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Lesson 12
Two or three months after he came home from the army in Germany he called me about midnight - and this was really about the time he was waking up and getting started, you know… but he called me at my house and asked me could I come down and talk to him for a while. And so I got out of bed and went down and we went into the music room and he sat at the piano and he mostly told me about how much he missed his mother and how much that his career really didn't mean that much to him anymore without her being there - his successes were dedicated to her.
As I was leaving he said, "I envy you - I wish I could be like you." And it just shocked me, the statement, and I said, "Excuse me, but you're going to have to explain that. You have automobiles, you have more automobiles than you can possibly drive, you have millions of dollars, you have this big house, you've got gold records, you've got movies and you want to be like me? You have to explain that." And he said, "Well, you're able to get in your car now and drive out the gates there. And the fans down at the gates won't grab you or try to grab your hair or try to grab your clothes and they won't follow you." And he said, "So that's the reason I envy you."If I had one thing to do over in our relationship of 20 years I would have put that hand on his shoulder and would have gently shoved him in the car and we would have gone through the gates that night.
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