Song: Leaving Millie
Thursday, July 17th, 2008 |(Originally posted on THIS 1.0 on 12 Aug 2005)
Download here: LeavingMillieLivePiano.mp3 (3.6mb) | LeavingMillie.mp3 (2.3mb) | LeavingMillie.mid (12kb)
<Original THIS 1.0 Description>
“Leaving Millie” is an interesting addition to the theme of Kroc’s life (my source material for this “Kroc’s Symphony” experiment; see also Retribution and The Journey). In spring 2005, Kroc shared with me a series of remarkable stories. One of the recurring characters in these stories was a girl named “Millie,” and she is the inspiration for this song.
My hope for this was to accomplish several things. I wanted a piece that sounded pretty and pleasant (not dark or dreary), but I didn’t want to go so far as “happy,” per se. I wanted it to be the kind of song you could contemplate to. I also wanted it to start simple, but progress into a more complex ending that stayed true to the simpleness of the melody. It’s designed to be a sort of musical conundrum. :) I’m rather fond of it.
Again, thanks go out to Kroc for all he’s done to help me out. This song, as well as The Journey and Retribution, are my small way of saying thanks.
By popular request, I have also included a “live piano” version of this piece. In this version the piano track was recorded as MIDI through my keyboard and recreated via soundfont - so it’s not entirely “live”, but the notes are an exact replica of me at my keyboard. In my opinion, this version has more grandeur than the all-electronic version, and although there are some dissonant notes at the end (oops!), I find this to be a nice improvement on an already excellent song.
