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Lyrics Listen
Written by: Jeff Oxenford
(© 2006)
Performed by: Jeff
Oxenford
Inspiration
I’ve played and
written music for over 25 years, but up until four years ago, I
never sang in front of anyone. In August of 2005, I had the
opportunity to work closely with Julie Portman on
performance at Song School in Lyons, CO. With Julie's
encouragement I was to perform Ode to the Canyon in front of about
100 people. This was a great first step. To continue improving,
I followed-up with a performance class taught
by Christy Wessler at Swallow Hill. Early in the the class,
this song emerged. If you’ve ever been on stage, I bet you can
relate.
Process
This song started
while helping my daughter learn the D major scale on the piano. She
played on the piano and I played on the guitar. I then
moved to playing the D scale chords and she started a three note
melody. The music was done. A little while later, I sat down and
wrote the lyrics. It came amazingly fast and in less then two hours
I was done with the song (I love when that happens).
For the lyrics, I
followed serious lines with humorous lines. The song would have made
the audience uncomfortable if all I said was I’m scared to death and
about ready to puke. Throwing in the humor released the tension.
The song structure is
very basic:
V
V B V V
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