Memories of Mary Elizabeth "Jeanie" (Johnson) Greene Lee (Original song D.R. Storm) Elvis

Sadly, Mary "Jeanie" Greene Lee passed away last year. This video has been a long time coming as I was diagnosed with stage IV Renal Cell Carcinoma a short time before her passing. I sang one last song for her at her memorial service held in Corinth Mississippi. It was hard on me on so many different levels - knowing that she was not in her right mind, so, she would have never understood my diagnosis. So, I rejected even telling her.

Jeanie, as a great many of you know, was a fantastic session singer during the 60's and 70's. Her resume included big names such, Elvis, Neil Diamond, Cher, and B.J. Thomas. I've recently heard how she even sang a couple of times for the Billy Graham crusades!

I remember a lot of late night conversation that would go on on my cousins back porch into the wee hours of the morning. We covered everything from our faith to movies, current events, and how to solve the world's problems.

I will never forget one of the last things she said to me in the grips of her worsening dementia in that nursing home. I had been learning to play songs on the ukulele, and so I was quite new at it. I had almost chickened out thinking she would not like it.

She held out her hand and gestured for me to come closer to the bed. She spoke mostly gibberish the last year of her life and never made much sense, but I knew Jeanie well enough to know what she meant.

She lowered her head down and grunted a little as to gather all the strength left in her to say these last few words. She raised her head up and looked me straight in the eye, and without missing a beat, she said, "I love you, and I love you more than anything in this world" The next sentence was total gibberish.

This video contains the only song I wrote that contained actual lyrics. It went through so many different stages over the years. I had heard about a song-writing contest within the state. The song was only half finished. Miraculously, I managed a complete the song and record a fully orchestrated version of it in about two days prior to the deadline.

I waited for it to appear in the feed with the other contestants, but it never showed up. I wrote the station that was holding the contest, but they would never reply back. Finally, after I begged them to reply after sending several messages, they finally told me that it sounded too professional, and they were afraid of infringement. I was angered, but also flattered at the same time. I knew who wrote the song and orchestrated it!

I shared this song with Jeanie in a one on one conversation when I first met her some seventeen years ago. We were sitting down by the lake in Guntersville, and she listened intently to every bit of the song in its roughest form imaginable. She turned to look out the window, and I could see her eyes in the reflection of the glass. She was crying.

"You're going to break somebody's heart writing songs like that...that was just beautiful. it really is!"

She heard this version of this song and liked it much better. I always gave myself a thumbs down for the lyrics, but I'm learning that not everything life is perfect, and sometimes, you just have to "wing it"

Jeanie was the dearest souls, and one of the smartest people when it came to the Christian faith. You did not want to go to toe to toe with her on the bible, because she knew it forwards and backwards, and she lived it!

So, this song has remained in a dormant state for years after I originally submitted it to a contest. I was looking at some pictures of my aunt Jeanie with this song playing in the background...and it fit!

It was originally written as a love ballad that echoed the musical styles of the 1930's and 1940's. Which that was really the intention. I had been watching a bevy of Bette Davis at that time, and I always remembered how she could tell an entire story with just the flick of her eyes. Also, what makes this story unique is that fact that Jeanie herself bore a striking resemblance to Bette herself! Jeanie as you can tell, has wonderfully, animated eyes as well.

Mabye, the time wasn't right when I submitted this song, because it was meant for my Aunt Jeanie!

Видео Memories of Mary Elizabeth "Jeanie" (Johnson) Greene Lee (Original song D.R. Storm) Elvis канала D.R. Storm