For the first time in forty weeks, I’m handing the blog over to another songwriter this week.  (Another first -- instruments!)  Portland native Keith A. Getchell contacted me a few months ago, having found me through Google, no doubt (I’m happy to say that if you Google “Portland songs,” I’m the first entry -- but, then, that probably makes sense).  Keith has written a song called “The Portland Three-Step.”  At first I thought I might try an a cappella arrangement of the song, but after listening to the demo recording Keith had done, I wasn’t sure I could top its flavor.  So I’m presenting it in this week’s blog just as it was presented to me.  Here is what Keith has to say about the song:

As a kid, my whole world was The Great Northwest.  Everything beyond that was far away and unknowable.  I was a Portlander and, for some reason, it was absolutely imperative that I convince myself that I was living in the better of the Northwest’s two great cities—Seattle and Portland.  (My family made frequent trips to Seattle, so I had a lot of empirical data to work with.)  At age 10, I was asking myself, “Which city is prettier?  Which is more interesting?  Which has better food?”  I was terribly jealous of Seattle’s Space Needle and its ferries.  Seattle even had its own song.  (Remember the television series, Here Come The Brides?)  Why didn’t Portland have a song?  Or why hadn’t I heard of one?

So, back in 2005, with daily commutes from Gresham to PSU on MAX, I used composition to wile away some otherwise unproductive time.  I wrote “The Portland Three-Step.”  It turned out a little old-fashioned, and a little out-of-fashion.  It was written for a voice a la Patsy Cline, for a nifty little 50’s country-western-swing studio orchestra.  I wanted the melody and lyrics to be simple enough for me to have sung it when I was age 10.  Most memorable songs about places are like that.  But most memorable songs like that have been grandfathered-in from bygone eras.  Written contemporarily, a song like this may be doomed.  But it was a fun project.

It has problems with the lyrics and melody, and it’s wide open for revision and new ideas.  I wrote the chorus in 9/8 time and the verse in 3/4 time.  (That, in itself, created some problems.)  Performed the way I imagine it, with the problems weeded out, I think it would be a great song.  (As the proud creator, however, I may be deluding myself.)  To anyone who would like to take it to that last, finely produced stage, I offer some song rights.  To everyone else, do with it as you wish (or not).

The performer has declined to publicly attach his name to this song but, if you contact me, he may give me permission to release his name out on a case-by-case basis.

I thank Ian Doescher for graciously posting the song on his website.  Although rewarding, writing even one song about Portland was a difficult endeavor for me.  I can’t imagine writing 52 of them.  I wish him the best as he completes the last quarter of his project.

Feel free to contact me at my email address:  deutschy61@hotmail.com

Sincerely,

Keith A. Getchell 

Without further ado, click here for “The Portland Three-Step.”

Lyrics:

Chorus:

Portland, let rush your river,

Let loose your rain and wash my heart.

Touch me.  Won’t you deliver

Your kindred soul; your world apart?

You slowly became a rose;

Below your bridges time passes through.

Portland, in you my love flows.

Let rush your river.  I drift with you!

There like dreams, your street cafes with friends at ease;

The tables strewn with blossoms sent down from your fragrant trees.

Lone ships cast out songs to summer winds, silv’ry bays.

Sweet harbor serenade me one day in a thousand ways!

Chorus

My heart dwells in your hills of green, west hills of green.

Such solace in the autumn; new hope for a time unseen!

I search brilliant skies for Mount Hood’s gaze -- grace untold.

Your twilight sends her shimmering like opal of pink and gold.

Friendly faces may seem as waves upon the shoals.

Becoming, always passing, I’ll not know their precious souls.

But your dreamers rise!  They touch the stars.  They live by

A different kind of rhythm, a slow dance, a lullaby.

Chorus

© 2008 Keith A. Getchell