I'm surprised that I didn't realize this until very recently, and I'm glad I stumbled onto it. This year is the 100th anniversary of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. Other than not remembering the actual year of the George Gershwin/Paul Whiteman premiere, though, I'm pretty familiar with the rest of the story, and its introduction to the world via a much leaner (and meaner) orchestra than we are all now accustomed to. I love hearing this performed in it's original orchestration, truer to the influence of the "jazz" culture of the time. If you have the 17 minutes to watch the above video, you should.

A few days ago, after allowing myself to take a detour from office work to watch a couple of performances of of Rhapsody in Blue on YouTube, I attempted to return to the routine of the day (when I'm home), but my brain (which operates on its own, without taking direction or observing guardrails) was not letting go of one or the Rhapsody themes, and starts assigning words, At this point I'm just become more of an observer in the process. So I gave in to writing words down (see if you tell which of the themes was playing in my head):

"Every time I go to the store,

I pick up a jar of peanut butter,

And I'm always running out,

Cause I eat so much.

Why do I obsessively eat,

A peanut butter sandwich,

Maybe 2, at random times a day

And not just for lunch ..."

At which point I said ENOUGH to myself, so I could go back to practicing.

Living with my brain can be challenging sometimes.... uh, actually every day, all the time ...