D
dems4me
Guest
Ken King said:Do you think you are the "little train that could'?
chugga ... chugga .... choo!!! choo!!!
chugga ... chugga .... choo!!! choo!!!
kwillia
n/a
Country singer Jimmy Wayne's single Paper Angels begins with children receiving gifts from the Salvation Army's Angel Tree program. When he was growing up in North Carolina, Wayne could have been one of those children.
"Some Christmases me and my sister didn't get anything," says Wayne, 32. "Some Christmases we got gifts and were very excited."
One Christmas particularly stands out. "I got a deck of Uno cards, and my sister got a pair of brown men's socks. Needless to say, we played Uno. But we had a lot of fun doing that."
Paper Angels, which Wayne wrote with Don Sampson, is the highest-charting holiday-themed country single in nine years, rising to No. 22 this week on the Billboard Radio Monitor chart. Subsequent verses depict other fragile lives through paper — a missing-child mailer, a social worker's file, a self-portrait without a smile. The song's video features Wayne wearing a jacket that he wore when sleeping on the streets at age 14.
"The sleeves were long enough that I could pull them over my hands and hold them," Wayne says. "It serves as a reminder and also as a thank-you to the family that took me in when I was 16."
Wayne, who has previously had top 10 country singles with Stay Gone and I Love You This Much, had a troubled childhood. He spent some Christmases in foster homes, he says, and the holidays spent at home often weren't very festive.
"My mom didn't bring ornaments or anything into the house," recalls Wayne, 32. "That would've just made things worse. It didn't hide anything, because you'd go outside and everywhere you looked was Christmas spirit. She had a way with just kind of ignoring it, moving right along and plowing through it."
Wayne now hopes to help children growing up in similar environments. He has partnered with the Salvation Army, which provides gifts for an estimated 1 million children each holiday season through its Angel Tree program, which began a quarter-century ago in Lynchburg, Va.
Wayne places the Salvation Army's red kettles near the merchandise tables where he signs autographs after his shows. He has put on concerts where fans donate new toys for admission. He has worked with other charities as well: Two weeks ago, Wayne spent 23 hours atop a Missouri Wal-Mart as part of a radio campaign for the Marine Corps' Toys for Tots effort.
"I think he has more empathy for the kids than even most of us who work with the Angel Tree program," says Salvation Army Lt. Colonel Charles White. "He's had the firsthand experience and knows very well the disappointment, the sadness, all the emotions that go with not receiving Christmas gifts."
Wayne says, "My intentions for the song — and this is the God's honest truth — were to inspire us, adults, to get involved. My goal is to motivate somebody to get out and do something for a kid this Christmas."
"Some Christmases me and my sister didn't get anything," says Wayne, 32. "Some Christmases we got gifts and were very excited."
One Christmas particularly stands out. "I got a deck of Uno cards, and my sister got a pair of brown men's socks. Needless to say, we played Uno. But we had a lot of fun doing that."
Paper Angels, which Wayne wrote with Don Sampson, is the highest-charting holiday-themed country single in nine years, rising to No. 22 this week on the Billboard Radio Monitor chart. Subsequent verses depict other fragile lives through paper — a missing-child mailer, a social worker's file, a self-portrait without a smile. The song's video features Wayne wearing a jacket that he wore when sleeping on the streets at age 14.
"The sleeves were long enough that I could pull them over my hands and hold them," Wayne says. "It serves as a reminder and also as a thank-you to the family that took me in when I was 16."
Wayne, who has previously had top 10 country singles with Stay Gone and I Love You This Much, had a troubled childhood. He spent some Christmases in foster homes, he says, and the holidays spent at home often weren't very festive.
"My mom didn't bring ornaments or anything into the house," recalls Wayne, 32. "That would've just made things worse. It didn't hide anything, because you'd go outside and everywhere you looked was Christmas spirit. She had a way with just kind of ignoring it, moving right along and plowing through it."
Wayne now hopes to help children growing up in similar environments. He has partnered with the Salvation Army, which provides gifts for an estimated 1 million children each holiday season through its Angel Tree program, which began a quarter-century ago in Lynchburg, Va.
Wayne places the Salvation Army's red kettles near the merchandise tables where he signs autographs after his shows. He has put on concerts where fans donate new toys for admission. He has worked with other charities as well: Two weeks ago, Wayne spent 23 hours atop a Missouri Wal-Mart as part of a radio campaign for the Marine Corps' Toys for Tots effort.
"I think he has more empathy for the kids than even most of us who work with the Angel Tree program," says Salvation Army Lt. Colonel Charles White. "He's had the firsthand experience and knows very well the disappointment, the sadness, all the emotions that go with not receiving Christmas gifts."
Wayne says, "My intentions for the song — and this is the God's honest truth — were to inspire us, adults, to get involved. My goal is to motivate somebody to get out and do something for a kid this Christmas."
That was great, kwillia! Thanks for posting it. 