The Album He Would Have Made #IfHeHadn'tDied.

I keep hearing that in my head every day. The Album he would have made if he hadn't died.

It's only an accident that I'm making an album. What I'm presenting is a collection of songs that I like singing at this moment in my life. Plus a few I hadn't done in a long time. For instance, I was kind of shocked to find out there was no recording of me singing Somebody's Friend. 

How I've sung it has evolved much over the years.

When I wrote it originally, with the "radio" audience in mind, we made a big demo that we thought would sound good with a reggae beat. I still love that recording. Ginger Freers nailed that vocal. But that didn't work for the show. It had to be more angry and raw than that. 

I could hear what I wanted in my head, but I couldn't reproduce it until I realized I was hearing a guitar lick. David Robyn helped me with that. 

Since I don't play guitar, what I ended up with was my piano imitation of a guitar lick, which has its own weird sort of authenticity. I have a special relationship with Somebody's Friend, the promise of false cures.

As I was riding the bus the other day, after having had a discussion about "rise from the grave" life experiences, I kept hearing the title phrase in my head: The album he would have made if he hadn't died.

I can't say that this is that album. I don't want to try to live up to that kind of pressure. The pieces I've been composing are more concert/choral/orchestral type. They need a lot more formality. My Mass, for instance, will be performed in the Spring. And I'd definitely want that to be a part of my musical legacy.

But that would make a great title for something. Or even a meme. 

#IfHeHadn'tDied

However, going up to someone on the street and asking. "Hello, what would you have done if you hadn't died?" sounds more like a slasher pic. Ah, ye cynical world.