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This is the way I heard it.

Except for the bling around his collar and a net worth of 300 million dollars, this former crackhead doesn't have much in common with your average record mogul. In fact, if you ask him to explain the secret of his success, the man behind the music won't credit the song that made him famous.

He prefers to talk instead about the dream that inspired his turnaround and the people who helped him along the way. People like Don Imus. Back in 2011, Don Imus had a very popular radio show. He wasn't impressed with the former crackheads music.

But Imus was also a recovering drug addict and admired those who confronted and overcame their demons. So Imus agreed to play the crackhead song on the air. And to his surprise, the audience responded enthusiastically after Imus Joe Episcopo followed suit. Like Imus, Episcopo had a radio program with many devoted listeners, and they, too, responded amazingly well to the crackhead song. One of those listeners was Alec Baldwin's brother, Stephen, who was so inspired by what he heard that he befriended the former crack hit.

Another was Donald Trump, who went so far as to invite the man behind the music to his inauguration, where this former crack head was welcomed with great enthusiasm.

But never mind all the celebrity endorsements. Like most successful people, this junkies rise to fame and fortune was made possible by millions of satisfied fans and a few businessmen.

You've probably never heard of people like Leon Baracas.

Leon runs a cover business in New York City and shocked the industry when he extended a million dollars of credit to a recovering crackhead with no money and no collateral.

When asked why, Leon said There's just something about him that made me trust him, something real. He just had so much faith in what he was doing. And then there's Wyman Smith, Wyman was the president of the company that created the filler that helped turn an otherwise unforgettable melody into the infectious earworm.

You can't help but hum along to like Leon Baracas, Wyman Smith offered a million dollar line of credit after a face to face meeting with this former junkie, a man who once smoked and snorted so much cocaine he didn't sleep for two weeks.

It's true this former crackhead once went without sleep for 14 straight days, an extraordinary two week bender that should have killed him, but instead brought him to the man most responsible for the song. You can't forget a drug dealer named Lee who extended the most attractive terms imaginable. Like all successful entrepreneurs, Lee understood the importance of taking risks. But Lee also understood the importance of keeping his clients alive. And so when his best customers showed up on the heels of that two week bender, wide eyed, sleepless and looking to buy more cocaine, Lee turned him away.

You don't need any more crack, he said. What you need is a good night's sleep. Then Lee took a picture of the broken man standing before him, strung out and desperate here, said Lee. Look at yourself. I'm telling you, brother, you're going to die if you don't get some rest. Later that night, the crackhead prayed for God to take away his addiction, then he fell asleep and dreamed the dream that would turn his life around.

When he awakened, his craving was gone in its place, a new vision for a new life. It was a miracle, he says, an absolute miracle. A few months after quitting cold turkey, Don Imus and Joe Episcopo were playing his song on the radio, and just a few years after that, that same melody had generated over two billion dollars in sales.

That's a heck of a story.

And you can read all about it in his autobiography. It's called What Are the Odds? And like most celebrity memoirs, you'll find his face on the cover, but you might not recognize it as the face of the wholesome inventor in the blue shirt with the bling around the collar, the golden cross he never removes. Now, the image he chose for the cover of his memoir is the photo taken after 14 Days Without Sleep, a photo taken by Lee, the drug dealer who just said no.

It's a logical choice without Lee, this former crackhead would have surely overdosed or died of exhaustion had he not gone to sleep that fateful night, he would have never dreamed of the product that saved his life.

Nor would he have purchased millions of Leon Barocas custom covers or truckloads of Whyman Brown's patented fill or lived to personally oversee the manufacturing of 40 million revolutionary sleep aids in his home state of Minnesota.

And if you still can't picture the well rested face of this mustachioed pitchman, maybe you'll recognize the song that made him famous.

The ubiquitous jingle now synonymous with a former crackhead named Mike Lyndell, whose inescapable lullaby continues to haunt the airwaves.

For the best I've seen in the whole wide world as it might there.

Anyway, that's the way I heard it over and over and over again. You're welcome. Now, I'm not the only one with that infernal one hit wonder stuck in my mind's ear for the rest of the day.

Oh, how many times do you reckon you have heard that jingle?

Honestly, I was thinking about it as I was writing the story. And it's got to be north of 3000. I mean, it's been on the air for years. I can't think of a day that I've been home when I haven't heard those people sing. For the best night's sleep, I know I got I don't I'm not going to do it again, this is the way I talked about the way I heard it, the only spontaneous analysis of the only podcast for the curious mind with a short attention span wherein I attempt to explain the circumstances that led me to write the story you just heard.

I'll also be free associating a bit about my life here in the age of the coronavirus. So if you tune in for the mystery and only the mystery, this would be a terrific time for you to stop listening. If, on the other hand, you don't mind a little extemporaneous free association. Where were we? Yes, I am. Full disclosure, I bought a my pillow about five years ago, not because I needed a new pillow or because I needed an extra pillow.

I bought it because I thought maybe in some sort of mysterious universal way, buying one might might make the jingle stop.

But of course, it didn't work.

