SO LONG - Unreleased Song (Demo)

Happy New Year! Plus, I was a teenage jazzer!

Happy New Year!

I started writing “So Long” on New Year’s Eve in 2020. Elaine Summers helped me button it up shortly thereafter.

I considered it for my new album¹ but the song did not play well with others. By that, I mean it did not fit in with the vibe of the rest of the record.

This triple-tracked cassette 4-track demo is the first time I have recorded the song besides the original songwriting work tape sketches on my phone.

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Scroll down to the bottom of this post for the lyrics. Paid subscribers can download this demo—in hi-res or MP3—by visiting my rarities page.

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I enjoyed stepping out of my comfort zone on this one. I tend to keep my chord progressions pretty simple. I never tire of the old one, four, five. I like my minor two and my minor six. I usually steer clear of what producer Brendan O’Brien called ‘Talent Chords’ or what George Harrison referred to as ‘Naughty Chords.’

“So Long” is chock-full of very naughty talent chords. In this case, lots of diminished chords. I even threw in an F#13!

C# diminished!

All these jazzy voicings are ingrained in my left-hand’s muscle memory. You’d never guess it by listening to my records, but as a youngster, I studied jazz. I took private lessons with a fantastic teacher named Bud Hellner. Then, under the excellent tutelage of Allan Villiers, I did my best Freddie Green impression as guitarist in the Bainbridge High School Jazz Band.

After graduation, I bumbled my way through one year of jazz guitar study at Seattle’s Cornish College of the Arts. I pretty much frittered that year away. When they got into the diatonic scale of the harmonic minor I basically checked out. I was quite content with the Dorian and Mixolydian modes. Still am.

Rather than apply myself to my studies, I spent my time writing folk-rock songs and making lo-fi demos on my cassette four-track. And here I am, all these years later, still hunkered down in front of my Tascam Porta Two, knocking out demos. It never gets old.

Peace & Love Songs,

Pete

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SO LONG

So long
Fare thee well
The year is gone
That might be just as well
Time flies into the wild yonder
No use in us trying to hold onto her²

Friends and lovers
Sisters and brothers
And all of the others I wish you well
All good things come to an end
So your way my love I’m gonna send

So long
Fare thee well
We’ve got just one more song
No more stories left to tell
Good night
You’ve been a lovely audience
We’ve got to go
We hope to see you all again³

Friends and lovers
Sisters and brothers
And all of the others I wish you well
All good things come to an end
So your way my love I’m gonna send

So long
Fare thee well
The year is gone
That might be just as well

Word and music by Pete Droge & Elaine Summers

Peace & Love Songs,

Pete

1. Look for Fade Away Blue in 2025! Stay tuned to Love Songs Etc for details.

2. ‘Yonder’ with ‘onto her’?! I have to say that I am quite fond of that slant rhyme!

3. 'Audience’ with ‘all again'?! That’s a very slanty slant rhyme. Elaine wasn’t feeling this one. But I dig it!