DREAMS REALLY DO
COME TRUE
JUANITA FORD'S STORY
FROM BROOK HOLLOW
As little children
our lives revolve around dreams; dreams of what we can become, dreams of our
name up in lights... But as we grow these dreams
gradually fade into those dim recesses of our minds, and we rationalize that
our dreams will never become a reality.
There are some, however, who refuse
to allow these dreams to die. One such person is Juanita Ford.
Juanita's dreams began as a young
child of six years old. She was attracted to Tammy Wynette's early songs and
listened to them over and over again. Juanita
sang along with those records until she got every note perfectly correct. She
listened to Eddie Rabbit's story about his songwriting and she figured that if
songwriting was good enough for Eddie Rabbit, then it could be good enough for
her.
Juanita started
writing songs with a passion in 1978. So many things in life inspired her.
Although, by now, her legs would no longer carry her to places that you and I
take for granted, Juanita's rich mind worked
overtime to compensate. Her imagination carried her near and far to visit
interesting places. Juanita found that to write song lyrics was like recording
a journal of these adventures.
She got plenty of ideas from the
real world too. The soap operas on TV gave her ideas. Her favorite soap, "The Young and the
Restless," gave her the
idea for a song entitled "STEPPIN OUT."
Shortly after writing this song, she had her first DEMO with "A Song for Linda."
The dreams still lingered and lived
on. Most of us find it hard enough to promote yourself when you have full
mobility, many of us don't even think of the
challenges that face a young person trapped in bed.
Shear tenacity and dedication to
her chosen career has led Juanita to the point she is today. She has won
numerous AWARDS for gospel tunes like "Jesus Is Alive And
Well," and in 1996 her
song, "Those
Duke Boys From Hazzard County,"
co-written with Kirk Comiskey of Nashville, won Country Song of the Year from
the Downeast Country Music Association, and also the same from the Maine
Country Music Association.
Juanita has proven to many that dreams can become a reality. She says,
"Just reaching for your dreams can make life worth living. The real
sadness must come for those who never try to make their dreams a reality."
Many trophies and plaques decorate the walls of her room in testimony to the
fact that her dream is alive and well.
Perhaps the words of the following
song, written by Juanita Ford, can inspire all of us to search the far reaches
of our minds, and bring to light those long lost dreams that we have so
conveniently stored away.
Will it be your turn to fly next?
IT'S MY TURN TO FLY
There
was a time in my life
I felt the
world on my shoulders
And somewhere
along the way
I lost touch
with what was real
I was just there; a puppet on a string
But starting today it's a whole different story
I'm finally
looking out for number one
Gonna leave the past behind
For the first
time in my life
And do exactly
what I want
It's my time to fly
And it's my
time to shine
Now it's time
for me to take charge
I've felt like
a bird that's been trapped inside a cage
I'm ready to
make a new start
Everything
that seemed so wrong, all of a sudden seems so right!
And
now
it's my time to shine
I feel just
like a blind man
Who's been
given back his sight
I'll soar high
just like a kite
For the longest time
I let others control my life
I felt
battered and bruised, hopeless, and used
But I've left those days behind
Now I've found the meaning of life
I live every day just looking for the Truth
'Cause it's my time to fly...
Written
by Juanita Ford ©1994 All rights reserved
This was
an article written about her in May of 1998. It appeared in the
Last year, she got the attention of
a small
Nor has Ford gotten rich off her
success. Though European listeners have heard her songs on the radio hundreds
of times, she gets just a nickel each time one of her tunes is
played. So far she has earned about $40.
Ford, who has muscular dystrophy,
would love to build on this small success and bring her music to people in her
own country. She dreams of writing tunes for country stars like
But even if none of that happens, she'll keep
writing songs. It's what she does.
''If I had to just sit here all day
and watch TV, it would drive me crazy,'' says Ford, 36, who lives in an
apartment at the Brook Hollow complex in
Ford writes old-fashioned country
songs with titles like ''Sweet Kisses in the Summer Rain'' and ''A Man Ain't
Supposed to Cry.'' As she lies in bed - with a TV, a
radio, a cat and her mother for company - the songs pour out. She has about
4,500 of them.
While Ford piles up the songs, she
has been just as prolific about writing to anyone who might listen to her songs
- from record companies and disc jockeys to country music stars. That's how she got Keith Bradford at KMA Records in
The music for
both songs was written by musicians working for
''I look for songs that are
believable and down to earth and maybe a little romantic in nature,'' Robinson
said from her home in
But she wasn't.
