whistle a happy tune....

....huh, am happy, I am :)

while cracking my head deciding on a quote (on love) to use for a card am designing, I started considering using song lyrics. What song lyrics is good to quote for a wedding occasion? (no am not having a wedding)

....till there was you?

....fish got to swim, birds got to fly, I got to love one man till I die..?

and then this came in,

At last
my love has come along
my lonely days are over
and life is like a song...

for months I've been trying to sink my teeth in on this classic. When a client asked for this song to be sung at her wedding as the `march-in' number I got myself the famous recording by Etta James and thought, damn, what have I got myself into now, singing a blue classic?

Suicidal, I thought.

So I tried and tried, I don't have the song in my books so I took the pain to attempt transcribing it on my dusty keyboard and being as efficient as a blind man on keyboard, it was a near death experience but the result was rewarding -- I got the song melody down on paper...in very bad writing, my own scale system.

That helped a bit but when other gigs caught up I put it aside and busied myself with other songs.

Until tonight I tried again, it was hard getting it right...also the original key of the song is too low for me.

....sigh, then I saw my soul mama friend online and thought, wow, this is her song man! We chatted, she said, go girl, sing it!

"Try singing soft and breathy, don't try to belt it." She said.

A few minutes later it was already a lot better than all the attempts I had before! When I stopped trying to sound like Etta James, it became easier....

You must be thinking, why she so stupid earlier, trying to sound like a singer that she is not? Well ya maybe am a bit stupid but now am happy I am starting to nail it!!!!

Sometimes you (ok, me me me) just don't see the simplest thing right in your face till someone comes along and point it out to you.

Thanks babe Izlyn!

Also, on the note of thanking girlfriends...I couldn't have done it without Nic. With her help (as my producer) at the studio last night (recording my demo songs), I managed to squeeze out seven songs in three hours in the studio booth...and of course with lots of help from Darren the engineer.

I recorded these standards

Cheek To Cheek
Fly Me To The Moon
Cry Me A River
Misty
The Way You Look Tonight
Someone To Watch Over Me
Tonight (West Side Story)

Let me know if you want to have a listen :) Getting them from the studio (DJW Studio in Desa Sri Hartmas) next week...

oh oh, speaking of standards, my next outing of jazz standards is on Saturday, at Wine Room on Asian Heritage Row. Come la.