A capella for my blues version of the spoken text, with two more verses. 4 bar lead-in, 23-bar verse (or think 9 in 4/4 + 5 in 2/4?), with 10-bar chorus.

I’ve added a second mix and stems for what I’ll call the straight version, just MIDI instruments (locked to 144 BPM until the last few bars) and some slight rework of my over-worked rubato. Looking for real instrumentalists (Hat tip to NiGiD for pushing the envelope!) to cover…I can always do the voice over.

Tune and lyrics 2012, extended from the original SoNoGram spoken text of October 2010. The current full version:

———————

The Dream West

Born in the middle, the center, the crossroads,
you could go any which way:
north, south, east, west;
any way at all;
a choice, a dream, a boast, a threat;
now,
how could you fail to go some other way,
some way or other, somewhere else?

Draw just one arrow: that’s all you get;
life is the flight it describes.
Pull back… aim well…
steady…now, release!
Away it flies and out of sight:
gone.
When you look back upon the path it traced
you’ll see it’s narrow and precise.

[chorus]
Born in the middle…ah…ah…ah…
Born in the middle! Ha…ha!
Born in the middle…ah…ah…ah…
Born in the middle! Ha…ha!

Born in the middle, between now and then,
time’s one-dimensional line
draws you forward
into each new day;
your memory comes stumbling
behind.
How could you fail to seek some way around
the stone that’s waiting for your name?

[chorus]