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Rose Colored Glasses by Mark Shepard Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Rose Colored Glasses | July, 6, 1993 | Song #190

I may look like a fool in my rose colored glasses
I may look like a fool in my rose colored shades
I may look like a fool but I don’t care
Cause I believe in the power of prayer
To pull me a miracle or two right out of thin air*

I know that the good times are gonna catch us
I know that the good times are gonna come and stay
I know that the good times are gonna catch us
Though today they seem slow as molasses
I know that the good times are gonna come and they’re gonna stay

Refrain:
The Sun is hot and mean this morning
It’s a hundred in the shade the radio’s warning
And I’m wishing for a breeze to blow a storm in through these trees
I’m wishing for, I’m wishing for a breeze…

I called you on the phone but you weren’t home today
I called you on the phone but your home and that’s okay
I called you on the phone to tell you why
I refuse to hang my head and cry
Called you on the phone and you weren’t today

Refrain:

I’m walking down a road that’s got no name and has not end
I’m walking down a road that’s got no name and has no end
I’m walking down a road that has no name
Just mountains, rivers, valleys and plains
Walking down a road that got no name and got no end

Refrain:

I may look like a fool in my rose colored glasses
I may look like a fool in my rose colored shades
I may look like a fool but I don’t care
Cause I believe in the power of prayer
To pull me a miracle or two right out of thin air*
To pull me a miracle or two right out of thin air
Gonna need a miracle or two or three right out of thin air…

*Alternate:
‘Cause I’m floatin’ on clouds of air
I know that someday soon I’m gonna have it made

Commentary:

I wrote this song at what was arguably the worst time of my life. I had bought 4 houses for “nothing down” at the top of the 1980’s real estate bubble. The "Bubble" subsequently burst and left me owing far more on the houses than they were worth. I made a living at that time as a Title Insurance agent. And that was a business that was totally dependent on the real estate market as well. So when I talk to a lot of the people in this current economic “melt-down” I have deep compassion. I know that horrible sinking feeling in your gut...

The old saying goes, “the only way to avoid making mistakes in business and life is to have experience. But the only way to get experience is to make mistakes.”

Ultimately after all the twisting and contorting to try to find a way out of the financial mess I was in I ended up losing the houses to foreclosure and went through the “humiliation” of bankruptcy.

I had a lot of moments of sheer panic and doubt and anxiety where I saw myself and my family homeless and living out of cardboard boxes…But on occasion I was able to clear that out and focus on miracles. One miricle that happened was when we went in to court for our eviction hearing. The Bank attorney never showed up. We had 6 more months of living in our home before they found the file that had "fallen through the cracks". Call it what you will I call it a miracle.

The reason I’d bought all the houses in the first place was because I was trying to make a lot of money so I could do my music. Ultimately I had no choice but to do music. My friend Gene Moore said “Mark, this guy comes to my son’s day care center once a week and plays songs for the kids for $75.00 an hour.”

I had written a bunch of kid songs for my own three children and so I opened the Westchester county phone book and started “cold calling” nursery schools and day care centers. I have since helped a lot of professionals overcome their fear of “cold calling” and I know what that terror feels like staring at the phone…knowing that if you don’t make that call you may not eat.Being  terrifed of "rejection". But I figured "how mean could a nursery school director be?"

I had no choice. I made the calls and I started getting a few opportunities to play for kids. Ultimately that economic meltdown gave me a chance to do something that I truly loved to do.

Eventually I added drums and story telling to my bag of tricks and DrumSongStory was born (which in this current economic meltdown is still providing income as well as satisfaction.)

Now don’t think that all my financial challenges were over. Because I have yet to discover how to get “steady, passive income” flowing. I am continually challenged by changing circumstances and economic conditions. But the point of the story is that sometimes when it seems really grim, the solution is trying to get your attention. Sometimes when everything else falls apart it’s an opportunity to re-align your core values. And ask some powerful questions like,

• “If I knew I could not fail, what would I be doing?” or

• “If I only had a year to live what would I be doing?”

Take a moment and write some of that down. Now start doing it. Even just 15 minutes a day. Do what you would do if you knew you only had a short time here on earth.

And as you focus on that and begin to do that, I guarantee all the other stuff begins to lose it’s scariness.

Thoughts? I always appreciate hearing from you.

© 1993-2009 by Mark Shepard http://MarkShepardSongs.com
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Permission granted to reprint with copyright info and link intact.
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