Blew the Chord

I was playing guitar this morning with the window open (it's finally cool enough) and a man walking by stopped and listened. I was creating a song spontaneously with fairly common structure for anyone who is familiar with the Beatles or 60's era Stones and was feeling pretty good about things. No words, just music.

When I got to the bridge, or middle eight for those who follow along with such things, I not only picked the wrong chord but also fretted it wrong and ruined the moment. The pedestrian shook his head and kept walking. It was that obvious. My cats are fluffy. That sentence is what the chord was like. Disruptive and annoying.

I have since figured out a way to make that chord work in a Guided by Voices "cut and paste" kind of way. It's not pretty but it's bold and artsy. I've been waiting for that guy to walk past for a couple of hours now, hoping he was just going to the store, or for a walk, and would pass by returning to his place of origin.

I would play a few bars leading to the bridge and give him the mind blowing wrong chord with confidence so he would see that it could work. It could be "fluffy cats" and turn into a song that made it relevant, even referencing the previous beauty but never fully returning to it.

I think he may be avoiding this street so he doesn't have to be disappointed again. He is probably old school and would hate the Bob Pollard method of songwriting, but at least he would see that it could work.

Maybe he would be so impressed that he would offer me a beer from the six pack he just bought and I could turn him on to Bee Thousand and let him know when my band is playing so I could dedicate the inspiration to finish this song to him from the stage.

Maybe he went home and finished the song way better than I ever could. Maybe he'll let me hear it someday and turn me on to some songwriting technique so creative that only he could have done it so well.