Why this tune?
Winter officially starts this week, and with it the expectation of snow in the colder parts of the world. One of those snowy mornings inspired “Snow Day,” which I recorded with Aaron Myers for his 2015 holiday album “Snowing In Vegas,” that includes other original songs by Aaron and me plus some creative interpretations of Christmas classics.
“Snow Day” is an example of a lyric that stared with a simple personal experience. My favorite stories of other songs that started that way are “Take The A Train,” which starts with the directions Duke Ellington gave to Billy Strayhorn to guide him to Ellington’s Harlem apartment. Similarly, Johnny Mercer’s lyric for “I Thought About You” starts “I took a trip on a train…” which Mercer wrote on a train, on the way to meet the composer Jimmy Van Heusen.
The first line of “Snow Day” came from my bus ride to work on a snowy morning, where I sat listening to a Clifford Brown track. That image led to the story of the song, about the morning after a first date that may or may not have gone well.
It’s an encouraging message to songwriters (and any writers) that inspiration can come from anywhere if we’re open to it. Best wishes for a happy Christmas and a healthy new year.
Oren Levine, jazz pianist and songwriter 