This song was written for her father's 75th birthday, who was born Sept. 7, 1915. She didn't find any inspiration for the song until she found out that the Yellow Cab company was founded that same year.
Cheryl got thinking about how the world has changed during her father's life. When he was a kid, he would go down to the barn and hitch up the team so that the family could go to church. Although it bothers Cheryl to see areas that she remembers as a kid get turned into Shopping malls, she has never heard her father complain about such things.
Cheryl sang this song for her father just before his 75th birthday party. Many people have asked her what his reaction was. He smiled and said it was nice, and asked: "Seventy Five Cents what?" He, of course, loves this song, and is very proud of all that Cheryl has done. He told me of the time he and his wife got to go backstage after a Peter, Paul, and Mary concert where they performed this song. Peter, Paul, and Mary told him that they think Cheryl is a great songwriter. Here is a live version with John Gorka that you can find on YouTube.
When she performed this in her home town of Timonium, at the end of the song, her dad got up and gave a 'thumbs up' sign. The audience went wild. The following year, she sang it with her dad and aunt in the audience. The audience kept clapping until her dad got up and waved.
- 75 Septembers
- Words And Music By
- Cheryl Wheeler
- In the year of the Yellow Cab
- Shadow of the great world war
- The third kid Grandmom had
- Came into this world
- On a rolling farm in Maryland
- When Wilson was the president
- As summer blew her goodbye through the trees
- A child of changing time
- Growing up between the wars
- Fords rolled off the line
- bars all closed their doors
- and I imagine you back then
- With snap-brim hat and farmer’s tan
- Where horses drew their wagons through the fields
- Now the fields are all four lanes
- and the moon’s not just a name
- Are you more amazed at how things change
- Or how they stay the same
- And do you sit here on this porch and wonder
- How the time flies by
- Or does it seem to barely creep along
- With 75 Septembers come and gone
- Were the fields all gold and fawn?
- Was the spring house dark and cool?
- Did the rooster crow at dawn
- When they got you up for school?
- And would you tell me once again
- The tales of granddad’s hired men
- And how they drove the old dirt road to town
- Cause now the fields are all four lanes
- And the moon’s not just a name
- Are you more amazed at how things change
- Or how they stay the same?
- And do you sit here on this porch and wonder
- How the time flies by
- Or does it seem to barely creep along
- With 75 Septembers come and gone?
- In the year of the yellow cab
- Shadow of the great world war
- 8/2/90
- (P) January 8, 1997
- Penrod And Higgins Music / Amachrist Music
- ACF Music Group
- International Copyright Reserved
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