Why this tune?
This week’s tune came about as part of my “Torah Tunes” project, an attempt to write songs inspired by the text of the weekly Torah portion we read in the Jewish tradition. Last week’s portion Ki Teizei (from the book of Dvarim / Deuteronomy) includes a verse about prompt payment of wages (Deut. 24:15):
בְּיוֹמוֹ֩ תִתֵּ֨ן שְׂכָר֜וֹ וְֽלֹא־תָב֧וֹא עָלָ֣יו הַשֶּׁ֗מֶשׁ כִּ֤י עָנִי֙ ה֔וּא וְאֵלָ֕יו ה֥וּא נֹשֵׂ֖א אֶת־נַפְשׁ֑וֹ וְלֹֽא־יִקְרָ֤א עָלֶ֙יךָ֙ אֶל־ה’ וְהָיָ֥ה בְךָ֖ חֵֽטְא׃ {ס}
You must pay out the wages due on the same day, before the sun sets, for the worker is needy and urgently depends on it; else a cry to ‘ה will be issued against you and you will incur guilt.
That phrase triggered thoughts about the experience of musicians I know (including myself) who have had issues getting paid promptly for a gig. A phrase popped into my head: “you hired the band, you gotta pay the band.” That led to this short blues number about the importance of prompt payment. The song quotes a story about Aretha Franklin I heard from Aaron Myers.
I think there’s still work to do on this one to make it into a proper song, although I quite like the “short and sweet” version I have so far. What do you think?
Oren Levine, jazz pianist and songwriter 