On the 9th of December 1981
Nearly four in the morning, the nightmare's begun
On 13th and Locust, a car was pulled over
Behind the wheel was the killer's brother.
MAUREEN Faulkner isn't used to having the cult of celebrity on her side. If actors, singers or intellectuals get involved in the case that's dominated her life for three decades, it's usually on the side of the man who murdered her husband, Police Officer Daniel Faulkner.
That list is extensive, to say the least. It includes Maya Angelou, Alec Baldwin, Naomi Campbell, Noam Chomsky, Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry's, Roger Ebert, Mike Farrell, Henry Louis Gates, Danny Glover, Whoopi Goldberg, Casey Kasem, Spike Lee, Michael Moore, Paul Newman, Peter Norton, Sister Helen Prejean, Rage Against the Machine, Rep. Charles Rangel, Tim Robbins, Salman Rushdie, Susan Sarandon, Gloria Steinem, Sting, Michael Stipe, Oliver Stone and Cornel West.
But Gary Cherone is different.
After calling for backup, the cop ordered the man
To get out of his light blue Volkswagen
William Cook obliged and some words were exchanged
And without provocation, William struck him in the face
Given his resumé (lead singer of Extreme, the voice behind their massive single "More Than Words" and former front man for Van Halen), Cherone would seem to fit in more with the apologists than the widow's allies.
The singer-songwriter told me that he's always been interested in the case and long followed it from afar. Finally, after reading the
trial transcripts and eyewitness testimony, he was inspired to write a song about what happened at 13th and Locust on the morning of Dec. 9, 1981.
But, unlike so many folks stuck in a Hollywood cloud or ivory tower, Cherone was drawn to Maureen Faulkner's side of the story. So he penned "The Murder of Daniel Faulkner."
"I was kind of blown away by the detail of the story," he told me.
The cop hit him back threefold while trying to restrain
When running from across the street, William's brother came
He pulled out a gun, a shot rang out, it all happened so fast
That cop never saw it coming
Wesley shot him in the back
At first, Cherone considered the song a "writing exercise" that he'd simply work through until "it was put on a shelf."
But what he found on another shelf persuaded him to contact Maureen and take the song public.
