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click above to hear Ed Sheeran perform his mega-hit, "Perfect."
OCCASIONALLY A SONG COMES ALONG that captures the fancy
of the public. Songs such as "Happy," "Uptown Funk," "Despacito," "Girl
Crush" and "Ex's And Oh's" are good examples.
But there's a new kid in town, and that kid's name is Ed Sheeran. His
song "Perfect" has captured the hearts of at least 900,000,000 YouTube
listeners!
I started getting requests for "Perfect" about 3 months ago. I'd never
heard it. Or if I had, it literally had gone in one ear and out the
other. So I found it on YouTube and gave it a listen. And I listened . .
. and I listened again.
Should I spend the time necessary to work up this song? Hmmmm. . . nearly a billion YouTube listeners can't be wrong!
I'm very careful as to what songs I add to the Memory Brothers'
repertoire. The songs we do must have a broad appeal because of the wide
range of ages we play for. Another one of my criteria is that the song
has got to have "legs." In other words, it's got to be something we can
do three or four years from now and still appeal our followers. So that
rules out most "fad" and "novelty" songs.
After finally deciding to sit down at the keyboard with the lyrics and
spending a little time with "Perfect," I soon realized that this song is
quite challenging. The phrasing is deceptively difficult, and the vocal
range (distance from lowest to highest note) is very wide. Ed Sheeran
makes it sound easy and relaxed. So I knew I had my work cut out for me
to even come close to pulling this off live.
So it was practice, practice, practice and listen, listen, listen!
I've now performed it probably five or six times, and it's come off really well. I get a lot of: "What was that song?" "Who does that song?" "I've never heard that song - I like it."
So to my great relief, it's been received well. During the learning
process - besides being a bit daunted by the difficulty factor - I was
also concerned that the song might be a little too contemporary and
possibly too ballad-y for our dancers; but those concerns were
definitely unfounded as the dance floor fills up quickly for "Perfect."
So I guess the bottom line is that it just might be a "perfect" song; and sometimes it's good to step out of one's comfort zone!
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