culture / music

Open Mic Adventures IX: Journey’s “Faithfully”

The Portly Politico10 Comments

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:

10 thoughts on “Open Mic Adventures IX: Journey’s “Faithfully””

  2. Brilliant, mate. 🙂

    You mentioned Bob Seger. Save Night Moves until we can get over and we can duet that song, me on guitar, you piano. Try Hollywood Nights though. A really good song you can get your teeth into.

    Favourite song when I’m away from my girl? It depends. Usually I get to put on music I like and she hates when I’m out so it’ll probably be something from Boards of Canada like Split Your Infinities. If I want to play something that’ll remind me of her, it’d be 78 RPM by Stiff Little Fingers. But if it’s something we both like, La la Love You by The Pixies. I sing that to myself in public which can be highly dangerous in this #Metoo environment because of the wolf whistling but I don’t care – it’s a good song and I’ll keep singing it.

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    • Thanks, Ponty! We will definitely play “Night Moves” together when you arrive from across the pond. My buddy John and I were actually jamming on it a little bit the other night during our final Spooktacular rehearsal.

      Ah, yes, the joys of listening to music when your significant other is away. Always better with them, of course, but you can dig into some discographies they might not typically enjoy. I do my classic heavy metal listening when my girl is away.

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