The Big Windows Review, Issue 25, Fall 2021

PETER MLADINIC _____________________________ The Great Billy Williams When I was a little kid there was this pop song, “I’m Gonna Write Myself a Letter.”

I remember hearing it in a bar, on a jukebox, some drunk guy singing along, like lightly slamming the open palm of his hand on the bar in time to the jaunty rhythms.

Well, it was just a song, kind of catchy, but I didn’t think much of it. The bar, the building itself was wooden, and in a low valley, between one steep hill and a lower hill.

By the mid-sixties it was torn down and replaced by a small brick strip mall.

But this song was a big hit, and the guy singing, his voice sounded kind of cranky.

“Gonna write myself a letter, make believe it came from you, oh yeah!”

Just another song. When I got to my teens, I bought a 45 disc, “I Don’t Wear My Heart on My Sleeve” by the Charioteers. A ballad, the lead’s male alto was high-pitched and very smooth. Elegant. I loved it, love it still.

Fast forward to me in my fifties. I got a Charioteers CD and realized this alto lead, singing ballads and up-tempo tunes like _22