Download “My Friend.mp3”

(Want the sheet music?)

The challenge?  “Write a song inspired by this photograph...”

I’ve kept a secret

For much of my life,

With no one the wiser,

Not even my wife.

When work had me feeling

Wound up like a spring

Or I felt like I needed

A break from composing...

I’d pack up my stuff

And I’d get in my car.

I’d smile, ‘cause I knew

It was not very far

To the place where I’d met him.

And soon we would be

Back together --

Just Bigfoot and me.

Some afternoons,

For serenity’s sake,

We’d go splashing around,

Skipping rocks in the lake.

We’d lie in the sun,

Or we’d climb on the dunes,

Or sit on a log

And relax and just spin tunes...

We’d listen to birds

And catch fish in the creek,

Or romp through the woods

Playing hide-and-go-seek.

It’s hard to convey

How much fun it would be

Out together --

Just Bigfoot and me.

And down through the years,

Our relationship grew.

I protected his secret.

And he kept mine, too.

And any time life became

Too much to handle,

I knew I could count on my friend . . .

But...

As someone said,

All good things come to an end.

And yesterday,

I said goodbye to my friend.

Bigfoot decided

That he had to go.

Said he had gotten

Fed up with Ohio...

Once he had gone

With a wave of his hand,

I looked at the footprints

He’d left in the sand.

A simple reminder

Of what used to be...

And then, wiping back tears,

I thought back through the years

And remembered the fun

Of the things we had done.

And it made me feel glad

For the time that we had

Here together --

Just Bigfoot and me!

(This was another challenging challenge.)

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As late as halfway through the songwriting window, I was worried that this might finally be the round where I fail to submit a song.  (I didn’t panic -- this has happened before with other challenges -- but it’s still an unnerving feeling.)  My problem was two-fold.  Firstly, I had an idea that wasn’t working for me.  And secondly -- no matter how I tried, I couldn’t think of any other ideas upon which I could fall back.

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I got around this dilemma by writing a different “Bigfoot-song” than the one I had originally envisioned.  My initial inclination was to write a song sung by a person who was absolutely certain that he had conclusive proof of Bigfoot’s existence -- in the form of the footprint from the photograph.  The song would have then morphed into a bit of a “media circus” as people with less-noble intentions came out of the woodwork to join the song and attempt to fleece the gullible.

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I did have random smatterings of lyrics -- some of which I thought were kind of fun . . .

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1. Rewrite the textbooks,
   

2. Inform the media.
   

3. Update the entry on the
   

4. Wikipedia.
   

5. .
   

6. Int’rest in Bigfoot
   

7. Is undeniable.
   

8. Ten bucks a ticket, then, is
   

9. Justifiable.
   

10. .
    

11. .
    

12. We’ll assemble a team of
    

13. Distinguished panelists,
    

14. Including top-notch
    

15. Forensic analysts...
    

16. .
    

17. .
    

18. How could one remain aloof
    

19. In the face of photographic proof?
    

20. Bigfoot!
    

21. Alive!
    

22. In Ohio!
    

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(Yes -- there was always going to be an Ohio gag in this song.  In the end, though, I just couldn’t make that song work...)

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But that’s okay.  I think this song’s more fun . . .

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:-)