Day 027: My first song; Rick Steve’s Europe on PBS
36yearsago.com
Vienna 1971—A Student Journal
A year of music, study, travel, sightseeing &
friends.
Day 27
— My first song; Rick Steve’s Europe on PBS
29-August-1971
(Sun.)
TRANSCRIPT
“One
Summer Day” — finished it.
Wrote it for Anjali. I think it’s not too bad.
REFLECTIONS
One
Summer Day—My
first song.
Finished
what? My first song that I ever wrote in my life—“One
Summer Day.” Really, I had never written a song
before*. I wrote this song for Anjali. Uh oh,
something’s going on here. (This is the second time
I’ve said this.) Yes, you know that I like Anjali a
lot. I did. I felt like I had to write this song for
her, from the heart. Really. How romantic. Listen, at
the time, I know that these feelings were strong and
real. It’s too bad that I’m not 30 years younger, I
could be picking up a lot of girls with this
approach.
[*The only
time I had ever written any original music prior to
this was three or so short compositions in
composition class at Montclair State. [More about
this at the end of the year.]
How did the song sound? I sort of remember how it
goes, just a bit. I know that I wrote it on guitar
and sang it. Unfortunately, I don’t sing very well.
Enough to get the idea across but that’s it. I never
had a desire to be a singer/performer—that’s been my
problem my whole life, I write songs and nobody sings
them. Nobody has heard them. Nobody knows they exist.
I’m still waiting to be discovered. Maybe, I’ll let
you hear some of these before the year is up.
Musical style? Well, by today’s standards, the song
is probably a bit corny. Think of it as young-love
folk-pop. Remember, I had “those strong feelings.”
I think I made a tape of “One Summer Day.” Maybe I’ll
rummage through all the plastic bags in the attic and
see if any such tape exists. That would be fun and
embarrassing.
Did I sing it for Anjali yet? I’m not sure. I don’t
think so, otherwise I might have written about it.
Will she like it? We’ll see.
When I discovered that I didn’t have much of an entry
for today, I was not going to write much. I changed
my mind. Why?
Rick
Steve’s Europe. Just by
accident, I happened to come across Rick Steve’s
“European Travels” that are often broadcast on many
PBS public television and cable stations. Guess what?
This particular show was on Vienna. I loved it. It
was great seeing and remembering many of the
sightseeing highlights of Vienna in great-quality
video. I like watching Rick Steve’s as he travels
through Europe and provides his very interesting and
lightly-humored narratives. If you want travel DVDs,
travel guides, and other great travel tips, go to his
website at
ricksteves.com. He
also has actual tours that travel all around
Europe. (He would be a great sponsor.)
That was then followed by another travel show. I love
em all.
John
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