Steemit Open Mic Week 98: Thanks For Coming (Original Song)

This is an open mic entry that was written at an open mic. Coffee house in Hermosa Beach, California. Closed down long ago. But I was there on a Friday night. Open Mic every Friday. And it was a good one...usually about 20 people there trying out new songs for a packed house. Open mic nights can be fun. You can try out new material, hone your performances on the older stuff, and keep yourself in front of a live audience when things are getting a bit thin in the gig department.

This particular Friday night, I was all signed up. I was going to up in the #8 position, a good place to be. I had my 3 songs all lined up and ready. I was all tuned up and the coffee was good. So I went to the patio and found a small table open. It was a great spot, where I could see the stage and where I could check out all of the pretty girls coming in.

And then it hit me. This song just exploded in my head. The story was right there...all I had to do was write it down and make it work. It was one of the easiest songs I had ever written. It was about that night, the open mic, and getting up to play when it was my turn.

But there was a girl. The story was not real, but the girl was. I had fallen in love with her a while back. I fell for her the second I met her, and I knew that I was in a lot of trouble, because her life was such that falling the same way for me was not in the cards. But we did have something pretty terrific for a while. After we had stopped seeing each other, she would sometimes show up at places I was playing. She would stay for a song or two, but she would always leave before I had the chance to get off stage and talk to her.

That's what this song is. It was her coming in to hear me sing, but leaving before she had to face what she knew I felt for her, and that she could not give in return.

I wrote this song while I was waiting to go on. I wrote it quietly, playing very softly and almost whispering the melody. I knew it was exactly how I wanted it. In fact, I have never edited the writing, changed a word, or deviated from that first sitting. The song now is exactly as I first wrote it.

And when it was my turn, I played this song. It was literally only minutes old when I played it for the audience. And I will never forget the fear. Not of performing the song. But...what if she walked in while I was playing it? What if she saw me THIS vulnerable, baring my soul to her? Would it kill me? And would she leave, again, before I was through?....

(Note: No prerecorded instruments or multiple instrumental or vocal tracks were used in the making of this video.)

THANKS FOR COMING
words and music by DINO ROMANELLI

I sit here with my guitar
And wander through my repertoire
Of times I've wished upon a star
And of the way things sometimes are

I'm just about to play some more
Some song I learned in days of yore
I stop and my heart hits the floor
When you walk in the door

You take a seat, you drink your tea
Your face the only thing I see
This is the place I've longed to be
Smiling at you smiling at me

It's been so long, my darkest day
The day you turned and walked away
I cannot sing, I cannot play
All that I can do is say...
Thanks for coming

Then I pick up my guitar
I sing the song, I sing for you
I sing of lonely lovers cries
And love for you so strong and true

And then when my song is done
I look for you but you have gone
Before beginning my next song
To you I say the words, so long...
Thanks for coming

I sit here with my guitar
And wander through my repertoire
Of times I've wished upon a star
And of the way things sometimes are

© Affordable Music, BMI

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