Been a minute since I composed a new piece—over 6 yrs in fact. Political activism and a continental move during a global pandemic intervened. Because I had sold all of my electronic equipment before my move to Finland, I was resigned to embark on no further recording. Then in September 2024, I was struck with an idea to create a novelty piece culled from a collection of my aphorisms and taglines. I had barely begun a stanza or two when I received a midnight visitation from The Muse, who generously gifted me with a memorable melody to match my title sentence. A solemn, minor key, however, so I shifted lyrics from my trademark wordplay toward a more somber composition. It soon evolved into a Latin rhythm but still sounded so melancholy, I decided to make a point of ending my sad lyrics on an upbeat note. I had no wish to lower anyone's spirits—including my own!—one solitary scintilla beyond wherever they landed at year's end. Plus after the election results for US, I was especially glad for a hopeful ending on I'm Friday's Child (IFC).
Since I no longer owned synth gear, I presumed new music production, if ever I returned to it, must rely on a collaborator for additional instrumentation. After I had a rough guitar and voice part set for IFC, I immediately contacted my Nice friend, Damien Riba, for a piano habanera part. A bit later I discovered the library here in lovely Hämeenlinna—hometown of Sibelius after all!—contains a well-stocked music studio with decent microphones for vocal recording and at least two synth keyboards connected to a Mac with GarageBand software. I was back in business to create my own orchestration of IFC you hear here. [Meanwhile, Damien came through—brilliantly as ever!—with a delightful orchestration of his own. You can hear his arrangement of IFC under my vocal at https://soundcloud.com/kat330repost/ifc-orch-by-d-riba
The arrangement here features my classical guitar throughout—kat330's avatar as seen in its early days and now well into its 6th decade—along with a very basic piano part on an old Hellas upright piano gifted by my mother-in-law. Synth bits include cello, violin, organ, oboe, clarinet, accordion, trumpet and percussive accents. I could not use a capo to raise the key to a better vocal range for myself because of a chord slide-up several frets on my short-necked Guild. Rather than ditch the guitar riff I had latched onto, I dug deep to sing as an alto here.
I have run out of free time for anything further here at SC. So for a purely instrumental version of IFC, please find it at https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kathleen_Martin or "Kathleen Martin" at Bandcamp. Many thanks to JT Lindroos for his great partnership in using the library's Mac software—I’d only recorded vocals/synth parts in the past with a PC using Reaper software—and, as always, for his cover art (li'l Kat at 4 pic used). How appropriate then to release IFC to the world January 4, 2025 on our silver 25th wedding anniversary!
XXXOOO 🤗
😽 Kat (a Friday's Child)
LYRICS
I'm Friday's Child living in a Wednesday world,
A world full of woe for me and any girl,
Who's loving and giving at the time of birth
And stays that way all her days on Earth.
I'm Friday's child living in a Wednesday world.
A Wednesday world can break a Friday heart.
This world of woe can tear that heart apart.
There was a time I seized the days,
They struggled free and slapped my face.
I'm Friday's child living in a Wednesday world.
A Wednesday world can crush a Friday's Child.
Can make her meek, and woe can drive her wild
With walls of pain built brick by brick,
A pincushion pierced prick after prick,
When a Friday's child living in a Wednesday world.
All Friday folk, let's forge a Friday world.
Each woman, man, all boys and every girl,
Who are loving and giving at the time of birth
And stay that way through their days on Earth,
Come Friday folk and make it a Friday world.
Yes, Friday folk can make this a Friday world!
—Kathleen Martin © 2024
