Music and Texts of GARY BACHLUND
Vocal Music | Piano | Organ | Chamber Music | Orchestral | Articles and Commentary | Poems and Stories | Miscellany | FAQs
A Sunshiny Thought - (1989 / rev. 2009)
Gary Bachlund
for high voice and piano
I blithely squash every little worm,
And watch its squishly squashly squirm.
My lack of sympathy indeed
Knows worms will soon revenge the deed.[ 1 page, circa 45" ]
A subject for Dorothy Parker
Originally a setting of Dorothy Parker's Thought for a Sunshiny Morning, which begins "It costs me never a stab nor squirm / To tread by chance upon a worm....," after years of attempting contact with the estate owners to publish it, the NAACP, I thought this January morning to write some substitute lyrics along the same subject and sardonic sympathy. Click on the title here for my setting of Dorothy Parker's 1922 text, Song in a Minor Key.
Given that death and humor about this most normal human experience is ubiquitous across poets, I found Parker's short four-line stanza amusing, penned this parallel to it and set it to a gentle step-wise chordal accompaniment.
Should one be in the mood for such "worm" nonsense, here are some familiar sardonic words in my setting, The Hearse Song.
The score for A Sunshiny Thought is available as a free PDF download, though any major commercial performance or recording of the work is prohibited without prior arrangement with the composer. Click on the graphic below for this piano-vocal score.
