Song for the Bluebird

Album: Strange Machine by The Frank Horvat Band

2012 / Vocal

DURATION
3 minutes, 23 seconds

INSTRUMENTATION
voice, piano, electric bass, 2 percussionists

TEXT
Lisa Horvat

  1. Song for the Bluebird The Frank Horvat Band - Frank Horvat (keys), Felicity Williams (vocals), Joseph Phillips (bass), Jean Martin (percussion) 03:22

Programme Notes

I wrote Song for the Bluebird after I discovered an old notebook containing angst-filled poetry that my now wife, Lisa, had written as a teenager. The words immediately jumped out at me as something that would work well in a musical context. This is one of many poems that I used when writing my two band albums, I Can See You and Strange Machine.

Bluebird was recorded during the I Can See You sessions but not included on that album because it didn’t blend well with the other tracks. It was later included on Strange Machine, especially because of the constant motoric piano part.

The vocal part in the verses also uses an interesting structure in which each word’s phrase is disjointed, often starting a new phrase with the last words of a previous line of poetry and connecting with the next line as if it were meant to be one phrase—further experimenting with loops.

– Frank Horvat

Percussion Parts:

  • Percussion 1 alternates between an array of traditional Asian instruments and a traditional drum kit ideal for jazz.
  • Percussion 2 alternates between hand claps and 2 specifically pitched woodblocks

Lyrics

Just between you and me
Can you see
The lines of life
Have broken down
But who’s around
To notice the beatings
And frowns
As I go around on my merry little way

Sing a little song for the bluebird
He sings a little song for me
We’re the only ones together
We’re the only ones in history

Please sir, don’t squeeze him so there,
Take me instead
I can take it for him
’cause we are real friends

I sang a little song for the bluebird
He sang a song for me
We’re the only ones together
We’re the only ones in history

‘Cause I sang a song for the bluebird
He sang a song for me
We’ll always stay together
But soon we’ll be history

Strange Machine Album by The Frank Horvat Band

RECORDING
Strange Machine
The Frank Horvat Band
Frank Horvat (keys), Felicity Williams (vocals), Joseph Phillips (bass), Jean Martin (percussion)

Producer: Frank Horvat, Jean Martin

PERFORMANCES
World Premiere:
January 21, 2014
The Frank Horvat Band
I Can See You CD Release
Creatures:Collective Gallery
Toronto, Canada

January 31, 2014 (8am); January 31, 2014 (midnight); February 15, 2014 (3pm); February 15, 2014 (9pm)
The Frank Horvat Band
Creatures:Collective Gallery
Toronto, Canada

December 15, 2015 – March 14, 2016
City of Toronto Music 311 Playlist

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