I said goodbye to the mailing list in a last newsletter this afternoon. At the bottom of the newsletter I added a link to a new song I worked on for the last couple of weeks. This is what I wrote:
Here is the new piece “Fernweh” on Dropbox: LINK
Fernweh is a German word that means the opposite of homesick… it means far-sick. Fern means far and weh means ache or woe. The compound word means longing or aching for far off places. The melody that starts about 47 seconds into the song floats above and behind the rhythm. It reminds me about Italy, but I couldn’t tell you why. I make a good cup of coffee, but there is something special about walking into an Italian coffee bar early in the morning… perhaps a place like this one, near the Pantheon in Rome.
Oh Yeah! Fernweh! No word for this in English! This delightful song took me to Lisbon, a spot way above the city where you can see all the red tile roofs, white domes, and on to the ocean. I have a huge ache to go there right now. Thank you – it’s a good ache!
I have wonderful memories of far away places, and the saddest element of this pandemic is avoiding travel. I love planning trips…looking up a myriad of hotels and AirBnB apartments. No sooner home from one journey, I get the next trip started. :-(