Actually, she claims her grandmother first wrote it in 1922, and then young Carolyn wrote it, and it is unclear, from a brief e-mail exchange with a reporter, if Carty understands what it means to have written something.

Ha! This is great. Thanks, Miko.

I used to love those Dear Abby columns where someone would send in a poem like this, asking who wrote it, and dozens of people would respond saying they'd written it, or great-granddaddy had written it, whatever, and you knew all those people (except possibly one) were either lying or had been lied to.

Also of interest: Helen Keller and plagiarism.

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Sorry, couldn't help it.

It's a fine poem, for what it is - preaching to the choir, but I've found it pretty annoying. Nobody points out that the real value is that the God/Parent/Partner is there even when we don't 'need' him/her/it. That's the first thing the dreamer looks at - the pairs of footprints. That's the value in all relationships - consistency.

I used to love those Dear Abby columns where someone would send in a poem like this, asking who wrote it, and dozens of people would respond ...

I liked those, too. Wonder if Cecil Adams could set everyone straight?

Oh, dear. Is anyone reading the comments on the site? Carty is writing in.

Ha! Now all three of the purported authors are duking it out in the comments section.

And the lawyer! Ok, last post, I promise. I don't know why but the link has made my morning. Thanks, Miko!

Oh, I know what it is: "all is vanity - there is nothing new under the sun"...or at least, that's what my daddy used to tell me all the time. :)

Uh-oh! It looks like Carty is a post signer:

Carolyn Joyce Carty
Child Prodigy-World Renowned Faith Poet-Author

Wow, this is either some impostor goofing around, or we have a real live crackpot on our hands:

On May 11, 2008 at 07:05 Carolyn Joyce Carty wrote:
I do not care for people named Burrell Webb, Margaret Fishback Powers and John Hughes. My poem titled "In My Life I Loved You More" was not written by the Beatles it was authored by me long before the song ever came out. I do however happen to like the song they later produced. Margaret Fishback Powers is not a poet she is a fraud. My poem is similiar to the fab 4's but it is not the exact same, just as Ms Powers Footprints poem is similiar but uses several different words. You cannot copyright ideas. And once again Margaret Fishback Powers did not author MY FOOTPRINTS POEM. Read the words John Hughes. I was an author long before you were an attorney! The only thing that keeps me from declaring my work public domain is because of cheats like you.

I was going to quote that exact comment with the same sentiment, Atom Eyes. Craaaaaaaaaaaazy.

This is hilarious. Miko, you should take it to the blue - only the power of the snark can carry it across the sand now.

Oh, and don't miss the footprints author's website:

http://faithweb2.tripod.com

the tantalizing possibility that nobody really wrote "Footprints in the Sand." Those who have claimed to, Aviv noted, may be suffering from the collective "accidental plagiarism" that Carl Jung explored in his paper "Cryptomnesia" more than a century ago.

Yeah, this looks like an incredibly detailed example of a folk process at work. People are amazing, though! Good find on the comments section. It's like a catchall of contemporary free-floating snark and dispute. I hadn't even looked.

mgl, it may get me shot down, but I agree. This is one for the blue.

I think I'll also offer bonus points for best alternate authorship tale.

Accidental plagiarism.

You know, I've experienced this. Back when I was in high school and playing bass in a not-very-good garage band, our lead guitarist called me on the phone to tell me that he'd figured out a new tune, something of his own creation, maybe a new song for us to work on. I said I'd like to hear it, so he picked around a bit, looking for what he'd found earlier, until finally he settled into a pattern.

It was quite good, actually. I told him so, then hung up.

But what I didn't tell him was that he'd just played for me the acoustic intro to Tesla's "Love Song."

To this day, I believe that he believed that his tune was entirely his own.

Dammit, it's a double. I'm afraid it's too repetitve even though the WaPo story is new and full of salacious detail.

our lead guitarist called me on the phone to tell me that he'd figured out a new tune, something of his own creation, maybe a new song for us to work on.

That's happened to me a few times. I think it happens to a lot of musicians - you come up with a great new melody and then, some time later, realize it's already a song that you've heard before and that you didn't really invent it at all. Similarly, my mom once wrote a satire on a women's magazine piece in which she referenced Dr. Pepper Schwarz, which was supposed to be an outrageously silly made-up name. When I read it I said "but there really is a Dr. Pepper Schwarz." Though she claimed to never have heard of the real Dr., I'm sure this was an example of the brain's popping up with something that entered memory earlier but is reappearing as an original idea.

You all are mistaken. Sadly, sadly, mistaken.

I am in fact the original author of Footprints. You may find it interesting to know that the original version went as follows:

One night I dreamt I was walking along the beach with the Lord.

Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.

I was high, very high.

In each scene, I noticed footprints in the sand, and an enormous magenta iguana.

Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there was one set of footprints.

Which skeeved me out totally because the last thing you need when really high is to feel the Presence of the Iguana, when all you really want to do is trip down the beach with God and shit.

This bothered me, because I noticed that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish or sorrow or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints.

Which meant that motherfucker iguana got all up in my skull and wanted me to do crazy shit.

Down, Iguana Presence, down! Leave my head now!

At this point, I was running in circles on the beach, screaming for the Lord to intervene.

So I said to the Lord, "You promised me Lord, that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there have only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why, when I needed you most, you have not been there for me?"

And the Lord replied, ""The times when you have seen only one set of footprints in the sand,is when I carried you."

And then the Iguana said, all up in my head, "Now let's go burn things."

gs - it really pisses off MuddDude's friends when I point out that their "awesome new riff" sounds exactly like the bassline from "Come As You Are".

*wipes tear*

That was beautiful, Lipstick Thespian!

Dang, they've deleted all the "author" comments. Party poopers.

Carty actually wrote us an angry letter a while back asking to have a comment removed from that mefi thread. It was someone declaring her to be kooky. We deleted it because we're too nice -- she appears, in fact, to be a damned kook. Perhaps a lovely lady otherwise, but on this issue clearly in kooksville.

That is your slice of amazing trivia for the day.

That is fairly amazing. I wonder if God is carrying you when you spend your days searching the internet for mentions of your name in conjunctit has come to define your existence. on with the authorship dispute that has come to define your existence. I sure hope so, because that's when you need the help the most.

That's when Jesus/God is the +++CARRIER SIGNAL

Wow, I promise I wasn't drunk or high when I typed that. Clearly I need to get more sleep.