Childhood's End - JFK Memorial Tribute

JFK KENNEDY 50th ANNIVERSARY OF ASSASSINATION MEMORIAL TRIBUTE (Full Version)

Childhoods End 50

childhoodsend50·

Published on Jan 31, 2013

"A moving tribute, with an original musical score, Childhood's End, to John Fitzgerald Kennedy, whose assassination in 1963 profoundly changed the course of our nation over the ensuing fifty years..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=_ssPibCd-1U

http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=764634

Below you'll find a link to a recently completed memorial tribute to John F. Kennedy---a song and visual production that's I believe to be a powerful reflection on the profound effect his assassination in 1963 has had on our nation over the past half century.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=_ssPibCd-1U

I've been a lyricist/songwriter all my life, having the good fortune of working with a number of talented and gifted artists over the past 30+ years. The songwriting credit I'm most proud of is providing the words for "Shadowland", a song co-written with Graham Nash and Joe Vitale that appeared on Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's first reunion album, "American Dream", certified platinum in 1989.

While "Shadowland" was a stark glimpse at the effects the Vietnam War on the soldiers who fought there, "Childhood's End" is a look back at JFK's assassination and a reflection on how what happened on that November day almost 50 years ago irrevocably changed our country forever. I believe that event in history truly stole away our nation's innocence. That's why the title of the song in the video production is "Childhood's End".

I'll never forget that Friday afternoon when I was an eleven year old Irish Catholic kid living in Belmont, Massachusetts. In the ensuing years, I've come to realize the loss of President Kennedy in such a senseless and brutal manner affected me more than I ever knew at the time. The words to this song were very difficult for me to write, bringing me to tears many times during it's composition. All the feelings that 11-year old boy experienced fifty years before...feelings he'd somehow tucked away into the deepest recesses of his psyche...were suddenly coming to the surface. It was a cathartic experience, to say the least.

. I was hoping someone might connect with this song and video presentation in some way. Unfortunately, these days many young people today aren't fully aware of the lasting effect President Kennedy's assassination has had on our country and the world over the past fifty years. As the saying goes, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." 

I think it's critical for our future that this moment from our nation's history is never swept under the carpet of the changing times. We owe that much to our children, our children's children and the future generations that are here long after we are gone..

Kind Regards,
Rick Ryan