Joe Jencks

When I was 14, I opened a concert for Rod MacDonald at a folk club in my hometown.  He was a magnanimous and generous host to a kid who had starry-eyed visions of the balladeer's life. My compensation was all the soda I could drink, and a copy of Rod's record, White Buffalo. I still have that LP with Rod's inscription, "To Joe, Good luck with your music. Keep at it!  -Rod." I maintain that Rod is one of the most under-appreciated masters of this art form, and certainly one of my greatest songwriting mentors. We have since shared the stage as co-bills on several occasions, and I am pleased to call him a genuine friend. But I will always maintain a tiny bit of the hero worship that filled my heart as I was transported to new places by Rod's socially conscious and deeply philosophical writing. Thanks Rod. Links In A Chain…

They say you've got to lose before you can win
They say you've got to choose before you can give in
And you've got to cut loose to come back in
And it's a long way back home

They say you've got to fall before you can land
They say you've got to crawl before you can stand
And you've got to lose it all to get what you planned
And it's a long way back home

And it's a long way, a long way back home
When you're standing on some place you've never known
I might see you where the rivers flow
Like me you're looking for white buffalo

They say you've got to die before you can live
They say you've got to cry before you can give
And you've got to say goodbye to come back again
And it's a long way back home

They say you've got to seed what you're going to grow
They say you've got to need what you're going to let go
And you've got to believe what you're going to know
And it's a long way back home

So I say to you farewell for we will meet again
In the hottest flames of hell I could only call you friend
And when you hear that final bell, do not ask whose round you're in
Until you've found your way back home

© 1978 Rod MacDonald, Blue Flute Music ASCAP