Don Cooper ('My Images Come') - info?

Subject: Don Cooper ('My Images Come') - info?
From: Margret RoadKnight
Date: 12 Jul 04 - 10:52 PM

Any info on Don Cooper, the writer of "My Images Come"?
Any of his other compositions recorded?

Subject: RE: Don Cooper ('My Images Come') - info?
From: GUEST,ohshenandoah
Date: 13 Jul 04 - 12:10 AM

The liner notes from "All Shall Be Well Again" by Gordon Bok et al do not answer your question. I heard this song in 1984, on Thistle and Shamrock, during a particularly drunk evening. The song lodged itself so firmly in my mind, that I finally tracked it down on the Thistle and Shamrock forum at NPR.
What a powerful song!

Subject: RE: Don Cooper ('My Images Come') - info?
From: Margret RoadKnight
Date: 13 Jul 04 - 08:25 PM

Appreciate your post, and hoping some Mudcatter has some info ....

Subject: RE: Don Cooper ('My Images Come') - info?
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 14 Jul 04 - 05:23 AM

It was recorded by Rebel Voices, a/k/a Janet Stecher and Susan Lewis of Seattle, on their first CD, whose title, "A Little Look Around," came from the song. They don't have any info either, but if you go to their site and click on "A Little Look Around" you'll get to a link to Don Cooper's email address. That would seem to be your best bet. I believe that Janet and Susan learned it from the singing of Jay Wilson, formerly of Seattle, then of Pittsburgh, now I don't know. It's been too long since I've been in touch with Janet, so this is a good opportunity to contact her and I'll ask her for any info she has. Hey, Margret, thanks for the (indirect) push to get me back in touch with one of my oldest and dearest friends!

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Don Cooper ('My Images Come') - info?
From: Margret RoadKnight
Date: 14 Jul 04 - 09:00 PM

Pacific greetings, Mark!
Appreciate your tips, and glad to be of service.
Cheers
Margret

Subject: RE: Don Cooper ('My Images Come') - info?
From: GUEST,Bo in KY
Date: 15 Jul 04 - 02:49 PM

Didn't want this thread to fall off the bottom without an answer to the query. I just sang this song a few months ago, a capella (tapping the guitar for the rhythm) with the audience joining on the chorus, to an enthusastic reception. It's a brilliant, soulful song. I too would love to know more about the song writer - I came up with a blank before performing it. Is it in any songbooks? FWIW, it seems to me that it has a Calypso feel to it.

Bo

Subject: RE: Don Cooper ('My Images Come') - info?
From: GUEST,Neal Miller
Date: 15 Jul 04 - 03:58 PM

I have several thousand hours of Don Cooper recordings at various menus. He record 3? albums back in the 60s. Bought his contract back, formed Gooper/Dodge and they were on the road for 8 years. They separated ways at the end of the 70s. Don has been a school music teacher and does this wonderful program with 5th graders were they write their own musical and perform it.

What more do you want to know. You already know everything. Yes he is the musical muse everybody keeps searching for. Everything I need to make my life whole is the story in all of his songs.

Subject: RE: Don Cooper ('My Images Come') - info?
From:
Date: 17 Jul 04 - 07:38 AM

Don Cooper is alive and well. He has written an extensive compendium of music, and has at least two albums in the archives from the late 60s.

Subject: RE: Don Cooper ('My Images Come') - info?
From: GUEST,Neal Miller
Date: 17 Jul 04 - 07:43 AM

Since John Dodge (of the former Cooper Dodge band) resides in the Seattle area, and is still in the music biz as well, it is likely that the Seattle performers picked it up from him as well.

Subject: ADD Version: My Images Come (Don Cooper)-original
From: Joe Offer
Date: 01 Apr 15 - 11:49 AM

This song has quite a story. I had thought it was a Gordon Bok composition until I had to research it for the upcoming Rise Again songbook. I dug out the album notes for the 1983 Bok, Muir & Trickett All Shall Be Well Again album, and began my education. Gordon Bok had learned the song from somebody who learned it from somebody. Bok kept trying to find the songwriter, so that he could get permission to find it. He eventually learned that somebody named Don Cooper was the author. Bordon asked Margaret MacArthur about it, and Margaret spent weeks on the phone trying to track Cooper down. She finally found him somewhere in New England. Bok-Muir-Trickett recorded their own version of the song, but they included the lyrics Cooper wrote in the album notes. So, here's the original song:

MY IMAGES COME
(Don Cooper)

