Fiddlin Red Seidman: Music

Sails

(Red Seidman)

John Hall

One night Red sat in with Billy and Paul (aka Case and Davidson) at the Lorelei Restaurant in Islamorada. It was the night John Hall was doing a guest appearance there and before he went up on stage he sat with me and watched Billy, Paul and Red jamming. John Hall shared with me how he had spent a very pleasant honeymoon there with his now ex-wife Joanne and as we sat and chatted he scribbled some words down on a piece of paper.

The boys called him up to the stage and he looked at me and said, "I've just written a song about my time here, let's see how it sounds," and he proceeded to get up and play and sing it. It was a long time ago but I think it was about the purple island...
Then he played his song Sails and Red loved it. They all jammed for a long time-I have some great photos of that night. I had no idea Red had recorded a version of Sails, I hope John gets to hear it some day. I know when Red played our finger picking champion friend, Pat Kirtley's, songs, Pat would say, "Nothing is more flattering than to have someone play your songs."
I hope, if John ever hears this version, he realizes how much Red admired his talent at making music.