Pope

 When we were in Nazareth, Israel in 1973, we gave a basket of fruit to some children who were begging on the side of the road.  They fought over the fruit.  One boy was proud that he had gotten the peel of a grapefruit.  It was a shocking and moving experience for me.  A couple of days later, we were in Jerusalem.  I wrote "The Children's Song".  Coming back from Europe, I worked out the music for the song, although it has never been officially recorded.   Years later, I saw that Pope John Paul II paid special attention to little children, so I sent a copy of this song to him.  He blessed it and sent it back to me.  The words are timeless:

 

Save the world for the children,

They've got to live here, too.

See them starve in the ghetto of life, 

And no place to go.

Save the world for the children, 

Stop the war and the bombs.

Hey everybody, look around you,

And see their faces staring at you.

You see the happiness on their faces,

When food is dropped their way.

You see their families helped,

When money is theirs to stay.

Save the world for the children,

Black, Yellow, Brown, and White.

Please look around you and see their faces,

Because their world won't be here to see,

You'll die, and where would they be?