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Dave Clark / Larnelle Harris

Recorded by Truth and co-written with Larnelle Harris. Here’s the story behind this song. I was a young writer who had been graciously given my own writer’s room in the old Benson Company. I remember like it was yesterday the day someone knocked on the door. It was Larnelle Harris.

I was a huge fan but had never met him. He said, “My name is Larnelle” as if I wouldn’t have known that. Torn between excitement and nervousness I asked him to come in. He said, “I understand that you understand lyric structure and I need some help.”

 

I confess that even though I had made that a priority in my writing, I really didn’t think anyone noticed. He showed me the original lyric to this song and sang a little of it for me. Because there was a lot of syncopation and no consistent meter, it was kind of all over the place. I told him I would be glad to fix it. His response was that he didn’t want me to fix it but rather to show him how to fix it.

 

With those words I became an even bigger fan and it was the beginning of countless songs together in the years ahead and one of my most treasured friendships. A side trivia note is that the soloist on this cut for Truth was a guy named Marty Magehee who would eventually be a part of the group 4HIM, a group mentioned frequently in these songs notes.

IN THE LONG RUN

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