And I have to say, I've gotten used to the pillow. I like it. It was weird at first. It was kind of chunky and strange that my pillow was. But now it's what I prefer. And I've got a couple of them. I'm what you call a satisfied customer. And I don't say that because they're sponsoring the podcast. They're not. Not yet anyway.

But if they were to make me an offer, I would probably say yes, because, again, full disclosure, I admire what the guy's done.

I know he's a little strange. The mustache is kind of weird. The blue shirt, the crucifix, you know, all of that, you know, but. When I saw him last week at that press conference, as I'm sure many of you did as well, he was in the Rose Garden with the president. I was really struck by the reaction to his comments. Now, this isn't a you know, I don't get political on the podcast that I'm not going to get political now.

I just mean it from a from a social standpoint. You know, here this guy is a former crackhead. He's got this amazing story from, you know, it really a story of redemption. And and he shared it. You know, he showed up. There is a businessman. He thanked the president, whom he clearly supports, and he encouraged the country to read the Bible and those two things combined. Wow. I mean, that's what all the conversation was about.

That's what people have been discussing for the last four or five days and lost in the midst of all that is the fact that this moustachioed pitch man who makes a product right here in the United States has converted his manufacturing facility to create over 50000 face masks a day.

I don't care what color your shirt is or what you wear around your neck or what candidate you support, that in and of itself is kind of amazing.

And giving credit where it's due is something that I think well, I think it's important.

Now, more than ever, especially now, because we are truly all of us in the same boat for the first time in my lifetime anyway, and I applaud what Mike Lyndell did.

I don't care much about what he said one way or the other or the fact that he got some free publicity in the process. Why not?

Personally, I don't see how we get out of this mess without capitalism working, without entrepreneurs and business leaders being creative and inventive and and generous with their money, their time, their resources and their brains. You know, if that means a pillow company comes, steps up and starts making face masks, I say, right on, man, keep it coming. I love it. Anyway, that's how that story happened.

As you know, these stories all evolve under completely different circumstances.

And this one just happened because I was quarantined sitting at my kitchen table, flicking around and watching the my pillow guy tell me to read the Bible and thank the president of the United States and me just thinking, wow, that is going to have an interesting reaction. And so it has. And maybe my reaction is part of it. I don't know. Anyway, that's how the story happened.

As for me, let me just say thank you to so many of you who have reached out. Last week, I explained the circumstances that led me to isolate myself. I was the last public speaker at the last big event held in the country. And I shook a lot of hands and was worried that I might have picked up the crowd, as it were. But I haven't. I'm fine and I'm busy. I'm happy to say I'm lucky to be able to say how busy I am.

It's funny. Each day for me starts with a list of things I've been meaning to do from straightening the office, cleaning the garage, answering emails, maybe even just catching up on some reading. But thankfully, Facebook has decided they want to keep returning the favor on the air during this time. And so we've delivered two episodes, the covid edition of Returning the Favor, and they've been viewed millions of times. People love them. They're short and sweet.

And they're on my Facebook page, if you want to check them out.

Discovery called and said, hey, season 16 of Deadliest Catch, which you which you've narrated again, you know, it's it's coming on the air. What do you think you want to do? Another one of those after the catches. After the catch used to be a talk show that I did in a bar with the captains after new episodes of Deadliest Catch. Well, how would we do it?

They said, Zoom from your office. I said, why not? And so a few days ago, we had an amazing conversation, me and a dozen or so of the captains and their insights I thought were really interesting. And that special will be on this Tuesday at eight o'clock on Discovery. And honestly, if you want to hear from somebody who is accustomed to isolation, who is accustomed to uncertainty, who understands the nature of unexpected calamities like rogue waves and lives in a constant state of fear and readiness, talk to a crab boat captain.

I did in the conversations are great micro works, we've extended our work ethic scholarship program through the end of April, so if you want to apply, this is the time to do it. We're giving away a million dollars this year at Micro Works Dogs Scholarship. Every week I try and get together a video that celebrates one of our applicants who went on to prove that mastering a skill that's in demand can still lead to some level of of happiness and prosperity.

I think when this thing settles out, they'll never be a better time for skilled tradespeople to write their own ticket. So Mike Rowe works dog scholarship if you want to apply. My mom is, you know, has written another terrific book. It's a funny book. Unfortunately, it's hitting the shelves at the height of the plague. So I'm trying to find creative ways to to talk about her book. Is that gross? Is it weird? Are we not supposed to do that in the time of coronavirus?

I I'm honestly not sure. We're all just kind of fumbling around trying to figure out what our lives look like and what our work looks like with this new set of rules. And I'm no different. I'm trying to figure out what this podcast is supposed to be. I want to keep it on the rails by writing stories each week. But I also feel like talking extemporaneously, like I am right now about the headlines, because the headlines are what's on my mind.

But I will attempt to measure of discipline. In fact, I'm going to sign off in a second. And when I do, I've got an idea for another story. I'm going to write it this afternoon. This is a Sunday, by the way, in real time to write at this afternoon. And I'll have it up for you this time next week. So until then, stay in. Stay safe, stay home. Keep close. Zoome with people you haven't seen in a while or go to meeting or whatever the latest technology is.

I don't know about all that. I just know that this was the way I talked about the way I heard it. And I appreciate you listening.

Talk to you next week.