A Man Behind the Legend    Words and Music by Bill Pere

There's a man behind the legend,  a heart inside the man
John Mason, facing challenges of life in a new land
A vision in those steel-blue eyes of a place where people stand
Side by side in freedom, and in friendship, hand in hand...

Connecticut's own major
Wrote a page or two of history
Founded a town or two or three
Up there on the list would be
Windsor, Saybrook Norwich
The towns for which he's known...
Connecticut's own major  

There's a man behind the legend,  a heart inside the man
John Mason, facing challenges of life in a new land
A vision in those steel-blue eyes of a place where people stand
Side by side in freedom, and in friendship, hand in hand...

His life entwined  with others
Became blood brothers with a well known chief
Leader of the proud Mohegan nation
For the next two generations
Their friendship served to forge a peace
And helped to tame these lands unknown...
Connecticut's own major

There's a man behind the legend,  a heart inside the man
John Mason, facing challenges of life in a new land
A vision in those steel-blue eyes of a place where people stand
Side by side in freedom, and in friendship, hand in hand...

Forthright and respected
The pioneers expected
He'd be their first governor, he declined
Like the windswept shores that face the sea
On the isle that bears his name,
He faced forward as the winds of change had blown...
Connecticut's own major

There's a man behind the legend,  a heart inside the man
John Mason, facing challenges of life in a new land
A vision in those steel-blue eyes of a place where people stand
Side by side in freedom, and in friendship, hand in hand...

  © Copyright Bill Pere,  Music All Rights Reserved

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