Neither Robinson nor Bradford knew Ford has muscular dystrophy and has used a
wheelchair since age 8. That's one thing Ford leaves out in
her letters to record producers and performers. Not that she minds
talking about it, but she doesn't want sympathy to be
thing that grabs someone's ear.
''I want people to judge the songs
by themselves,'' says Ford. ''I know I have physical limitations, but that has
nothing to do with writing songs.''
Ford was diagnosed with muscular
dystrophy when she was 3 or 4, growing up in the
''They didn't give you therapy or
nothing back then,'' Ford said. They didn't have
special classes in local schools, either, so Ford was taught mostly by a tutor
until she was in her early teens.
After that, she learned by reading
and experienced the world through television. Even today, she takes a car ride
maybe twice a year. Renting a special van is just too expensive.
Ford always listened to country
music, especially legends like Tammy Wynette. As a teen-ager, she was a fan of
the hillbilly TV show ''The Dukes of Hazzard.'' The wall by her bed is still
plastered with pictures of the show's hunky star, John Schneider.
When Ford was about 18, she was
watching the daytime soap ''The Young and the Restless'' when a character named
Jill was cheating on her husband. The words ''steppin' out'' popped into Ford's
head, and she wrote a song of the same name. From there, she just kept writing.
Almost anything - a line from a TV
show, a picture, a chat with a neighbor - can put a
song idea in Ford's head.
She heard the song ''Rock of Ages''
one time and wrote a song called, ''Mama's Favorite Song was Rock of Ages.''
She wrote ''Sweet Kisses in the Summer Rain'' after seeing ''a good-looking guy
with pretty blue eyes'' on TV. She read newspaper stories about teen pregnancy,
so she wrote ''Children Are Having Children.''
''It's hard to explain,'' she said.
''I hear something or see something and the brain just goes.''
Ford writes from her bed, which can be propped up like a hospital bed. At the foot of it is
more clutter than most office desks can hold - including a foot-high stack of
songs, a dozen cassette tapes, and piles of magazines and country music
newsletters.
Just three feet from the bed are
her TV, boom box and a karaoke machine for testing out new songs. On the wall near
her bed is a phone, a phone that has called
Her apartment is small: Her bed is
in the living room, which is also the kitchen. She lives with her mother and
her cat, whom she calls ''Frisky the Savage Killer.''
Because of years of not walking,
Ford's legs are short and undeveloped. Her arms don't
get much exercise either, and she can't lift herself out of bed. She does have
enough strength to type, though. After writing her songs with a pen, she has
her mother and a nurse lift her on to her wheelchair. Then she rolls over to an
old electric typewriter.
After getting ''Sweet Kisses in the Summer Rain'' and ''A Man Ain't Supposed to
Cry'' recorded, Ford wrote to disc jockeys in the
This year, because of her letter-writing, Ford got her songs played on a few European
stations.
''She wrote me and asked me to
listen to her songs, so I did,'' said Rein Wortleboer, who hosts a weekly
country music show on Radio Venray in Venray, the
Ford earns 5 cents each time a song
is played on the radio. She didn't
get any money when her song was recorded, because that's not the way it works
in the record business. Most songwriters earn their money through royalties,
said Irv Licheman, deputy editor of Billboard magazine.
Ford says $40 is better than nothing.
Even before getting her songs
recorded, Ford got recognition in
Ford's goal is to be successful
enough at songwriting to be financially independent. That way she could buy a
van and other equipment that would let her live without anyone's help.
''Most people trying to get a major
label to read their song have about a 5-million-to-one shot,''
Ford says she'll
keep trying for that appointment. She's spurred on by
her determination to be independent, her love of songwriting and the
realization that music is an unpredictable business.
June 2002
Since that article 4 years ago, she
added the task of music publisher to her already busy schedule by forming her
own company in 2001 and won several more awards for the work she has done.
A CD is available from ERNEST TUBB RECORD
SHOPS
You can find some of her songs by
clicking one of these links…
To learn more about Juanita or her
music go to Music From The Heart You will find all kinds
of wonderful links to the Country Music Industry.
Make sure you visit TammyWynette.com
=)
In 1999, in addition to her other
writing…Juanita ventured into fanfic which is the
stories you will find on this page.
Thank you. Enjoy the stories. =) Email Juanita
