Last Tuesday, 4 October 2022, I managed to get out to open mic night for the first time in over a month, and it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. This particular open mic typically hosts a small but closely-knit group of musicians, one that does not knit itself so closely as to bar outsiders. Indeed, these dudes are super encouraging of new musicians, young and old alike, and have nursed some real talent.
Unfortunately, I’d left my two small binders of tunes at school in my haste to depart Tuesday afternoon (I had to get to the bank!), so I only had a few scant lead sheets handy. One of them was a copy of Journey’s “Faithfully” in C major—a key that puts the upper range a bit outside of what is feasible for yours portly, but I gave it my best shot.
I’ve always loved the “hardworking-musician-far-away-from-home-and-missing-his-girl” subgenre of rock music. One of the first tunes I ever covered for an open mic—way back in the misty past of 2012—was KISS’s “Beth,” the quintessential song about a hardworking musician trapped in a never-ending rehearsal. There’s also Bob Seger’s “Turn the Page,” a melancholy classic with a killer saxophone lick.
“Faithfully” seems to be the sweetest of these (“Beth” is possibly the most tender; “Turn the Page” is the most jaded and world-weary). I hope I captured a bit of that in my cover:
What’s your favorite song when you’ve spent thirty minutes on the road like yours portly, away from your girl?
Happy Listening!
—TPP
Other Editions of Open Mic Adventures:
- “Open Mic Adventures I: Oingo Boingo’s ‘Just Another Day’“
- “Open Mic Adventures II: Billy Joel’s ‘Piano Man’“
- “Open Mic Adventures III: Joanie Sommers’s ‘Johnny Get Angry’“
- “Open Mic Adventures IV: KISS’s ‘I Still Love You’“
- “Open Mic Adventures V: ‘There’s a Light (Over at the Frankenstein Place)’“
- “Open Mic Adventures VI: Journey’s ‘Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’“
- “Open Mic Adventures VII: ‘Suite: Judy Blue Eyes’“
- “Open Mic Adventures VIII: Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘The Sound of Silence’“