A Song With No Name

A Song With no Name From my grandfather and my dad and performed by their son and grandson, me. It was an old melody with no name of a ballad my grandfather wrote a long time ago. The melody was soft and mesmerizing creating a feeling of melancholy. One couldn’t help but feel the love, though the sadness was the melody itself with ambiguous, bluesy sounds that contrasted with our emotions. As a child, I recalled how my father had gone off to war under the guise of killing commies, but had died there in a muddy hole in Vietnam; souring the celebration of his sacrifice. But this was a beautifully written melody. Blue notes written in the right places left us feeling the absence of love. I played it on my trumpet muted with a Harmon mute giving the piece a sorrowfulness ala Miles Davis playing in his Blue in Green record. Later, I came upon a lyric written by my father stuffed in an old satchel, I took it and merged it with the music and got a singer to sing it and when the people heard it there was not a dry eye to be seen. When you heard the lyric your heart jumped out of your chest.Though the only word LOVE that was mentioned came at the end but with the bass playing low Tibetan-like notes being held to the end; one felt it soul deep. I whispered into the mike, “To my dad and granddad, I love you and miss you.That ended the ballad, but the bass sounds of the diminuendo were haunting coming to a final moan slowly vanishing to a soft triple pianissimo. The crowd remained silent for a few minutes then erupted in a five minute standing “O”. I simply told the audience, “I never knew my grandfather, in fact, I barely knew my father, and any musical talents I may have were gifts from them. I found the sheet music among my grandfather’s things and later I found the lyric was written by my father. “My performance tonight was my tribute of love to them. I’m grateful to have performed their song for you from them with great gratitude I accept your applause on their behalf. And to paraphrase the great Lou Gehrig, the New York Yankees Hall of Fame first baseman, who retired in Yankee Stadium overfilled with his fans, in his speech he said, ‘Today, I am the luckiest man in the world. Well, ladies and gentlemen tonight, I am the luckiest son and grandson in the world, thank you for acknowledging their sensitive hearts.”