Questions People Are Asking Me

 

 about “Oh, Marsha!”

 

 

(Please hear song before reading!)

 

1  Why did you write the song? 

Music writing has been a hobby of mine since junior high.  It is so pleasurable to hear aloud a musical idea you’ve thought about for a long time!  While the labor and patience required to actually finish a song is demanding, the required effort seems less if a song is particularly fun to write.  This song was like that. 

 

2  Do you want to write professionally?

I think full time writing would be extremely difficult—just doing the work of it!  So right now, this is a hobby only.  I do, however, want to explore and learn about expanded areas into which this kind of project could take me. 

 

3  Where do you want to take your writing?

I want to write a few more songs in this style.  Then I want to write some pop/rock songs.  I also want to start using modern jazz harmonies and try some satin and velvet sounds.

 

4  What are you going to do with the song?

Use it as a demo to show in pursuit of song writing assignments or advanced lessons from a good instructor.  Plus, share with my friends, as you know.

 

5  Who are your musicians?

I am playing all the parts.  The parts are all played on keyboard with synthesizer output.  Each part is played during a separate recording pass.  The parts are: 

1.                       bass (plucked),

2.                       banjo,

3.                       bells,

4.                       coronet,

5.                       cymbals and brush,

6.                       harp,

7.                       Japanese koto,

8.                       kick bass,

9.                       marimba,

10.                  ocarina,

11.                  piano,

12.                  recorder,

13.                  rim shot,

14.                  trumpet,

15.                  vibraphone, and

16.                  sound effects.

 

6  How long did the project take?

About 30  hours: 

     Writing the song (over a period of 3 years): about 12 hours;

     Recording: 18 hours.

 

7  Why is the introduction so long? 

It’s not intended as an introduction.  It’s the whole song idea played through.  Some of the dance bands of the 20’s used to perform this kind of rendition.  I think the underlying idea is to “teach” the listener a new melody before the lyrics are introduced, so people can pay more attention to the words.  It also gives partiers a chance to converse and grab a dance partner.  However, this format is not familiar to listeners today and I would put the song together differently next time.

 

8  Why did the recording process take so long?

(1)            You first have to play each part, go back and make small fixes, then hear the part in combination with the others,

(2)            Once everything blends fairly well, you hear the piece at half- or quarter-tempo to really get in the cracks.  You might mute certain parts and only hear a few of them.   You check to make sure that all the notes are coming down exactly where they should, that internal melody lines work and that “unplanned” passing harmonies work.  It often takes as long or longer to make changes than the original recording took; 

(3)            You need at least 3 separate sessions, to give each version time to settle down in your mind so you can plan further fixes you want to make; 

(4)            About 1/5 of the time is needed for the engineer to set up and manage the session.

 

You could actually take much longer than I spent on the song, but eventually you have to deem a version satisfactory, and release it.

 

9  Why do you put the running time on the label?  I don’t care how long the song lasts.

It’s for radio programming purposes (just in case!).   It also just shows professional music people the basic dimensions of the song. 

 

10  Musically, what do you honestly think of the song?

I do like it.  If someone else had written it, I think on a scale of 1-10, I would give it an 8.  While the form and cadences are slightly pat, I think the strength of the rhythms and the originality of the lyrical ideas make it a success.  And the main point is, I think it accomplishes its goal, which is to create a cheerful feeling in what is often a skeptical or jaded listener.

 

11  How did you feel when you finished the song?  Were you happy?

I felt happy many times during the sessions.  But by the time we were done, I felt exhausted and quite temperamental.  There is a lot of frustration involved in making song changes.  Plus, my engineer (Jerry Soto – excellent!) is fairly typical of most engineers – fusses around and spends a lot of time “fixing” things that weren’t audible problems to begin with.  There has to be a lot of give-and-take in the studio.  Jerry puts up with me, too.  Humor really helps!  There were a few lyrics to this song we invented during times of high pressure that others will forever be spared hearing.

 

12  Is there really a Marsha?

Yes, there is.   She lives in the Bay Area.  She’s a flight attendant and is also a speech therapist.  I met her going hang gliding.  I would tell her, “I think YOU’RE going to be a pilot some day.”  I could tell she really liked to be flying.   I felt the same way.   She would say, “No, never.”  But a couple of years later, she got her license to solo, and she’s now working on her instrument rating. 

 

13  How did you come to write the song?

I originally met Marcia during a summer when she was on a temporary stay here before returning to California.   It was when she left Chicago that the first line of the song sprang into my mind.  I did, honestly, feel quite sad about her leaving.  On one get-together we had fed seagulls, flown kites, had a lovely Cuban dinner, and went to comedy clubs.   It was truly a time to remember, one you couldn’t forget.   Marcia had liked a song or two I had written, and I gave her big points for that.  It was only natural to think of her herself as the subject for a song.  One Christmas, I gave her a little butterfly farm.  So you see where the ideas of  “plane” – “kite” – and “butterfly”  are coming from.  I suppose I usually think of flying and other kinds of giddy happiness when it comes to Marcia. 

 

14   Why did you write the song now – so long after meeting and, really, knowing, her?

Because I thought the song was too good not to write.  I consider it a kind of vaudevillian “Girl from Ipanema”.   When I met Jerry Soto last summer, I knew I’d found my recording partner.    The song was still on my mind, and it’s the one I wanted to do.  So out it came. 

 

15  Has Marsha heard the song?

Yes.  I eventually sent it to her. 

 

16  What did she have to say about it.

Uh . . .

 

She said she loved it!  J

 

“It”, mind you: not me.  L

 

 

 

Robb Murray     January,  2002

 

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