Tunesmiths: By, for, and about songwriers: July 2017

WHAT IS “YOUR SONG”?

What is “your song”? Or, you and your loved one’s favorite song? That one song that captures a moment in time that takes you back as vividly as the time, and circumstances, when it implanted itself in your awareness. Everyone has one. What’s yours?

For my wife and me that song is “Wonderful World”, by Louis Armstrong. It’s been recorded by many others, but for us, that is the one.

I’ve analyzed it a lot, to understand why it seems so powerful to us. It seemed to define many important moments in our time together, and to be playing somewhere every time we were on a date. We heard it the night I proposed to her. It seemed to just weave itself in and around what we were doing at that particular time in our lives.

Why? Consider the lyrics:

I see trees of green, red roses too

I see them bloom for me and you

And I think to myself what a wonderful world

I see skies of blue and clouds of white

The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night

And I think to myself what a wonderful world

The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky

Are also on the faces of people going by

I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do

They're really saying I love you

I hear babies crying, I watch them grow

They'll learn much more than I'll never know

And I think to myself what a wonderful world

Yes I think to myself what a wonderful world

What a beautiful, positive message those lyrics have. It’s a love song, but it’s also a Technicolor palette of images we can all relate to. Coupled with the beautiful music, and unforgettable Louis Armstrong voice and arrangement, it has stood a long test of time.

I will still stop what I am doing, and simply listen, and be carried away by the magic of this song. As a songwriter, I hope that someday I might write a song of that enduring quality, to earn a place as a cherished memory in the lives of others. I think that would be the true test of musical artistry.

Monday, July 17, 2017