A Boy Named Jack
The initial inspiration for the song A Boy Named Jack can be traced back to a single line in the book A Separate Country by Robert Hicks. The book is a historical novel based on the life of controversial Confederate General John Bell Hood. There is a line in the book about Hood’s small daughter, who had experienced incredible loss. The line read, “She likes the things in her life that have been named Joan”. In the story, she had a pony named Joan and she called every butterfly Joan. Upon reading that line, I set the book down and let my mind go on a journey about the weight and meaning a name can have in a person’s life and in this case, my own. Jack was the name of a childhood playmate, a favorite dog, a rodeo bronc that bucked cowboys off but could be led around the arena with a child on his back. There were and are, other “Jacks” who continue to impact my life, for which I am eternally grateful and offer this small tribute.
Listen to the song here A Boy Named Jack
A Boy Named Jack
A boy named Jack
We’d spend hours, back when the days were long
Building castles, poking sticks down in the mud
Sharing lunch from a paper sack
Friends forever, we’d made a pact
That boy named Jack
CHORUS
It’s a vein of gold,
that runs through this beating heart
It’s what I know,
when life comes down a little hard
That sometimes it’s ok to look back
to that boy named Jack
There was a horse named Jack
He was a tough ol’ bronc in the rodeo
But at home I used to slide up on his back
We’d watch the clouds roll by
Friends forever, we’d made a pact
That horse named Jack
Friends like that aren’t something that you find
They’re just there, I didn’t even notice at the time
It’s sounds funny now, but I’ve loved everything
in my life named Jack.
©2013 Elk Mountain Music ASCAP Trisha Leone Sandora, Mickey Sandora