The album title 'Songs For Sooner' relates back via the song title 'Sooner Or Later' to the dog I had when I was thirteen. Her name was Sooner.
Sooner was a beautiful jet-black Kelpie. I rescued her from a farmer who had beaten and abused her so much that she was terrified of everyone and everything. She was so terrified that she would spend most of her time hiding under the house. We called her Sooner because she would sooner stay under the house than come out.
I tried to love her back to life. I think I wanted to show her that the world is a far more beautiful place than the concept she held of it. Looking back, I’m not so sure it was just her I was trying to convince.
In the end, Sooner’s fear got the better of her. One day my brother Andy took her out for a walk. They crossed the main road together with Sooner on her leash and entered into the sanctuary of our local park. When my brother went to release her, so she could have a run around the fresh green grass, she was terrified, and misinterpreted this act of love and liberation as a clear and present danger. Once off the leash, she made a run for it. Not for the green grass and tranquil freedom of the park, but to make her escape back out into the unforgiving oncoming traffic of a four lane highway.
It’s taken me almost three decades to understand the message of Sooner's death. There is a moral to this story. I hope you get it Sooner than I did.