A remarkable woman named Margret Korzus inspired this song. Margret had come to the U.S. in the early ’60s, speaking no English, and by the time I got to know her she’d gotten her PhD in English at the University of Denver. This left her discontented with her lot, so she decided to legally change her name to Thyra, which she did. I wrote this song for the occasion. Despite the power of the law, Margret’s name change didn’t stick – the people wouldn’t swing with it. So she went back to Margret. The only person I’ve ever known who succeeded in getting people to accept a new name was a psychologist named Dick. He decided that monicker was too undignified or something, so he announced he was changing it, and by golly he did. Changed it to John.