Sam Patch

Only a small handful of you have ever heard of Sam Patch, The Greatest Story Ever Told So Far, a musical tragedy I wrote in 1971, based on a short story by Michael Wildermuth, with music by him and Clark Smith.

I consider it the peak of my lifetime public creative fictional output—better than Captain Zommarr and the Galaxy Pirates, the New Eugene Oregon Show or Vernon Jones, Super-Scientific Detective (the novel and radio serial, now lost, that gave me carpal tunnel syndrome when I typed it on Mom’s portable computer at age 12). My memoirs are better, but they aren’t public. My poetry is better, but it isn’t fictional.

My wife recently noted, “a half-century is a long time to be obsessed with a radio play.” Well, not if you once believed “Broadway in 75 or die.” It has still never received a real-life performance, or even a staged reading, but if some amateur dramatic company were willing, I have the script, the lyrics, and could obtain a karaoke soundtrack. Royalty-free! In fact, there might be a generous donation involved.

Well, my point here is that, after 50 years, I found a freelancer on the Internet who was willing to “sweeten” the original musical soundtrack—adding horns and percussion to the original instrumentation of accordion, guitar and piano. I’ve always loved the music; now it takes my breath away. It’s fun, whether you’re listening for the first time, or were there at the inception.

My favorites: Why Jump and Pittsburgh, PA. If you can tell me why these things called hope and happiness exist, then you can ask me, why jump.