“Softly You Run”: In fond memory of Mickey McGonegal 1958 – 2008

(Originally posted on my old blog at “Ukelear Radiation”.)

This song, “Softly You Run” dates back to 2010, written in memory of Mickey McGonegal 12/03/1958 – 08/05/2008.

I faffed around with the lyrics and the key for years, forgetting that I had ever recorded it all. Then I found this recording, the very first one, on an old mobile phone.

The uke sounded good but the vocals were very muffled. I put it in Garageband, copied the track and added “Female Rock Vocals” effect to one of the tracks. This seems to have boosted the vocals OK without messing up the sound of the uke too much.

The music was originally composed by Rita Morrison, not me. What I am playing is based on the accompaniment that Rita taught me to the very fancy picking that she did on an instrumental song she wrote, called “Raindrops”. I am not singing to the melody of the original song, so it did not work when we played the song together.

The lyrics are the words that first came into my mind when I played “Raindrops” with Rita.

In December 2014 I wrote “Seven Kisses”, also in memory of Mickey. I will give “Seven Kisses” it’s own blog post later.