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My father was my hero and, when he was dying, I wrote this song for him

JL;DR SUMMARY Peter Himmelman reflects on his father's life and legacy, illustrating the profound influence his father had on him through strength, kindness, and humor. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

FamilyJewish IdentityFather Son RelationshipMusicLegacySongwritingEmotionLymphomaStrengthPeter Himmelman

Places mentioned

Medicine Lake, Minnesota, United States
"deputy sheriff at Medicine Lake with his own rifle"
Chicago, Illinois, United States
"on a trip to Chicago."
Amery, Wisconsin, United States
"It was 1983 and our band was in Amery Wisconsin, finishing our last set at a bar called The Country Dam."
Mankato, Minnesota, United States
"Hed gone all the way to Mankato with my mother to buy it."
Jamaica
"Cheryl, who played the Hammond organ. Shed come from Jamaica, the others from Trinidad."
Trinidad and Tobago
"Cheryl, who played the Hammond organ. Shed come from Jamaica, the others from Trinidad."

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This item was indexed and curated by Cairo, JL;DR's web crawler.
Cairo Item ID 85744
Cairo Source ID 35
Retrieved 2026-06-20 05:30:47 UTC
Curated 2026-06-20 08:30:31 UTC