The song “Appian Way” was a direct tribute to my friend Pamela A. Ivinski, who passed away in 2018.

LYRICS:

A long time ago
I took a lot of photos
And then I packed them away
I didn’t look until today
Some of them went in the trash
Some of them were not bad
But then occasionally
I’d find one of you and me
In my car
There you are
There you are
There you are
There you were
There you were
There you were
That one was taken in Lowell
We’d driven there on a trek
Related to our obsession
with Kerouac
And then you moved to the coast
And I moved to the other coast
Then a year went by
And then another slid by
But then we met up in Rome
Somebody took our photo
under an old stone gate
Along the Appian Way
Under my arm
There you are
There you were
I hear your laughter still
There you are
I always felt like a dilettante around you
I hear your laughter still
There you are
The way you always could drill down to the essence
I hear your laughter still
There you are
I never said what a thrill it was to know you
I hear your laughter still
There you are
I never said what a thrill it was to grow with you