The Bob Gentry Journal

This email really brightened my day:

My wife wants me to tell you about “But I Do”. I love that song it
really hits home. I am from a small town in England called Silloth.
Many factories with no opportunity to get out. If you are born there
you die there. No body is very encouraging about get out of the town
and looking for other jobs. You generally just go to school up until
the age of 16 and then work in a factory. But I made the move to escape and find a better life with little help from friends and family. Hence “But I Do” The story of my life. Any how it touches home every time I listen to it and on really bad days when I miss my family it almost hurts.

So I then listen to Goldie Hawn and all is well So there I told you.
I feel like a stalker and a fringing idiot (Napoleon Dynamite).

Hope all is well. Peace.

Michael E

Michael…Thanks so much for this email! Seriously, there’s no greater reward than when someone says “hey, I like this song” and even better…Is when they say why. All the money in the world wouldn’t compare [though I have to say, who wouldn't want to be rich by doing something you love ay?]

I don’t know much about Silloth but by the sounds of it…It’s a Rust Belt Factory place somewhat like Detroit? I’m very proud to be from Detroit and I enjoy going back for visits but I just don’t think I could ever go back to live.

I’ve always thought we get cursed to be stuck in the place we’re born. My theory is:

We spend our schooling years making strong bonds with friends and family and then by time we’re old enough to really leave on our own, our roots get dug down so deep…We’re STUCK.

All of my friends I grew up with are still there…Some grew up to become their parents and there’s nothing wrong with that as long as they’re happy….It just wasn’t for me. I think if I would have stayed, all I’d have to look forward to is working the factory union 9 to 5 job and playing in my hobby rock band on the weekends. I’m walking a fine line here because in some ways it might sound like I’m insulting the people who stayed behind…that’s not the case…I just wish they would have come with me because i miss them “But I Do” is really written to/for them.

Most would say what I’m doing is a huge Pipe Dream but mainly I HAD to get out and try. There came a point in my life where i thought “if i don’t leave now, I’ll never leave” …I didn’t want to wake up being 70 years old thinking back on my life and knowing that I never tried.

There’s a part in the bridge of the song where I’m second guessing my choice to leave “wondering if it’s really for me“, losing hope…And giving a fake smile trying to fool myself into believing that I made the right choice.

There’s a little more to the song that I’m not saying but that’s pretty much the dissected version…You hit the nail on the head and I’m really glad you related to it. There’s actually been quite a few people who say that’s their favorite tracks of mine and they all have similar stories of leaving home. Perhaps because (for me at least) leaving home is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.
Thanks for your email…Sometimes i wonder if I’m doing the right thing with my life and by getting an email like yours is almost a relief or an answer.
…Not to mention, it makes for a fun blog
[for those wanting to hear the song, here's a link But I Do is the 9th song down]