Palmer Otterbach Songbook intro and a picture of his tattoo.

Introduction

Palmer Otterbach

I remember my first childhood playground well. It was the one put out in front of me by two records: Capt. Burl Ives Arc and The Best of Harry Belafonte, circa 1957. The songs on these records are a vivid collection of folk tales. They are about trains, the wild west, the American frontier, clever animals, maritime voyages, Calypso adventures, heroes and villains, romance and loss, high drama and lowbrow comedy all riding on a melodic tide of guitars, banjos, bells, drums, and singing voices. I was 6 years old. Though quite young, the sounds and situations in the songs were instinctively familiar to me. As I sat in front of the family hi-fi, the music and adventure leaped out of the speakers and charged the air around me with a dream-like magic. I spent many hours in play reenacting the scenes in the songs. I imagined myself to be an itinerate folk singer and invented stories and simple songs of my own. Looking back, I've come to realize that music gave voice to my soul at a very early age. It's the unchanging thread that runs thru the various twists and turns, ups and downs, of my life's path. It was only a matter of time before I had a collection of songs of my own. I started bugging my parents for a guitar by the time I turned eleven in 1962. In response my mother, who was a dedicated S&H Green Stamp collector, set a shoebox full of loose stamps on the kitchen table. I helped lick-and-stick the stamps into several paper coupon booklets. I picked out a bright shiny new Spanish Guitar from the stamp catalog. We traded in a certain number of the stamp-filled coupon booklets and I soon had my first guitar. With a Mel Bay chord booklet I began learning chords. At first I tried to figure out songs off records; didn't have much luck, though. My music skills were sparse: narrow vocal range, small chord vocabulary, unpredictable hand-eye coordination. But I found I could put some words together with a few easy chords and give expression to my inner world. And today, 40 years after my first guitar, I'm still putting words and chords together much like I did at eleven. I've been doing it all along. This songbook contains over thirty self-made songs that span the years of 1969 to 2003. Though I've borrowed from the folk, country, blues, rock and old time fiddle traditions, the songs are all authentic expressions of my thoughts, dreams and hopes. If music is a highway then songs are hitchhikers standing on the roadside with thumbs high in the air. And these songs, like grown children, are ready to leave the nest. It is my wish for them to be useful to someone, somewhere, sometime.

G. PALMER (UTTERBACK) OTTERBACH
Winter, 2004

	Introduction
Palmer Otterbach I remember my first childhood playground well. It was the one put out in front of me by two records: Capt. Burl Ives Arc and The Best of Harry Belafonte, circa 1957. The songs on these records are a vivid collection of folk tales. They are about trains, the wild west, the American frontier, clever animals, maritime voyages, Calypso adventures, heroes and villains, romance and loss, high drama and lowbrow comedy all riding on a melodic tide of guitars, banjos, bells, drums, and singing voices. I was 6 years old. Though quite young, the sounds and situations in the songs were instinctively familiar to me. As I sat in front of the family hi-fi, the music and adventure leaped out of the speakers and charged the air around me with a dream-like magic. I spent many hours in play reenacting the scenes in the songs. I imagined myself to be an itinerate folk singer and invented stories and simple songs of my own. Looking back, I've come to realize that music gave voice to my soul at a very early age. It's the unchanging thread that runs thru the various twists and turns, ups and downs, of my life's path. It was only a matter of time before I had a collection of songs of my own. I started bugging my parents for a guitar by the time I turned eleven in 1962. In response my mother, who was a dedicated S&H Green Stamp collector, set a shoebox full of loose stamps on the kitchen table. I helped lick-and-stick the stamps into several paper coupon booklets. I picked out a bright shiny new Spanish Guitar from the stamp catalog. We traded in a certain number of the stamp-filled coupon booklets and I soon had my first guitar. With a Mel Bay chord booklet I began learning chords. At first I tried to figure out songs off records; didn't have much luck, though. My music skills were sparse: narrow vocal range, small chord vocabulary, unpredictable hand-eye coordination. But I found I could put some words together with a few easy chords and give expression to my inner world. And today, 40 years after my first guitar, I'm still putting words and chords together much like I did at eleven. I've been doing it all along. This songbook contains over thirty self-made songs that span the years of 1969 to 2003. Though I've borrowed from the folk, country, blues, rock and old time fiddle traditions, the songs are all authentic expressions of my thoughts, dreams and hopes. If music is a highway then songs are hitchhikers standing on the roadside with thumbs high in the air. And these songs, like grown children, are ready to leave the nest. It is my wish for them to be useful to someone, somewhere, sometime. G. PALMER (UTTERBACK) OTTERBACH Winter, 2004