---

You can read this or not, it probably won't affect your enjoyment of the music...

I'm sitting in the studio facing another "monthly" deadline. The track I had planned will take a lot more work to pull off. A few tracks from "Songs From The Father" are nearly finished and need a little touch-up, but they're not ready yet. There's always a plethora of "oldies but moldies" available, but I want something fresh.

Something fresh...

So I start jamming.
Last time I did that I ended up with "All In A Student's Dream", one of the better ones...
but the jam's not happening...
so I sit back...
and this melody fills my head...
not just any melody...

It's this piece that I've been humming in my head for years and years.
This thing has existed only in my head for longer than I can remember.

I hum this earworm to myself on the way to and from work at least once a month, sometimes many days in a row... such a *happy* sounding piece...

Why have I never attempted to record it, or even thought of doing so before?
Why do these catchy little tunes that are always running around in my head remain there never to be shared? What's up with that?

In my head, the entire arrangement is complete... which is always a big road block whenever I try to record such things because it's not going to sound anything like what's in my head until all the parts are there... nevertheless, I go for it... An hour later, after some rehearsing and learning the tune, (how weird to be learning a tune that's been in my head all these years, but the creative process is an elusive thing sometimes), I've got a very nice first-take demo. It ain't perfect, some flubs and mistakes, but some very nice moments of serendipity too, especially in the bass lines.

There was a frustrating moment when starting on the piano when I couldn't find the chord that was in my head:

"It should be an A chord, but it's not quite an A in my head... it's not an Asus or anything, it's a straight A, but I'm missing a color tone... it's not a 7th or 9th... no, it's just a triad... but something is different, the straight A is just not happening. OKAY, NOBODY LEAVE THE HOUSE UNTIL I FIND THE LOST CHORD!!! Oh wait, it's the bass. It's an A over a G. It's a G in the bass. That's the tension and color I was looking for that's been in my head all these years. (As Lucy says to Schroeder when he finally plays "Jingle Bells" right) THAT'S IT!!!"

The section from 2:26 to the end was an afterthought and not part of the original tune in my head. I didn't have an ending, just playing around on the piano, using that EJ-overused ascending chromatic bass line thing that a couple of buddies keep hammering me about. By the time I'd reached the top of the 2nd octave, I was hanging on for dear life, having no idea what was coming next. "Hurry up and end this thing, Jerlin. You don't have time to write any epics today."

Maybe I'll do a "proper" recording of this soon.
Or maybe it'll become a part of a larger more "epic" work.
As I said, I'm often humming this on the way to work.
Since it's such a happy song, I'll name it "T.G.I.F."
It finally has a name after all these years...

...which makes it even a little happier now.

Enjoy!

---