Just over a week ago I wrote about Tara in a blog post. Today's post is about "Tara's Song". It didn't start out as her song, but it became hers. It would have been back in about 1996. Tara and her pal Paddy were still very young cats, about a year old. They were outdoor cats, but were always inside by midnight to spend the night indoors. One night Tara didn't come home. For a little while, we figured she was just being a typical little feline, doing things on her own schedule. We called for her, searched in the immediate area for her. No Tara. Then her absence stretched into hours, late into the night, something she had never done. Naturally, I was really worried about her. 

Around that same time, during the previous couple of weeks, I had been fiddling around with a musical idea on guitar. I had been trying to do some modal ideas (beyond Ionian or Aeolian, that is), and I was attempting to write something using the Phrygian mode. In the end, it didn't come out that way, it was just your basic minor key tune. That night, filling time playing guitar while I wondered where Tara was and worried about her, I decided to dedicate the song to her.

Someone once told me, after hearing the song, that they thought it sounded like horror movie music.  I got a kick out of that. I suspect that opinion was influenced by the dissonant intervals in the bridge part of the song. But that dissonance suggested the notion of peril, which seemed appropriate. On the night of the missing cat, I worried about any number of dangers and hazards possibly being the reason why she hadn't returned home.

The next morning...the cat came back. Just like the song says.  But cats don't tell you where they've been or why they didn't come home at the time they should have. However, our neighbour across the street a few doors down was able to tell us. He said that first thing in the morning when he opened his garage door, a little black and white streak zoomed past him. He recognized her, so was able to tell us where she had been. So she had been stuck in a neighbour's garage all night, and arrived safely home the next morning. I was extremely relieved, and very happy to see her.

In the meantime, she had gained a song. I didn't really add anything more to the song, just put the verse and bridge parts together to form a short instrumental. I recorded it on my little Tascam Porta 03 4-track recorder. Very low tech. A few guitar tracks (the melody part is double-tracked) and some programming on an old Roland rhythm machine.

After Tara passed away late last month, I decided I'd post the song as a small tribute to her. (Click on the song title to hear it.)

"Tara's Song" by Anne Drury (Written and recorded in 1996)

Tab for "Tara's Song":
https://www.angelfire.com/planet/zerofret/annesblog/annedrury-tarassong.txt