John Gorka : Semper Fi

Posted on by

There are no ordinary lives.

Take the time to attend to an ordinary life and you will find; dramas and disasters, triumphs and terrors, hope and horror and stories more fantastical than Dostoevsky ever imagined.

Solar systems of fascinating and moving stories.

Stories just like yours.

Stories entirely different to yours.

Stories which will make you laugh and cry and shake your head at the wonder of it all.

The wonder of it all.

Sometimes you’ll hear a story and think – well, that’s a story I can identify with even though  it never happened to me.

That’s a story that needed to be told.

And, stories that need to be told need attentive listeners.

John Gorka is a songwriter who ponders stories in his heart so that the songs that emerge carry an enormously powerful emotional charge.

Soldiers fight and soldiers die
Soldiers live to wonder why

Semper fi fe fo fum
Look out peacetime here we come
*
*

A Family story.

One man’s Father and a story he carried within him for silent decades.

My father joined the leathernecks
To stay out of the mines

The new marine was just fifteen
In 1939

A story of a nation and its leaders.

My father met Eleanor Roosevelt
In 1945
The war at last was over then
And they were still alive
*
Her husband was the President
Till he ran out of time
Her Franklin D. was history
And they’d put him on the dime
*

A story of a War which left a bloody trail all over the world.

There were medals and malaria
The south pacific war
Through jungles that were paradise
And were paradise no more

A story that excavates buried torments

Some of the men who did survive
Were not the lucky ones
My father lay recovering
The hurt was all inside

Sometimes the wounds that never heal
Are easiest to hide
*
A story that tells you hard truths.
*
Soldiers fight and soldiers die
Soldiers live to wonder why
War is only good for those
Who make and sell the guns
*
A story that reminds us that in the midst of terror and chaos what saves us is kindness and love.
*
When Eleanor came bearing gifts
To San Francisco Bay
She gave my dad a blanket
In the hospital that day
*
That blanket meant alot to him
My mother has it still
*
Some forget the kindnesses
That others never will

A story that’s a nightmare and a hard won blessing.
*
Soldiers fight and soldiers die
Soldiers live to wonder why
Semper fi fe fo fum
Look out peacetime here we come
*
 
Soldiers fight and soldiers die
Soldiers live to wonder why
Semper fi fe fo fum
Look out peacetime here we come
*
*
In the interviews I have seen with John Gorka he appears charmingly modest and hesitant.
*
But playing live, having pondered the story he is about to tell, when his fingers encounter the guitar and he sings a voice emerges which is deep, rich and resonant.
*
In Semper FI  John has been faithful to the lived experience of his father.
A 15 year old boy who grew up during a dark depression only to travel thousands of miles to grow up faster than anyone ever should among shot and shell and death.
*
John Gorka has also been faithful and done honour to the craft of song writing.
*
Semper Fi.
*
Semper Fi.
*

59 thoughts on “John Gorka : Semper Fi”

  1. It´s a great song, “soldier fight soldiers die soldiers live to wonder why”. It´s actual true. I was in the Spanish Legion. In two “beautiful” countries that you can probably guess which ones are. You do wonder why(after years for me) that bullet passed literally inches from you and hit the guy behind you or right yes to you. The Spanish Legion is the best the Spanish have, we do train a lot with the U.S Marines, most of our tactics are based on what the Marines thought us. But we did go there voluntarily, not for Irak but for Afghanistan the battalion had to ask for volunteers to go. Almost all went, and we already had experienced Irak, but those who didn’t….. they had to get out the unit, they were a disgrace for the rest of us. Our motto was and I´m paraphrasing here since I´m translating it from Spanish to English ” Death is not the end! The most horrible thing is to die being a coward!” That was the ending line of one of the many chants we had to learn. Interesting experience in my life to say the least. Believe it or not it was the best part of my life and also the worst, but it was WE, we were there together and that’s what counted. The American saying of “brothers in arms” it´s actually quite true. You don’t like all of them obviously, but the job is the job and the guy that you will never have a beer with while on base in Spain, he will do his job and put his life in danger and often got shot for you to do your job. Kind of weird love when we actually not to fond of each other. But that’s the essence of being human, to know that you will die and I assumed it, never thought I was going to make it to 25 long and behold I´m 37 now. Go figure that one out, that one is a miracle. The essence of being human is to know that you will die for other people that you care (and sometimes don’t care all that much) while doing your duty.
    Very nice Tribute this musician, great songwriter, great voice, just overall very good.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply ↓

  2. My father flew 25 missions over Germany in a B-17 based out of England. I heard the stories. He was 17. How those men came home and put it in box up on a closet shelf and went back to it is the real epic heroism. Semper fi, fe fo, fum. Look out peacetime, here we come. Think about who you were dating, how you wore your hair, the car you were driving when you 17…And listen to this song again, Thanks, Thom!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.