My images come
From the people who do the work
From the people who sing the songs
From the people who live the life
From the people who get along
A bottle of rum
For the demon what always lurk
For the demon what do me wrong
For the fury what is my wife
For the struggle what is my song

CHORUS
It get me down sometime
It get me down but only
A little look around and I find
That I am not so lonely
We in the same boat brother
We in the same boat brother

My images come
From the pleasures I had before
From the pleasures I'm still to know,
From the pleasures my dreams provide,
From the pleasures what I bestow
A bottle of rum
For the trouble what's at my door
For the trouble where'er I go,
For the misfortune what I abide
And for the courage I'm trying to show

My images come
From the woman what's on my knee
From the woman what's in my head
From the woman out in the sun
From the woman what shares my bed
A bottle of rum
For a broken love's misery
For a love what has grown so dead,
Expectations my life's undone
For illusions what I've been fed

My images come
From the world in which I live
From the world I know so well,
From the world of change & light,
From the world of which I tell
A bottle of rum
For the feelings I cannot give
For the feelings what fears impel,
For the screams of a fraughtful night
And for the time what is spent in hell

On Bok, Muir & Trickett All Shall Be Well Again & Gordon Bok Because You Asked.

Subject: ADD Version: My Images Come (Don Cooper)-1983 BMT
From: Joe Offer
Date: 01 Apr 15 - 12:07 PM

This is the version Bok, Muir, & Trickett recorded on their 1983 album, All Shall Be Well Again

MY IMAGES COME
(Don Cooper)

My images come
From the people that do the work
...that sing the song
...that live the life
and...what get along
And a bottle of rum
From the demon that always lurk
From the demon that do me wrong
from the fury that is my wife
And the struggle what is my song
C - CG C / FG C F G / CG C ://

O, It get me down sometime
It get me down but only
A little look around & I find
That I am not so lonely
We in the same boat brother
We in the same boat brother
C GC C FC / C G C G / C GC C GC

My images come
From the pleasure I had before
...I am to know
...my dreams provide
& ...I can bestow
And a bottle of rum
From the trouble that's at my door
From the trouble where'er I go
From the misfortune I abide
And the courage I am tryin' to show

My images come
From the woman that's on my knee
...that's in my head
...out in the sun,
& ...what shares my bed
And a bottle of rum
From a broken heart's misery
From a love that has grown so dead
...spent so foolishly
And illusions that I've been fed

And my images come
From the world in which I live
...I love so well
...of change & light
& the Lord of which I tell
And a bottle of rum
From the feelings I cannot give
From the feelings my fears impel
From the screams of a fraught-filled night
And the time what is spent in hell

On Bok, Muir & Trickett All Shall Be Well Again

Subject: RE: Don Cooper ('My Images Come') - info?
From: GUEST,#
Date: 01 Apr 15 - 12:10 PM

That's Don Cooper doing the song on YouTube.

Subject: ADD Version: My Images Come (Don Cooper)-2012 Bok
From: Joe Offer
Date: 01 Apr 15 - 12:25 PM

Thanks a lot for finding that link, #. And this is the version on Gordon Bok's 2012 Because You Asked CD. This is much closer to Cooper's original lyrics

MY IMAGES COME
(Don Cooper)

My images come
From the people who do the work
...who sing the songs
...who live the life
& ...who get along
And a bottle of rum
For the demon that always lurk
For the demon that do me wrong
For the fury that is my wife
And the struggle that is my song

O, It get me down sometime
It get me down but only
A little look around & I find
That I am not so lonely
We in the same boat brother
We in the same boat brother

My images come
From the pleasure I had before
...I'm still to know
...my dreams provide
& ... that I bestow
And a bottle of rum
For the trouble that's at my door
For the trouble where'er I go
For the misfortunes I abide
And the courage I am tryin' to show

And my images come
From the woman that's on my knee
...that's in my head
...out in the sun
& ...that shares my bed
And a bottle of rum
For a broken love's misery
For a love that has grown so dead,
Expectations my life's undone
And illusions that I've been fed

My images come
From the world in which I live
...I love so well
...of change & light
& the world of which I tell
And a bottle of rum
For the feelings I cannot give
For the feelings my fears impel
For the screams of a fraughtful night
And the time that is spent in hell


On Gordon Bok Because You Asked.

Subject: RE: Don Cooper ('My Images Come') - info?
From: GUEST,TomK
Date: 18 Nov 20 - 12:17 PM

I found a YouTube video of Don Cooper himself singing it at a festival.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UJrgAJL-h4

(There are several comments saying "That's my music teacher".)

It's quite a bit different then Bok's version; more exuberant.