Songbook
FAQs
I'd like to hear your songs. Is
there a CD I can buy?
No, there's no CD, however you can
hear live recordings of the songs on my
Podcast
page (free!), and you can also hear clips from the songs on my
Songclips page (also free!).
I'd like to sing one of your songs from the songbook in a
transposed key. Do you offer transpositions?
and/or
I'd like to purchase the sheet
music for one of the songs in the book. Is that possible?
Yes. Please address your inquiries
for transpositions/sheet music to
songbook@jeffblumenkrantz.com.
Sheet music for individual songs costs $5, plus $.50 for each
additional page after the first five, i.e. "Love Is Not All," at
four pages, would be $5. "Toll," at ten pages, would be $7.50.
Transpositions cost $7.50, plus $1 for each additional page after
the first five, i.e. "Love Is Not All," at four pages, would be
$7.50. "Toll," at ten pages, would be $12.50.
I need your songbook or sheet music
delivered quickly/overnight. Is this possible?
I'd like to order multiple copies of the songbook. How do I go
about this?
Go ahead and order online. The
"music store" should allow you to order multiple copies and charge
you accordingly.
I don't live in the US. Can I
still order your songbook?
Of course! Go ahead and place your order online on the
"songbook" page. The shipping rates may vary, country to country,
but it will be revealed before you are required to pay.
I'd like to sing one of your songs for an audition or include it
in my cabaret show. Is that OK?
Absolutely! I'm thrilled! Enjoy, and
break a leg.
I'd like to include one of your songs on my CD. Is that OK?
Absolutely! I'm thrilled! My song,
like all the others on your recording, would be subject to
standard royalty fees. You can contact
The Harry Fox Agency to
pay those fees. However, if yours is the first recording of the
song, you will need to secure permission and a mechanical license.
All inquiries regarding recording issues should be addressed to
songbook@jeffblumenkrantz.com.
Are you still working on The Other Franklin? Is it
possible to hear the rest of the score?
No. We are no longer working on The Other Franklin. And
unfortunately, the rest of the score will not be made available.
Is that supposed to be an A Flat on
the word "you" on page 75, measure 9, in the song "My Book?"
Yikes! Yes, and I have Prof. John Koch of Illinois State
University to thank for finding this oversight. If anyone else
finds one,
let
me
know and I'll give you credit too! :-)
Is that a misprint in the first
line of the lyric for "Love Is Not All?" I know this Millay
sonnet, and I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be: "Love is not all:
it is not meat nor
drink...."
Yikes again! Yes, and I have the
wonderful singer Rebecca Luker to thank for finding this
oversight. I'm completely horrified, and I hope Edna isn't getting
too dizzy in her grave. Nor! Nor!
In "Toll," under the lyric "think they could chat
for a minute or two,"
should that F# change to an F natural on the third beat in the
piano right hand?
Yikes yet again! This time,
Geoffrey Castles gets the
credit for calling this to my attention. Thanks, Geoff!
(Specifically, it's the 4th measure on page 114.)
Could you discuss the origin of the
songs in the songbook?
ALL
BECAUSE OF YOU
Written for the Broadway production
of Urban Cowboy. Aunt
Corene has waited up all night for Bud, her nephew, to arrive. He
was expected for dinner the night before. Now it’s morning, and
she’s pissed! In the original version, there was dialogue between
Corene and Bud interspersed throughout the song, but for the
purposes of the songbook, I revised it as a solo.
ANOTHER
GUY
Also written for the Broadway
production of Urban Cowboy.
Sissy, a tough, young woman regales her friend/coworker with
stories of her failed relationships.
DEPARTURE
A musical setting of a poem by
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet,
Edna St.
Vincent Millay (1892-1950). As printed, the last stanza of
"Departure" is shown in italics, so I imagine the song as the
stream of consciousness reflection of a New England girl at the
turn of the century. Then, the chiming of the clock is what
brings her back to reality (the italics).
HOLD MY HAND
Written for (and subsequently cut
from) Hush. Miles
Berlin is a neurotic, young theatre composer, and this song
reveals his yearning to be in a relationship.
I WON'T MIND
Written for the unfinished
musical, The Other Franklin.
Lizzie is wife to William Franklin, who is Benjamin Franklin’s
son. After years of desperately wanting a child, becoming
pregnant and ultimately miscarrying, she learns that she will
never bear a child. She sings the song to her godson (her best
friends’ newborn) in the nursery, while everyone else is in the
next room celebrating the christening. Recorded by Audra
McDonald on her CD, How
Glory Goes.
I'M FREE
Written for the one-act musical, Precious Little Jewel,
based on the Kate Chopin short story, “The Story of an Hour.” In
turn of the century New Orleans, Louise has just found out that
her husband has been killed in a train crash. After her initial
response of shock and despair, she begins to recall moments from
her stifling marriage and ultimately rejoices in her newfound
freedom.
INDEPENDENCE DAY
A little pop song written for an
ex. (Note: this song was originally delivered via voicemail,
hence the line “Hope this comes out clear.”)
IT'LL WORK FOR YOU
Written for Fits and Starts (an
unfinished/abandoned project). Ben, a Jewish composer, has
recently come out to his mother. This is her unique response to
that news.
LAMENT
Another
Millay
setting. A mother tells her children that their father has died.
Recorded by Megan Mullally on her CD,
Big as a Berry.
LOVE IS NOT ALL
Another
Millay
setting. A world-wise woman's reflection on the concept of love.
(And, if you ask me, a flirtation. If I were shooting the video,
she would be in bed with her lover, smoking a post-coital
cigarette. Edna is spinning....)
MOVING RIGHT ALONG
Written for Fits and Starts. Ben and
his best friend, Linc, go to their neighborhood gay bar to find
dates for Ben. Instead, they decimate everyone in sight.
"Moving Right Along" was rewritten
as a women’s duet for Rebecca Luker’s American Songbook Series Concert at Lincoln
Center, February 2005.
MY BOOK
Written for the Audra McDonald
song cycle,
The Seven Deadly
Sins, commissioned by Carnegie Hall for her series of
concerts there in June 2004. Seven writers/teams were each
assigned a sin to develop as a song. Mine was Sloth. (You can
listen to that concert on
npr.org.)
THE PHILOSOHPER
Another
Millay
setting for a female singer. A woman questions her flawed choice
for a partner.
RECUERDO
Another
Millay
setting, this time as a duet. A couple tenderly reminisces about
a special evening.
THE SPRING AND THE FALL
Another
Millay
setting for a female singer. Another woman recalls moments from
a past relationship.
TAKE THE FILTER OFF
Written for Fits and Starts. Randy was
Ben’s girlfriend for a year until he came out of the closet a
year ago. She has transitioned (mostly) gracefully into being
his best friend, and she has been encouraging him to get in the
dating pool, to no avail. After his tirade about how undate-able
the men in New York are, she diagnoses his “filter problem” and
launches into this song.
TIME DOES NOT BRING RELIEF
Another
Millay
setting dealing with the process of recovering from a
relationship which has ended.
TOLL
A song sung by a female tollbooth
worker in love with one of her driver "customers." Written for
an unproduced revue which explored themes of travel, people
going places, movement, etc.
WALKING THE WRONG WAY
Lyrics by Libby Saines. A
self-contained cabaret-type song which explores a woman's
experience in an extramarital relationship with a younger man.
T h a n k
s f o r a s k i n g !