Philip "Flip" Knight

Classmate Flip Knight took us to the great beyond

 

ORHS class of 1970 was the largest in the school’s history. Perhaps the large number helped contribute to the many talented and ambitious students in the class. Many graduated to successful careers in various fields. Several left a mark on all of us.

Phillip “Flip” Knight was one of those who left a lasting legacy that affected and influenced many individuals who were fortunate to have known him. Flip, who died from cancer in 2006, was a writer, musician, and philosopher. He touched so many lives that fellow classmates Jim Gillespie and Charlie Hill created a private Facebook page to honor their friend. “The goal was to honor Flip, who was a friend to many, by bringing to light his songs and poetry” said Jim. “Some may not have known about his creativity.”

Flip was a top student his senior year and participated in various clubs and organizations, including American Field Service, Key Club, National Honor Society, Ski Club, and he demonstrated his thespian skills with a role in the annual Nativity production. He was an Eagle Scout. Professionally, he was an architect. He was a prolific writer and kept a journal. He was in several bands over the years, including ones with classmates Bill Allen and Fred Bolton.

According to Jim, “His poetry was wide ranging with topics such as love, the environment, and in the end, making sense of what is next. His unpublished compilation of 122 songs and artwork are his autobiographical testament, titled I Come from Ancient Stars. His poetry is universal in that he put into words things that we all have and will yet experience, from adolescent angst to adulthood to much later.”

Flip wrote in the forward to I Came from Ancient Stars in April 2005: “Early in the spring 1964, when I was 11 years old, I heard my first Beatles song, She Loves You, and everything changed for me. Suddenly, I was completely caught up in the frenzy of Beatlemania, and mesmerized by the fantastic Beatle songs that quickly came to dominate the airwaves. Their catchy melodies, tight harmonies, and rockin’ soul beat resonated like a bell with me, and I wanted to be a songwriter like John, Paul, and George. I was already singing folk songs and harmonizing with my sister, and she taught me to play the baritone uke. That summer, I borrowed my cousin’s acoustic guitar, taught myself some chords, and wrote my first song. So began my big adventure. At 12 years old, I had found my life’s work.

“The radio hits of the British invasion, and songwriters like Smokey Robinson, Carole King, Paul Simon, Brian Wilson, Bob Dylan, Buddy Holly, and Stevie Wonder gave me an intuitive education in pop song melody, harmony, and structure. Soon I was playing guitar and singing with guys from school, covering our favorite radio hits…strictly acoustic, no mics or amps. “At our first gig, a high school sorority (one of the girls’ social clubs) meeting, we performed one of my original songs. We were nervous little seventh graders clustered around the piano with our guitars, timidly singing and playing our four numbers to a living room of gorgeous high school girls. It was my first hesitant taste of the limelight, and I loved it.

“In the eighth grade, I got my first electric guitar and started playing in a real rock band with amps, bass, and drums, practicing in the basement, learning to play and sing the classic songs of the ‘60s. Despite the fact that my voice was changing, I became the singer, as none of the other guys were interested in the words or wanted to bother with the vocals. “Soon I had written enough songs for my first album, but I only played them for myself. Luckily, little survives of these earliest songwriting efforts; it was years before I was confident enough to play songs in public. I wrote songs for the next 40 years (working on 50), started and performed with several local bands that played my songs, made some pocket change and many home recordings, and had a great time. Fortunately, my career as an architect paid the bills and kept me stressed, frustrated, and unhappy—the stuff of great songs. Without being conscious of it, songwriting became personal therapy, a way to celebrate and cope with the good and bad events of my life.

“Eventually, I came to believe that my songs were divinely inspired—that I was like a radio antenna, somehow tuning in to the vibrations of the ‘All-knowing Source of Divine Love.’ It has been my honor to transcribe those transmissions; it is my desire to share them so that others may find the hope, joy, and release that I found in the words of the songwriters that inspired me. The stories in the lyrics—stories of both truth and fiction—recorded my passions, struggles, triumphs, anger, fear, and love. They gather in these pages like a patchwork quilt to tell my story as I grew from starry-eyed youth to dubious sage. Sorrow and joy, ever on. It is the story of everyone.”

No recording has been found for the last song in the catalog, Into the Great Beyond. It is as timely as it is evocative. Flip wrote about Into the Great Beyond, 2004: “I believe our soul’s journey through many lifetimes, each one offering opportunities to learn important lessons of compassion and love. The lessons, often unpleasant and painful, are always transforming. The verses are slow and dreamy, with an edgy chorus. How lucky I am to be a songwriter. What a joy it has been in my life!”

Into the Great Beyond, 2004

In the light of the Creating Grace

from the One without form or face

I came unto this earthly place

from my home in the Great Beyond

 

Worldly wonder—the simple things

distant thunder and robin sings

reluctant falls and eager springs

the heartbeat of the Great Beyond

Caught up in the passion, the unity

Feel the sacred pleasures of ecstasy

Transfigured by the beauty, the artistry

as we become our destiny

in the seasons of eternity

Into the Great Beyond

I live my life by note and word

taking music from the sounds I heard

and with a song and like a bird

I’d fly into the Great Beyond

When the struggle was tooth and bone

When I felt the most alone

with heavy heart, hard as stone

far from the Great Beyond

To walk into the fire of suffering and pain

Caught up in the mire in a raging hurricane

Sucked into the battle by the corrupted, the insane

Sorrow sounds its sad refrain

yet every loss brings something to gain

Into the Great Beyond

And what we do when we are here

our thoughts of love, our faith, or fear

we will take every smile, every tear

Into the Great Beyond

And when it’s time for us to part

as we finish, so shall we start

so I will sing the songs of my heart

Into the Great Beyond

Into the Great Beyond

Mercury Spill

On May 26, 1983, The New York Times broke the story that mercury and other chemicals had contaminated areas around the Oak Ridge nuclear campus. Flip was in a creative phase of life and wrote Mercury Spill. His liner note read: “1983, I lived in rural Knox County and had to drive my garbage to the county trash collection station. The inspiration for the song came on one such trip as I listened to the report that the government had secretly dumped massive amounts of mercury into the environment in Oak Ridge, my hometown. This jazzy ballad became a favorite with Oak Ridgers and other science types.”  https://youtu.be/o15brjo_XN8   lyrics and performance by Philip Knight

I Could Really Fall for You

In search of more of Flip’s musical and artistic repertoire, Jim Gillespie was referred to Clara Landau, who teaches piano from her home in West Knoxville. She composes and records original music. She told Jim about a love song titled, I Could Really Fall for You, with lyrics and chord progressions by Phillip (she never knew him as Flip). She played music with Flip in the last year or two of his life. She was with him at his last gig at a restaurant on the Loudoun side of Tellico Village. She spent time with him at his home and they had long talks. She shared one of the comments with Jim that Flip made to her in his final days: “It takes a lot of mettle to be with a dying person.” Jim visited Clara and exchanged e-mails. He quickly realized that she had a hidden chapter of his life that had to come out. It took a long while for her to record the song, and then it lay dormant on her computer hard drive until she shared it with Jim. “It’s like she was the keeper of the flame,” Jim said. “The lyrics lay slumbering for 10 years.” https://youtu.be/Z_aHSK40p5o Lyrics by Philip Knight, performed by Clara Landau.

If any classmates are interested, search for Friends of Flip, and request to be added. (Postings started about 7 years ago and are sporadic now)