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. . . ...and back when I had my band, I learned the lyrics in the hopes of doing it someday. . . . That very evening, I went to the bar that we used to go to on Open Mike night to try out new material in an acoustic setting (often just the other singer and I, our rhythm guitarist... and sometimes our drummer on an overturned pool chlorine bleach cardboard drum). That Open Mike was a musician's dream -- the crowd actually came to LISTEN to the performers and, because of that -- or maybe CAUSING that -- the majority of the crowd was usually made up of musicians. . . . I had just gone to be part of the audience that night, but I happened to mention to George (the rhythm guitarist for the reggae band we got our big break by opening for -- MR MUSIC to me "let's play let's play let's play") that I had just memorized the lyrics. . . . What did he say? . . . Duh. . . . "Let's play. Let's play it here and let's play it now." . . . I had never actually SUNG it and all I had was done was memorize the words -- I had given no thought to phrasing or interpretation or anything. . . . "NO WAY, GEORGE!!!! . . . George, being Mr Music, took my arm and dragged me out in back of the bar to their fire escape, where we sat for 10 minutes and rehearsed it. . . . We went back in and got on the performers' list. . . . I was TERRIFIED!!!! I was ALWAYS terrified before a gig -- I used to (no shit) HOPE that the power would go out so we didn't have to get up onstage in front of all those people. EVERY performance and it never got any easier. . . . Thirty seconds into the first set's first song... and I never wanted to stop. . . . So, anyway, after we did our number (and got great response from that very music-oriented crowd) I spotted my lead guitarist in the crowd and went over to ask him what he had thought of our performance. . . . "During the first verse," said he, "I wondered if you had ever heard the song before." . . . A good 8-beat pause. . . . "And then you really NAILED the second verse down." . . . :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: . . . . .
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