Pourquoi?

This week during a songwriting session with the band I made a huge fuss about including one single (F minor) chord in one of our new songs. I came up with this rushed list of technical reasons why it should be there and vehemently pleaded its case as if it'd done something wrong by existing. We built it up and down in different ways with different notes   and instruments and strumming and every time we would tilt our heads to the side as if the thought of the whole thing was too heavy in our brains to keep them upright. 


Tonight I went to a gig of some uni friends of mine, and their music kind of layered itself all on top of me like a blanket and made me realise that, lame as it is, I just really, really, really love sounds, bad, good, moderate...All the technical scales and modes and chordal structure and functional harmony certainly have its place, and I'm glad to be learning it, but when you get down to it...I do what I do and because I don't think anything else makes me more content; I don't know anything else, really. 


And sometimes (usually around when you start thinking about how good sounds are), the stars just align and the universe remembers you, you tiny little speck of insignificance, and minuscule nuggets of perfection sprinkle around you like glitter; walking in twos in the middle of a busy road in the pouring rain on a Friday night, my friend standing at the pie section of 7/11 looking about as absurdly out of place as I would if I was to ever set foot in Wah Wah, giggling uncontrollably about nothing in particular and drinking sneaky beer in a weird, weird bookshop-turned-performance art/music space...

 And this afternoon I also realised that 'You Are My Sunshine' is one of the most beautiful songs ever written, ever. The words are beyond perfect - so simple, so sweet! And the way the melody slips into minor without you realising, or something, is so subtle, and so sad. 

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey. You'll never know dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away.