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Puzzle of the Heart

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I wrote this song in January and February of 2021, then worked on the piano/vocal arrangement for another month or so, recording it live on March 21, 2021 (while simultaneously shooting the video using my iPod Touch mounted on a tripod perched precariously with one leg on the piano and the other two legs straddling my computer keyboard. I recorded several takes, and spliced in the second half of the instrumental verse from one of the discarded attempts. I didn't use a click track to maintain a steady tempo, so the positioning of the spliced-in audio and video tracks required a bit of tweaking. There's no way to hear the splice, but the video jumps just a bit, since the alignment of the two video clips was slightly different. But enough of this technical stuff: this is a love song of sorts — written using a classic A-B-A-B-E | C-D-C-D-E rhyme scheme for the verses (the chorus goes F-G-F-H-H-F-G) — with my own intuited jazz-inflected chord changes. Try out a 14-bar verse yourself: | Cmaj7 | Eb | Dm | C# | E | Eb-maj7 | Dm7/b5 - G | repeat. Or perhaps you would prefer to try the 9-bar chorus: | Cmaj7 | Fm - C# | B | Bb | Ebm - B | Amaj7 | Ab | C# | Fm | Dm7/b5 - G |. And sorry for mixing up flats and sharps: it's how I understand the changes, even if it doesn't correspond to proper musical notation.

Puzzle of the Heart
Words and music © Jonathan Ochshorn 2021

Verse 1

The tempo of the day has slowed
We're sitting side by side
We watch another episode
Like the one we had just tried the day before

I'm feeling like we've finally landed
No idea where we were going
Can't pretend that we had planned it
But the feeling's overflowing more and more

Chorus

Could it be
We've solved this puzzle of the heart
You and me
Stumbling through the seasons
Finally finding reasons
Not to be apart

Verse 2

Holding hands like a teenage crush
A car goes by outside
No embarrassment no blush
Nothing that we have to hide from anyone

Right now this hand I'm holding
Is a straight flush aces high
And if the game is still unfolding
We're not asking when or why it will be done

Chorus

Instrumental verse

Chorus

Production notes:
Music arranged and produced by J. Ochshorn
Recorded with Logic Pro X software
Video edited with Final Cut Pro software
Vocals: J. Ochshorn
Software instruments played live on midi keyboard: J. Ochshorn (piano)
Recorded at home in Ithaca, NY, March 2021.

First posted 22 March 2021. Last updated: 28 March 2021