Joined:
May 2005
Posts: 486
Location: North Carolina | . . . Because last night I finished my solo arrangement of "Along Comes Mary". I recently heard the Manhattan Transfer's version (very close to the original) and that renewed my interest in the tune.
The guitar part is fun, but not all that difficult. The lyrics, however, are something else. I do a lot of wordy songs and have done long speeches in theater, but I always approach it by visualizing the action suggested by the words.
In this case it's almost as though writer Tandyn Almer put a dictionary through a shredder and picked up random bits of paper. Visualization didn't help me much.
Many people say this song is about marijuana. I think it's about alliteration, assonance and consonance. My approach was simply to repeat the lyrics until one syllable naturally followed another.
Whatever it's about, it is fun to play and is sure to get some attention on gigs. Anyone else ever wrestle with this song? |
Joined:
December 2002
Posts: 939
Location: Fort Worth, Texas | Yes, and wrestle is the key word here.
I bought and downloaded the sheet music from www.musicnotes.com last year. I even went and bought a "Best of The Association" CD to listen and hear it again. There are some what I consider clunker songs on there, but it was worth it to get "Along Comes Mary", "Windy" and "Cherish".
I can make it up to the verse when it goes to B and E and the lyrics are:
"Or maybe gather tales of all the fails and tribulations no one ever sees"
This song has been with me since childhood and it's all I can now do to try to follow the chords and lyrics to play it. Should've practice my guitar playing and music reading more diligently over the years.
This is where I sincerly believe that the sheet music is critical compared to a tab, even for a second rate guitar player and music reader like me.
The thing is, IT CAN BE PLAYED AND SUNG.
The lyrics all fall into place, not so much the 'shredder' although it seems like that.
Practice, practice makes Along Comes Mary perfect...
:) |
Well, I Guess I Can Just About Do Anything . . .
