I was too afraid
Of what they’d think about me, Howard Gray
From that moment on after I made fun of him
He never looked my way, he never smiled at me again
Not much longer after that his family moved away
And that’s the last I ever saw or heard of Howard Gray
That was forty years ago and I still haven’t found
Just why we’ll kick a brother or a sister when they’re down
I know it may sound crazy but now and then I dream
About the eyes of Howard Gray lookin’ back at me
Howard Gray, Howard Gray, I’ve never quite forgiven us
For treatin’ you that way
I hope that maybe somehow you’ll hear this song someday
And you’ll know that I am sorry, Howard Gray
We’ll probably never meet again, all I can do is pray
May you and God forgive us, Howard Gray
(c)1985 Shuretone Music (BMI) & Renovation Music (BMI)
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- American musician John Schmid and his daughter Katie with Ernie Tromsness and Mervyn Scott from the Youghal
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- American musician John Schmid and Fr. Patrick Relihan
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- American musician John Schmid and Principal Seamus O'Ceallachain
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- John Schmid performing at The Mall Arts Centre
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- John Schmid and his daughter Katie with Ernie Tromsness and Mervyn Scott from the Youghal Baptist community, Music teacher Ann Fitzgerald and Pobalscoil Na Troinoide students
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