My old and good friend, a fine musician who now makes his living selling teeth, BRIAN GILL, wrote this remarkable song in 1986. Back then it was being used by The American Cancer Society.

Personally: After 50 years of smoking several packs a day, I had just watched my aunt die a terrible and demeaning, broken death because of her addiction to cigarettes. Emphysema had deprived her brain of oxygen to the extent that she exhibited the many symptoms of advanced Alzheimer's disease---all the while gasping for breath. On her deathbed, she constantly asked me to give her another cigarette.
Art Thieme

words and music
Brian Gill @ 1986

DADDY SMOKED HIS LIFE AWAY

What more can I do,
What more can I say
For 30 years now it's been
Going on the same old way,
Up in the morningYou're looking for a morning light
'Cause you're a life time smoking man.

CHORUS:One by one
They're dragging you down,
One by one,
They're putting you in the ground,
One by one,
They're gonna bring about the day,
When momma tells her children
Daddy smoked his life away.

It's all a corporate scam,
It's the drug of the times
They're killing people right and left
While the profit margin's doing fine,
It's a personal gift
From the angel of death,
They're laughing all the way to the bank
While they're stealing your precious breath.

BRIDGE:Nicotine stains on your fingers and nails
Coughing like you're gonna die,
When you gonna wake up?
When you gonna open your eyes?

There's a reason for living,
There's a reason for love,
Your wife and your family
The good lord above,
Poppa, we love you
More than you'll ever know.
Sometimes it's hard to say,
Sometimes it's even harder to show.