Rich Strack is an award-winning columnist and playwright from Jim Thorpe, PA. After a career in teaching, he wrote and published his first novel, titled, “Upon a Field of Gold.” Recently, he turned his storytelling talents to songwriting, and we were fortunate enough to collaborate with him on the production for “Forever in My Dreams.”

Words evolve from poetry into lyrics and when put to music, they become the ingredients for a perfect revelation of the artist’s deep and sincere emotions.

What is the inspiration behind the lyrics for “Forever in My Dreams”?

The words to “Forever in My Dreams” bled onto the page from my broken heart. I am “December” and my much younger wife is “May.” After 13 years of a happy marriage and blessed with a wonderful son and daughter, our wide age difference has become a problem in our relationship that we cannot fix. I have been through much soul searching and emotional suffering. I love my wife so much and I now understand that I have to let her go to enjoy her youth and find new love. I cried when I wrote the words and every time I revised the lyrics. I cried again the first three times I heard my song, but now the lyrics and the music comfort me because I know I can always love my wife “forever in my dreams.”

Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?

“Forever in My Dreams” is the first song I have written and the truth is that I wrote the words as a poem with no idea it could become a song. I love music so I thought that since I am so personally attached to the meaning of the poem, wouldn’t it be wonderful if I could find a singer and a recording studio to produce a song from my poem? I was fortunate to find Demo My Song and their talented musicians have gifted me with me a beautiful melody that I will continue to cherish for the rest of my life. I gather my creative ideas from life experiences and from others as well. I write deeply about the human condition and our quest to find purpose and meaning in life overwhelmed by too many mechanical obligations. I have help when I write, too. I listen to the voice in my soul.

How would you describe and rate the music scene of the city you are currently living in and how important is it in terms of what you’re actually writing about?

Downtown Jim Thorpe inspires artists, authors, and songwriters alike, High on the hill behind Stone’s Row lined with Victorian shops, boutiques and quaint eateries, is the Asa Packer Mansion, the early 1800’s home one of America’s first railroad tycoon. Jim Thorpe is rich in history and it’s the site of “The Molly Maguires,” a movie starring Sean Connery about Irish coal miners who were hanged for causing a rebellion against their bosses. The road up the mountain from the town leads to where the body of Jim Thorpe is entombed. Thorpe is considered by many to be the greatest athlete of all time. I have incorporated our town’s beautiful natural environment into my novel and the romanticism of the town is very inspirational to write love poems and songs.

What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?

I would love to share my song with other songwriters and listen to their music as well. A song says so much about the writer’s soul. Words evolve from poetry into lyrics and when put to music, they become the ingredients for a perfect revelation of the artist’s deep and sincere emotions. Words are just words until played inside a musical melody and sung with passionate empathy. Then each time the music plays, the song transcends from the writer’s soul into the listener’s soul where it makes a permanent home. We the listeners can sing or hear the song from inside our minds anytime we choose to remember those defining moments of our lives.