I chose this song because I was was around during its pregnancy. Randy started with the first few verses and played them for me one afternoon while we were cowriting (working on a song of mine called “Alaska or Bust”, in fact). Charles Schultz had just died, and Randy wasn’t sure if the verses were good enough to turn into anything. I loved the verses, I said, and asked if I could try my hand at finishing the song. He agreed.
The next day I played him what I had written and he wasn’t crazy about it. Neither was I, come to think of it, because my attempt was a song that was much smaller than it deserved to be. Randall worked on the song for years, a fine example of the fact that songwriting is more like tending a garden than bobbing for apples. I heard probably three different versions of the song before he was finally satisfied, and in the end the song branched out into three parts, an ode to excellent, creative songwriting as much as to the enduring work of Charles Schultz’s Peanuts.
To my delight, one of my lines made it to the final version:
She always wore that same blue dress
‘Cause she fancied Schroeder liked that color best
My own personal connection to what I consider to be a truly Great Song. A song for the ages, Randall.
Andrew Peterson is a singer-songwriter and author. Andrew has released more than ten records over the past twenty years, earning him a reputation for songs that connect with his listeners in ways equally powerful, poetic, and intimate. As an author, Andrew’s books include the four volumes of the award-winning Wingfeather Saga, released in collectible hardcover editions through Random House in 2020, and his creative memoir, Adorning the Dark, released in 2019 through B&H Publishing.
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