This is my tribute to my dear departed friend, Charlie, who brought joy and happiness into my life.
The band consists of me, my guitar, my synth and my PC.
Originally from Jupiter, I have been trapped in a human body for forty five of your Earth years now and to pass the time whilst awaiting rescue, I make music with some of your primitive technology. I am also known as The Shed Man but that's another story...
Story behind the song
If you're interested in knowing what brought this piece of music into being, please read the following short account of Charlie's life. It's by no means the full story but will give you some idea. Thank you.
Charlie Cammack - 01/07/93 - 16/01/2006
In August 1993 Charlie came into my life. I had just had a heart attack and my wife (now my ex-wife) suggested getting a dog would encourage me to take more exercise. So, off we went down to the local RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) re-homing kennels. We were shown a handful of puppies but none really stood out from the crowd until they brought out Charlie. He was such a wonderful colour, a sort of grey / brown with white collie-like markings. And whichever of us held him, the first thing he did was to clamber up on our shoulder and begin nibbling the nearest earlobe. We were hooked, he had chosen us.
From day one there were medical problems, particularly with his stomach, but he was a happy little soul, such a bundle of joy and energy. He loved life and had that curiosity about everything normally attributed to cats. At 18 months he was diagnosed with epilepsy and put on to medication, which he had to have for the rest of his life. By this time he had already survived a bout of kennel cough so we knew he was a tough cookie.
Charlie was a gentle soul too. When we introduced a kitten (Sproggitt) into the house, after the initial wariness on both sides they got along just fine. A couple of years later, Sproggitt gave birth to four kittens but she became unwell and couldn’t feed them and look after them properly. We hand reared them and Charlie was like a father to them, or maybe more like a protective big brother. He stood guard (well, lay down actually) over them and if one spilled out from under the small table where Sproggitt had given birth to them, he would gently nuzzle it back under the table with his nose. He was so gentle with them, never made any attempt to attack them. We have a photo of him somewhere with four kittens clambering all over him. If it had been biologically possible, I’m sure he would have fed them as well!
This is not the place for detailed descriptions of all his other medical conditions that developed over the years. Suffice it to say, no matter what life threw at him, he always bounced back. As I said, a tough little cookie. The thing to mention here is how much joy, happiness and unconditional love he brought into our lives, and to everyone he came into contact with. Charlie loved everybody! He was an instant favourite with everyone who met him. All through his life he was a little bundle of joy and happiness, a ray of sunshine in our lives.
Sadly, towards the end of 2005 his health started to deteriorate. We took him to the vets at the PDSA (Peoples’ Dispensary for Sick Animals) and, as always, they did everything they could for him and we never gave up hope that he would once again bounce back. But, in hindsight, after 12½ years of bouncing back we think he had just decided enough was enough. Our final trip to the PDSA, on January 16th 2006, confirmed our worst fears, his kidneys had failed completely and there was nothing they could do. He was in pain and suffering and we knew we had to let him go. It was the hardest thing either of us has ever had to do in our lives. We stayed with him and comforted him as he gently slipped away.
Here we are almost three weeks later and though the pain gradually eases a tiny bit each day, we both miss him like crazy. Life seems empty and pointless without him. We both know what we did was the kindest thing and put an end to his suffering, we both know he’s in a much better place now, but I think he took a part of us with him. One of the things that has helped me through this has been looking back at all the wonderful photographs and video clips of Charlie, remembering all the happy times we had with him. Another thing that helped, for me personally, was working on this
Lyrics
Just sing something happy if you feel like singing, he would like us all to be happy.
BLESSINGS TO YOUR LOVING SOUL Graeme!! LOVE YOUR SOUND! PEACE! JON:)