Most of Joan Sprung's songs -- the ones she writes -- are very visual, and their appeal for me lies in the pictures they unfailingly paint. Must be a reason for the title song of her first Folk-Legacy recording, "Pictures to My Mind," which has the wonderful refrain:

Sing it one more time,
It brings back pictures to my mind.
To hear the old songs once again,
Brings pictures to my mind.

I particularly love the images in Joan's poignant "Harbors of Home," which I don't sing, but others do (wonderfully). Also "Where Have the Dancers Gone," which is one of my very favorite songs to sing. I've been performing it for 15 years or so, and never, ever get tired of the imagery:

Lines like: "dresses the colors of sunsets and fall/everyone stepping out graceful and tall" and "sweethearts whose feet never quite touched the floor/an old man whose partner was just three or four" really conjure up a picture of the old-time community dances Joan is trying to evoke.

My other personal favorites in the visual songs category are songs written by the late Jan Harmon. Her song "Loni," about a hiking trip in Yosemite National Park,is a shimmering poetic picture of HalfDome, Bridal Veil Falls, El Capitan, Tuolumne Meadows and other park landmarks. Gordon Bok has recorded that one; I never tire of singing it. Ditto for Jan's "Wild Birds," which is full of evocative images of Wyoming. You can just see the clouds of birds rising up in a flock from beside the road when you sing the chorus:

And all by the roadside the wild birds fly,
Up out of the thistle, and into the sky,
Red birds, blackbirds, they sing as they fly,
Thank heaven for wild birds.
They're all dressed up in feathers with colors outrageous
They soar from this earthly-bound kingdom of cages
On delicate wings, so small and courageous
It's time to be going back home.

So, Jerry, if you ever put together that workshop at NOMAD, you know my number! What a great idea for a workshop topic. Kathy