A Conversation with Arthur Godfrey (continued)

AG: That was another opportunity given to me by music, really to take a look at my own life. I had met Tim Shriver through Sean, and I became friends with Tim, visited him a few times. I played at his house. He was a really gracious host of my parents' 60th wedding anniversary, and you were there down at Hyannis Port. He really enjoyed my writing, so I told him I was going to write something for the Special Olympics.

It was the toughest song I ever wrote. I finished it, and he liked it, and invited me to go to Shanghai to attend the Special Olympics with him and his family. And of course his mother is the co-founder of the Special Olympics, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, and the song "Brave" is dedicated to her. And I got to travel over there and travel the city with Tim and his family and sing the song at the Le Meridien Hotel in Shanghai, China, at her reception in front all these heads of state. It was just amazing.

PM: And were you in the company of Desmond Tutu's wife as well and--

AG: The whole trip was like this: I got in on a plane, got picked up, went over to Shanghai Harbor. We went out on a boat. And there were about 100 people on board. We had dinner. Of course Tim was there, Mrs. Tutu, Bianca Jagger, and the heads of the state. But there were kings and queens of countries present.

PM: Wow. When you got to sing "Brave" in public, what was the occasion? What was the setting?

AG: Every night they had a reception there, for different countries. It was the reception for Eunice Kennedy Shriver, her night at the Le Meridien Hotel. The King of Iceland was there, the Premier of China was there. I mean, they were all there.

PM: Wow. [laughs]

AG: I don't even know if they knew what I was saying. The room was very attentive, but I don't even know if they spoke the language. But I'll tell you, Eunice had just gone through a whole night of people giving speeches, wonderfully humble and gracious and thanking her. And after that she spent about an hour having photographs with everybody, literally up on this main ballroom of the Le Meridien Hotel.

PM: She's amazing.

AG: It was just flabbergasting in itself. And at the end I went up, with Tim. Eunice was still sitting at a chair. That's how we ended the evening. By then there was no one sitting down, everyone was just sort of crowding around the stage like you would in a mosh pit. And even Eunice was clapping to the song. It was wild. And when it's over--as everyone rushes off and is doing their thing, and you're just sitting there relishing the moment of truly being in China and actually realizing what you just did. It's hard to put into words.

PM: Well, I think you just did. And eventually that led to Broken Wings, meeting Gary, writing a bunch of songs, and again, going through the whole machine of putting it out yourself. But this time you're not necessarily going to go on the road and get after it. Is that right, or--

AG: No. Things have changed now so much. I think it will be nice, because I'm trying to simplify my life. How do you say that I've been grateful to get a solid group of people that are interested in what I have to say, and in this particular time of the year, without getting into any particular political party, three or four of these songs were written for that purpose. We get to put those out on the radio, through videos, with the technology that we have today, and through the support of friends, that it can reach infinitely more people done that way. But I never really intended to get in the car and to run around just from nightclub to nightclub. I've been really blessed that my records, just on my journeyman's level, have been well received, and people still want to hear them. And I believe that they're getting as close to my music as I am, and that's really watering my own seed, Frank. I'm very satisfied. I realize that music is--it's so important for me, but it's not the sum of my whole.

PM: I never do interviews without any questions, but I knew I didn't need any for this one. But I'm going to go to bed now, because that's a good body of stuff there. And I got to drive a truck towing a Beetle to Jersey in the morning.

AG: Okay, my brother. Thanks for calling, and we'll see you down the road.

[We're really happy to be featuring photographs of Arthur taken by the inimitable Deone Jahnke. Give yourself a treat and go watch the cool documentary about Deone, Picturing the Music, created by Heidi Spencer (filmmaker & singer/songwriter).]