l. to r.
Tom Johnson, David Johnson, Greg Critchett (on drums), John Nixon, Connie Canuso
The Shades was my teenage rock and roll band. We played together from 1964 to early 1966, or thereabouts. We actually performed a few of my songs, a couple of which are represented below.
This was the beginning of my performer’s life, and the fact that it was raucous, rawly emotional and tons of fun is something for which I am still grateful. Also, playing alongside my brother Tom (who co-wrote the earliest song listed below, If I Knew Her,) was especially great.
Songs actually performed by the Shades are marked with an asterisk — *. The rest were composed while I was still in my teens.
I have got to mention how the Shades were the launching pad for my younger brother Stephen, who is a superb song writer. Tom, Stephen and I form the nucleus of a band that will only quit when they take the instruments from our stiffening fingers: The Grinning Idiots. Here we are, a few years down the road, but still loving it. (Brothers Kevin and Tim and Sister Amee are ex officio members. They can grin with the best of us, but we older three have monopolized the familial idiocy.)
Stephen, Tom and David
Do You Remember When?* (1965)
Do you remember when things were so good?
If I Knew Her (1964)
co-written with Tom Johnson
Long, long ago/I took her for mine/How could I know/We’d be strangers in time?
Tin Can* (1965)
. . . Is it right/That we always should fuss and fight?
I Caught Her Lookin’ My Way* (1965)
She couldn’t disguise what was in her eyes . . .
This Cloudy Day (1969)
Time has come to light the room/With just a little country tune . . .
Think Tenderly (1969)
If I should pass by/Look tenderly on me, my love/Think tenderly on me . . .
Lonely is a Place (1965)
Thick, the hands of time go twisting on . . .
My Lady (1969)
She keeps her heart locked up in the bluest corner of the sky . . .
Other juvenilia . . .
Grass’ll Never Grow (1970)
Don’t try too hard . . .
The Last Day (1965)
From high noon to midnight/In such a short time . . .
The Problem (1970)
Life’s an affliction, and life is its cure . . .
Her Face (1965)
Straight from the heart/The vow never to part/Her heart in reply/Gave the parting cry . . .
| Words and Music by David Keith Johnson Copyrights the years in parentheses: Louder Than a Lie Publications and David Keith Johnson Except for If I Knew Her Copyright 1964 Thomas Riley Johnson III and David Keith Johnson All rights reserved. |