Stand up and face it

Hmm.

My Grandad's birthday is coming soon, but my uncles and aunties have decided that the celebration of his inpending birthday is somewhat overshadowed by my grandparents' 60th Anniversary. Marriage Anniversary that is. Fiddly things, these celebrations. But I guess I won't be too purturbed because the celebration is scheduled to take place in October, when I'm most probably on attachment. Hopefully I'd be in Hong Kong slaving away for a company and learning things.

My brother threw this piece of sheet music at me two weekends ago, and told me to learn that song. Apparently this song was a showcase piece for all of the cousins of my generation to perform on the Anniversary celebration.

I told him, ok, but at least lemme hear the song first. Upon listening to the first few bars and trying to strum along.. I soon realised that the key the song was in was not the same as that of the piece of sheet music. The words were correct (It's in mandarin.. the bane of all english-speaking musicians), but to no avail could I decipher what the fuck the song's actual key was in. Maybe I need Alvin for this job.

Whatever the case... I told my bro that I didn't know what the heck kind of key the song was in, and he started getting all riled up, and having the impression that I refused to learn the song. Maybe he thinks I'm not interested. In fact he's completely correct, I'm not really interested in learning this song. But that does not mean I just completely disregarded that piece of shet music. For the record, I tried all means to play along, but the song is in some weird minor suspended mode which throws me completely off.

The reason why I'm barely remotely interested in that song is because I find that who the heck would know this song? If you intend ot perform a song.. make it a simple one.. something EVERY-FOOKIN-BARDY would be able to sing along to right off the top of their heads. Maybe some 70's Carpenters hit song, or even a John Denver number... heck if you wanna try ABBA I also dun mind. However, I have never heard this song before (big surprise, considering it's in mandarin) and the fact that it's so weird-key makes it even less appealing to me.

So the next time you try and force someone to learn some dumb song, at least make sure whoever you intend to force to play this song is not as iron-willed as yours truly, because I've had my fair share of dumb folks trying to make me change my musical direction. And despite my quasi-versatility, it only extends to the English-speaking music zone. Call me a banana or whatever the fuck. I don't care. It's me, my guitar and my voice. Take it or leave it.

I know it's for the sake of the old folks, and I know it's all in the spirit of general celebration, but with all you hustling, all your threats, all your inept planning and last-minute you're-gonna-play-this-song-or-else attitude, who the fuck is going to give a rat's ass? Put aside our less assertive cousins; ask anybody out there to join you on your terms, and I'll bet at the end of the day you're just going to have to pull off some Acapella bullcrap.


Cheers,

Crawldaddy