Product Description
By Mike Strand, ASCAP
Here's a swing ballad lead sheet with lyrics, chord symbols, and guitar fret boards, for a jazz group, large or small, with or without a singer. It will serve well as the foundation for a variety of arrangements, contra facts, and improvisations.
"Fifteen-Five" refers to the date 15-05-2020 (May 15, 2020) expressed the European way -- about three months into the USA pandemic response.
The audio sample is a swing ballad accompaniment from iReal Pro, combined with my tune from Finale PrintMusic -- a jazz quartet arrangement. You'll hear a baritone saxophone carrying the melody.
Fifteen-Five, Still Alive can well be described as a 16-bar blues, but the chord sequences are a lot more varied than in standard blues. The overall mood is "blue", for sure, but with an overlay of dark humor from the lyrics. The singer's message conveys both philosophical and religious ideas.
Two other 2020 pandemic-related tunes of mine, with lyrics, are also for sale on this web site: Wait It Out, and St. Matthew Blue.
Here are the lyrics for Fifteen-Five, Still Alive:
Here it is, three
months in
Not sure which, beer
or gin.
Take a glass and pour
one out
One of each, if
youre in doubt.
Dont sit still or
eat too much,
Exercise, good food,
and such.
Then the bug may not
kill you,
Just a friend, who
was careful, too.
Act of Satan or of God?
Or just of nature
still a prod
For our brains to get
involved
For this puzzle to be
solved.
Yes, we pray for spirit strong
To find peace,
however long
It takes for
scientists to find
A way to get out of
this bind.
If you dont contract
this flu,
Dont claim that God
favors you.
Maybe passing on from
this
Is the path to endless
"bliss".
This product was created by a member of ArrangeMe, Hal Leonard's global self-publishing community of independent composers, arrangers, and songwriters. ArrangeMe allows for the publication of unique arrangements of both popular titles and original compositions from a wide variety of voices and backgrounds.