Feb 2022 guy-with-piano ballad old-world melancholy
3:08
This is a cheat, but it’s the kind of cheat that FAWM cheating was made for. Forced to rely on GarageBand for the duration, I discovered a track from the last time I used GB: a piano piece recorded on my parents’ baby grand in March 2018 that I had totally forgotten. I mean, TOTALLY forgotten. It was like listening to someone else’s piece, except that I recognised my playing.
So a couple nights ago I lay down on the bed and put the track on loop, and it evoked a nostalgia and melancholy of old Havana or a down at heel quarter of Paris. Maybe it was the little descending chromatic figures that did it. I’ve made it a specific place (old Maracay, where I grew up) because it rhymed with “go by” but maybe the specificity was a mistake.
It’s a story, but mostly I was trying to convey a feeling and sense of place with the melancholy of a Pablo Milanés ballad. I tried to leave a bit of mystery and unanswered questions.
I rarely write a purely imagined story, but this one asked to be written. The trick was finding enough words that rhyme with Bonjour. But long FAWM experience told me, “Don’t worry, they’ll come to you.” Growing up, before pop music entered my world, there was a lot of Charles Aznavour.
Disfruta.
There’s a quiet avenue
Faded balconies all bright with flowers
And there’s never much to do
And the old men pass the lazy hours
Drinking coffee, playing dominoes
Watching pretty girls go by
In old Maracay.
I spoke Spanish, you spoke French
I was shy and you were sure
You would smile down from among your flowers
And you always said, Bonjour.
In the morning, music drifted down
It was always Charles Aznavour
I would linger on the avenue
every day
Waiting for Bonjour.
I seldom hear the old songs now
And the flowers have faded too
Now I see you nearly every day
With a little boy who looks like you.
I drink my coffee, play my dominoes
But the girls have no allure
It’s been so very quiet on this avenue
all my life
Waiting for Bonjour
@audrey Mar 2022
This has a lovely nostalgic feel. Maybe it's the feel of Charles Asnavour styling in the music. It's relaxing, laid-back and a bit sad. Sweet melody. Great song!
@wylddandelyon Mar 2022
What a beautiful sad story. I'm glad you found that old piano track.
:)
@greengrassgirl Mar 2022
This is LOVELY! So evocative of that dreamy state that hits all of us sometime. You really painted a picture. And I love the rhymes with "Bonjour" Thank you for your comments on My American Hero and Somethin' Better. That's what brought me to your page, and I'm glad to have discovered it!
@beyondthelimes Mar 2022
Oh wow. This is great. I totally got the “alone at 3am, looking out the window, remembering, reflecting” vibe here. The song transported me there with you. And the music is great, too. The jazzy sevenths and ninths and 11ths, voice leading, chord melody. It’s timeless. It gives me that same feeling that the fantastic version of One for My Baby on Sinatra’s Only the Lonely does.
@hbusse Mar 2022
Oh man. This song feels like it's been around forever. What a vivid story you paint with your lyrics; I can only aspire to write lyrics like this someday.
@crutherford Mar 2022
this is stunning in every possible way.
disfruta indeed.
bravo
@beat Feb 2022
Beautiful
@sherrycanary Feb 2022
What a gorgeous sound scape and atmosphere you have created here.
I can feel myself there.
Charles Aznavour and bonjour are so perfect on so many levels.
Your vocals are so right
@quork Feb 2022
Duplicate post deleted.
@quork Feb 2022
Occasionally a song gives me tingles. This is one. The found piano is spare and beautiful, and your lyrics are sad and evocative, sung with a world weary voice. Beautiful.
@rayboneor Feb 2022
When you get to the last verse, it all comes home. We can see it, and we can feel it. This has a lovely, world weary feel. Aznavour came into my life well after pop music, but he certainly had a gift for evoking a place and a time and making you feel something. And you do to. (So, you have family in Colorado; were raised in Maracay; live in Spain?)
@kadmad202 Feb 2022
Another lovely song, Jon. On par with Gower Street, and you know how much I love that song : ) You have set us all right there on the avenue with you, smelling the flowers, and hearing that wonderful French music wafting down from the balcony. It's a love story with a happy ending, and that made me smile.
@aflinner Feb 2022
This is gorgeous, man. Glad FAWM prompted you to finish this one, really fantastic job!
@kendrakinsey Feb 2022
This feels so classic. The notes you sustain in your voice are so great
@tamsnumber4 Feb 2022
Thank you for taking me someplace else, transporting the listener, floating on a musical breeze. Timeless and beautiful.
@panch Feb 2022
The lyrics and how you've set them are so evocative. A really lovely song.
It's made me look forward even more to heading off to my French holiday home next month!
@mandolinda Feb 2022
This story is beautiful. Sitting there with you throughout. The timing is spot on with piano.
@donna Feb 2022
Oh my goodness, this is lovely. Goose-bump beautiful. (-:
What a lovely lyric. So poignant. The last two lines - 'all my life/Waiting for Bonjour' - are heartbreaking.
@nancyrost Feb 2022
Beautiful - brings to mind a little of my time in France, too. Love the spontaneous, thoughtful sound of the singing and playing. Feels so natural, and I also know there are decades of musicianship and life experiences behind it.
@colgoo Feb 2022
This is gorgeous!!! So glad you collaborated with your past self. Wow!
@tseaver Feb 2022
I don't usually comment twice on the same song during FAWM, but this one -- damn, I wish I'd written it. I can normally avoid feeling jealous of others' gifts, -- whether instrumental, vocal or lyrical -- but this song has me green as an old penny in vinegar.
@timfatchen Feb 2022
Just gorgeous. I thank @tseaver for point me here. It's not a simple trick, putting a new melody to old music, well done. [Edit: downloaded and dammit ANOTHER one! Put your NAME or handle in the file name! How'm I gonna know who this is, listening 5 years hence? Which it will be if I've downloaded it.]
@tseaver Feb 2022
Perfect! The sense of longing, of the past pressing in on the present, are deftly drawn here, both by the lyric and the lovely piano accompaniment.
@billwhite51 Feb 2022
i love songs like this and this one stands with the best of them. i havent heard Pablo Milanés and your song drives me to discover him, your words and music are luxurious and you sing and play them beautifully
@eas3637 Feb 2022
This was a beautiful surprise! The piano sounds lovely and the chord progression sets the mood perfectly. And the lyrics are restrained while also being evocative and descriptive. I love the lines "Now I see you nearly every day/With a little boy who looks like you./I drink my coffee, play my dominoes/But the girls have no allure" Also, just so you know: my 16 year-old son (also a piano player) was sitting next to me when I started playing this, and he listened through to the end with great admiration. Bravo!