Lyrics: Child

 

Tracy DeMeyer, age 22, Richland, WA

1980

"Child" is about abuse.

I am an adoptee and so was my friend Kim Peterson. I wrote this for her. It's about both of us. Kim was murdered by her husband right before I left Wisconsin - I moved to the Tri-Cities. Now long after we formed this band - first Keith and me, then others.

My temper will simmer and blow like Mount St. Helens – I steam but rarely explode.  (I was living with my rock band Sardaukar in a rental house in Kennewick, Washington, the real Mount St. Helens blew up back in May, 1980. Those unforgettable clouds haunt me to this day, skies dark like night though it’s only late morning.) 

 

 

scans from my book SLEEPS WITH KNIVES

I was in WA state when it blew. We were worried about our guitar player Mark Crum(?)'s family who was camping in that area. The TRI-Cities are Kennewick, Richland, and Pasco.

On May 18 of 1980, the eruption of Mount St. Helens removed 1,300 feet of mountaintop and ravaged surrounding forests and cabins in a destructive avalanche. In addition to avalanches, the area endured the aftermath of earthquakes, pyroclastic flow, and ash for several years.

Activity on the mountain began on March 20, 1980, when a magnitude 4.2 earthquake struck.  Steam soon began to vent from the mountain and by April, a bulge appeared on the north side of Mount St. Helens. This bulge would cause a historically catastrophic avalanche.  When another strong earthquake struck on May 18, the entire north face of the volcano tumbled into a debris avalanche that is believed to have been the largest in history.

READ Mount St Helens volcano blew: May 18 of 1980

https://www.thoughtco.com/mount-st-helens-1434985