500 Miles - Day 64

This was a sort of request/suggestion by my friend John Robert Hammel. Reaching into our days of extemporized song deconstruction - this is a rendering of the American folk zing made famous by Hedy West (definitely check out her version), Peter, Paul and Mary, and others.

Of course it's song about the railroad, not sailing but the sentiment is something I can definitely relate to: 500 miles from. A long way by steam locomotive. Even longer by sailboat.
The opening motif borrows just a few notes from the beginning of the melody. I then attempt to honor the original folk tune by allowing the melody to be heard with limited interruption. From there I return to the opening motif but "orchestrated" differently. After that are several brief free improvisatory sections which allude to the tune - but probably only in ways I will recognize.

This recording is a rough draft - final mixing and mastering to be accomplished once I have access to my studio resources.