The Letter

I went to a breakfast this morning for my alma mater to hear the football coach speak. I don't attend a lot of alumni events, but I've heard here and there that's he's a very spiritual man, a genuine man and a truly loving man. So I was looking forward to seeing him off the sidelines. I was so impressed listening to him speak this morning. It was well worth the 5 o'clock hour wake-up.

He outlined six daily keys to succeed. Not keys to success, but to succeed as your best self. I'm going to put that in a blog on my company site. But the most impressive part to me was his story about Elvis, by way of Wayne Newton.

He had a chance to meet Wayne Newton, who was a huge Elvis fan and memorabilia collector. Apparently, the night before Elvis died, he was at the Las Vegas Hilton. He returned home and died 24 hours later. As the cleaning ladies were touching up his hotel room, they saved the crumpled pieces of paper with notes and lyrics. Wayne Newton spent thousands at an auction buying these papers and framed them behind his desk. When he fell on hard times, he took Elvis' final words and put them to music. The Coach saw him perform this song, and was given this story firsthand. He was so moved by the song that typed out the letter himself and carries it around as a daily reminder every day since.

Years later, when he had the chance to meet Wayne again, Wayne wrote a personal note to the Coach on this letter that he still carried around. The following video is the best I could find and it isn't able to embed, only link. So check it out. But I'll type the lyrics below anyway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNFfy2v5IGE

"The Letter"

One more phone call from a friend

Just to say how hard it’s been
How their hopes and dreams have scattered
With the wind
They don’t see that I’m there too
How it breaks my heart in two
Just to make it through this night’s all I can do

Help me Lord
I need the son to drive away
The shadows in my mind
Help me Lord
I need someone to guide me
When the path is hard to find
Even though the crowd surrounds me
I’m still standing all alone
When I know I can’t go on
Help me Lord

As I awake again today
And my pain won’t go away
And the face I have to wear
Shows a smile
Now my nights are so alone
I just wish I could go home
I don’t know if I can make it another mile

Help me Lord
I need the son to drive away
The shadows in my mind
Please help me Lord
I need someone to guide me
When the path is hard to find
Even though the crowd surrounds me
I’m still standing all alone
When I know I can’t go on
Help me Lord

I feel so alone sometimes
The night is quiet for me
I’d love to be able to sleep
I am glad that everyone is gone now
I’ll probably not rest tonight
I have no need for all of this
Help me Lord

Help me Lord
I need the son to drive away
The shadows in my mind
Please help me Lord
I need someone to guide me
When the path is hard to find
Even though the crowd surrounds me
God I am so all alone
When I know I can’t go on
Help me Lord

Won’t you come and take me home
Help me Lord