"The Missiles of October" - Original by Ted with Jean Pierre

[Ted]

The Missiles of October

©1999, 2022 Ted Johnson
Recorded in Micro BR (except for Jean Pierre's contributions)
Mixed and Mastered In GarageBand
Final Tweaks in Audacity (Normalized, High-Pass Filter, Trimming)

Ted: Acoustic & Electric guitars, bass, vocal, and drum arrangement (GarageBand - Tyrell)
Jean Pierre: Dobro and Lap Steel guitars

©1999 Ted Johnson

I was a star rising in cement
On a mission to Florida,
'62.

Rented a car. Turned on the radio.
Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro
Were playing with fire while I played a fool.

Losing control of my hemisphere,
Just like the Catholic named Kennedy.
Each of us facing the world's end.

I'm not gonna let these three men keep me from seeing my family again.

Looked in the air over Miami.
Never seen so many warplanes
Up in the blue skies scowling at me.

I said a prayer in my hotel room
For my nuclear family
And for my failing diplomacy.

She was a force to be reckoned with
Just like the commie name Khrushchev
Testing to see how far I would bend.

I'm not gonna let these three men keep me from seeing my family again.

And I said, To hell with my rising star at the company.
To hell with the country that I served.
I didn't even bother to phone.
I just turned my rent-a-car around,
Took the next plane home.

More than a peep from a spy plane,
I saw this with my naked eyes.
Could not ignore

The pathetic creep smoking tobacco,
Just like the Cuban named Castro,
Sneaking out my back door.

And the missiles of October were turned away.
But at my home sweet powder keg
A spark from a Havana drifted in.

And though the world didn't end, we were never a family again.

I wrote this a long time ago – working on it intermittently over a period of probably 10 years. Never recorded it until now. I always wanted to record a real drummer with brushes. But along came the 3/4 Fest, and GarageBand now has brush drummers.

It's based on a true story – two true stories: the geopolitical story and the personal story. I had a few lines, but didn't want to work on it until I learned a lot more about the Cuban Missile Crisis. I read a bunch, and watched a few films, including "The Missiles of October," a 1974, made-for-TV docudrama. I was still really stuck for a long time. I kept needing a 4th verse to tell the story, and I refused to allow that. (I was determined to make this an ABABCAB song.) One day in 1999, I took my guitar to a park just outside of Washington DC, and told myself I wouldn't come home until I finished it. I found the economy of words to fit the all the ideas into three verses.

HUGE thanks to Jean Pierre for his contributions. I think they are absolutely perfect – even better than the steel guitar I heard in my head all these years.

BTW: I have now uploaded all three of my songs that borrow their titles from TV and films: "Three Days of the Condor" was the first song I ever shared here. The next one was "Monsters, Inc."

BTW2: I teased this song 11 years ago in this post. Tharek demanded that I upload this song. It took me awhile, obviously.

[thetworegs]

Loving your vocal & lyrics the mix of the dobro and acoustic is to die for love it

[Jean Pierre]

It was really worth to do it after 10 years of gestation! the voice and the strum guitars that you have redone are excellent

the mix with the dobro and the lap steel are just right


really happy to have participated...can I put it in video on YT and in my series CONTAINMENT MUSICAL WORKSHOP WITH FRIENDS ALL AROUND THE WORLD ?, I would look for some archive images which stick to the subject

[Pete C]

Great collab guys !  Strange that 60 years later we are almost in the same situation again, just the names of the 3 men have changed.

Pete

[Jean Pierre]

Strange that 60 years later we are almost in the same situation again, just the names of the 3 men have changed.

yes, strange as well as frightening

[Ted]

It was really worth to do it after 10 years of gestation!

30 years, more or less, if you start with the inception of the idea for the song until I clicked POST yesterday.

can I put it in video on YT and in my series CONTAINMENT MUSICAL WORKSHOP WITH FRIENDS ALL AROUND THE WORLD ?

Sure. I'd be honored.

Thanks also for your comments, Pete C, and thetworegs!

[Ray Brookes]

A beautiful song, Ted and excellently presented. That acoustic guitar sounds heavenly and JP adding in those fabulous touches is the icing on the cake. Great lyrical content about a frightening time when anything could've gone wrong

[cuthbert]

This is very well-written, well-sung, and well-played...so professional-sounding. And somehow Ted's vocal here reminds me a bit of Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips. Very tasteful additions from JP on dobro and lap steel.

I was just an infant when it all happened, but I remember learning about it later in history and hearing about it from my dad when I got older (he was in the US Air Force, and we were stationed in Bermuda when it happened). Nobody knew what was going to happen next as things came to a head.

[StephenM]

songwriting wise it's about as good as a song gets... super... wow...major stuff to take ones personal experience and weave it into a major world crisis... indeed.. if we only knew how fragile this world is with these nukes around...
but the song is great...the music hints of PF to me...and that is great as far as I am concerned... love the vocals too...fits perfect.  BRAVO to both of you...and an extra one to the lyricist!

[Mike_S]

Great song Ted and very tasteful adds JP. Powerful lyrics and really send a chill down the spine especially as they mirror what's going on right now. Haunting and brilliant.

Mike