2012 – for The Frank Horvat Band (voice, piano, electric bass, 2 percussionists) – 3:23

Music by Frank Horvat
Words by Lisa Horvat

Sheet Music

Score (pdf)
Voice Part (pdf)
Piano Part (pdf)
Electric Bass Part (pdf)
Percussion Parts (pdf)

Performances

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

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

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

Recording

Album: Strange Machine
Buy Song: iTunes or CDBaby
Date: March-June 2013
Location: THE FARM, Toronto
Musicians: Frank Horvat (keys), Felicity Williams (vocals), Joseph Phillips (bass), Jean Martin (percussion)
Producer: Frank Horvat and Jean Martin
 

Programme Notes

I wrote Song for the Bluebird after I discovered an old notebook which contained angst-filled poetry that my now wife, Lisa, had written as a teenager. The words really 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. So it was included on Strange Machine especially because of the constant motoric piano part.

The vocal part in the verses also use 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 was 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

LT#071