JIm Henman Music

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It was over 4 years ago as my wife and I shared our honeymoon in Costa Rica, when I got commissioned to write a song based on the story told in a poem from 1759 in which the Americans were attempting to attack Chester, Nova Scotia. A new song adventure for this songwriter! I tried to write the song in a style that might have been popular in the taverns of the day where many story songs where performed.

The three pages below tell the original story/poem from 1759 depict the events of an American ship arriving into Chester Bay with the purpose of pillaging and whatever went along with that activity. The story of how the woman of Chester saved the town is quite amazing.

I completed the song in Tamarindo, Costa Rica, and emailed a demo to Dawn Harwood Jones who had contracted me to compose it. Here is the melody and chord chart as arranged by Peter Robson.

THE story continues…..
This year my wife and I summered outside Chester close to where this mid 1700’s story had taken place. This was our way of dealing with Covid-19 isolation. We had a beautiful cottage overlooking the water and as we were walking through the house the first day my wife, being a visual artist, noticed a painting (below) in one of the bathrooms and remarked that she thought this painting was depicting the story of the poem and the song I had composed. As I checked the painting I realized it was as she had stated. What an experience this was! On the back was a note with information on the artist Jose Valderde.
Here are the painting depicting the invasion of Chester by an American ship in mid 1700s and the note found on back of painting.

1. Today was the day I finally got to see the  large memorial to Lennon, Imagine, on the tip of Strawberry Fields in Central Park, New York.  The visit to the Dakota and the memorial was something I have wanted to do since Yoko had established this area in John’s memory. A very emotional experience.

The Strawberry Fields plaque placed in stone with all the countries names which endorsed this portion of Central Park as a Peace Park. There are over 100 names of those countries, with Canada being one of them.

Walking up to Imagine memorial plaques.

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Below is the Imagine memorial.

A small corner Strawberry Fields, Central Park, New York.

Security guard who showed us where John Lennon life was taken on that night almost 39 years ago.  He also shared that John and Yoko’s apartment is on the 7th floor and has white shutters. He told me Yoko still lives there.

This is the gate which John Lennon walked thru almost 39 years ago just before he was shot. Very emotional experience to see this. Such a beautiful place with such tragic memories.

This railing and white shutters designate the 7th floor where Yoko Ono still lives and where she and John Lennon shared their lives at the time he left us.  Below is that side of the Dakota.

It was 50 years ago this fall that four young guys got together to start a band. We met every day in my two cousins basement where all our gear was set up and we stayed there for the day. Myles and I travelled over from Waverly to Sackville  and lived in my dad’s lake cottage all that winter. It was dam cold. Here is one of our first rehearsals. It had no sound so I added one of own tunes that talks of that time as I experienced it.