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Notes from the author (Andy):
Theme from Honigman was written in early 2004. Howard Dean was running for president. It started out as a little guitar riff that I brought to rehearsal. My bandmates in Honigman turned it into something cinematic.
Notes from the performer of this version (Memphis):
Theme from "Honigman" was premiered in the band Honigman, which began in fall of 2003 and ran through Winter 2005, when two members moved to California and Ohio. Since then Theme has been featured in the Mississippi Seven set, sometimes as an instrumental and sometimes with either Karl or I telling a story about an archetypal stranger bringing peace and justice to a small town in the old west.
Here I left it instrumental. I started the recording with the rhythm guitar with only a vague notion of what I would add. Once I started adding trumpet, I noticed how hard I had been hitting downbeats on the guitar the third time through the chords. I really leaned into that with the brass arrangement. This tied it to Karl's "Great Big Decisions" from Episode 9. Also...
I've been intentionally avoiding politics on the livestreams so that the music would be the focus and so that anybody who might tune in would feel welcome, no matter their opinions. I will just say this: As I recorded each of the four trumpet parts, the hard hitting brass arrangement that evolved on the second half of verse three of this recording began to feel like an urgent alarm sounding about what's going on at the southern border in some of those old west states like Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. I can't stand that children and parents have been intentionally separated as a penalty for trying to get into our wonderful country. That drives me absolutely bananas with anger and grief and shame. It is unthinkable. I am hopeful that efforts will continue to reunite those families.
Lyrics:
(instrumental)
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