30 for 30: An Anniversary Song
Celebrating our 30th on the 30th today with Ms Johnna Palmer Foster.
It’d be impossible to put into words all the things our relationship has been through in 30 years.
So I wrote a song.
With no words.
Because it’d be impossible to put into words all the things our relationship has been through in 30 years.
“This is 30 for 30: An Anniversary Song.”
It was so great to have my old friend, Bobby Van Rooy, join me. Bobby’s is an amazing sax player and a wonderful human being. What he adds here is priceless.
Important: for the best listening experience, reduce lighting in your house by 80%, choose an appropriate beverage, put on high-quality headphones, lay back, and listen. Oh, and put your kids to bed. If you don’t have kids, find your neighbor’s kids and put them to bed. Don’t take any chances.
For all of you that want to know about song composition, and, of course, by “all of you” I mean all four of you… the A section is this strange ii-vii-iii-vi progression but with chords inverted and 7ths and 9ths applied liberally. The movement of the thing is something I saw in an old Keyboard magazine example from years ago. Like, I used to read Keyboard Magazine in the 90s. The last century! So, you just never know what’s going to stick with you.
The B section is an experiment at playing a lot of notes in close proximity. It’s densely populated. I pretended I was Bill Evans and just smashed some stuff together. It turned out so nice that I thought, “Why don’t I just always pretend like I’m Bill Evans?” Then I remembered he also did drugs.
Anyhow, I’d like to think the tune is complex and simple enough to make it worthy of a love song 30 years in the making. I hope you all enjoy it. Though, frankly, I only really care about one set of ears enjoying this song.
Happy anniversary, Johnna.
