Love Tales Carli Muñoz
It is love that takes me into this journey––love not always fulfilled, but more often love broken into pieces and finding its way through the cracks of a painful soul-searching leaving its impurities behind like a fine cognac would in distillation. Love Tales could be a testimony to that. It portrays a kind of metamorphosis carried by a combination of songs original and standards, each telling a different story.
The story begins with Tere, a song about friendship without boundaries. It is both personal and a general statement about the passion of friendship. Tere could be Daphne, Jim, or Breaker (Breaker is my dog on the cover picture). Tere is about solidarity and friendship without boundaries and looking at each other eye to eye. It is a tale of love, about to begin with no ending in sight, and perhaps no beginning,––just fate taking its place in time. It is about the continuum of an instant mutual acknowledgment of respect and admiration.
If there is such a thing as the love for the delicate aspect of a particular melody, Spartacus Love Theme is one of them. This is a love tale about song or form in its simplicity and depth all at the same time. It is about the gentle discovery of curvy, subtle, sometimes mysterious places in a body...of music?
Occasionally a love tale takes a leap into new boundaries. Three Little Steps to Heaven rarely ever takes you to the same place in a predictable way. At least it seems that way. Isn't that the way of love, as we know it? Its continuous cycle of thirds will land you in a different key center each time. I understand that this analogy must send familiar signals to some of the relationship roller-coaster regulars. We live and learn!
But how sweet is love for the sake of loving! This is more like taking a plunge into the unknown. Sometimes I think that Anastasia only existed in my fertile imagination. It is a tale of love that started as a mystery and still remains a mystery. It is about embracing the unknown, exploring it, taking a chance.
Speaking of taking a chance, isn't that what we do when we say we go All The Way? Could it be about commitment? Isn't this what we often strive for, but we are so seldom willing to give? There is a long intro that I play that vacillates long before finding myself immersed in this beautiful song's melody. So, "who knows where the road will lead us? Only a fool would say. But if you let me love you, it's for sure I'm gonna love you, all the way, all the way". Take your time listening to this song. Give in to it; let it take you all the way.
If a love tale could be measured by its eternal reward and gratification, Melanie is a tale of love of the sweetest kind. This is certainly loving at its most rewarding and gratifying state. It is for the love of my daughter Melanie that I took the challenge of writing the words to this song in an ancient and almost forgotten acrostic style:
Melodies and sunshine in her eyes,
Even when a storm is passing by,
Lending to the misty night her smile,
Always fun and gentle, that's her style.
Never will she cross you; she is kind,
Instant fascination you will find,
Even when she's mad or a little shy,
Most of all she's lovely, she's all mine.
Unafraid of the worries the world could reveal,
Never lending a thought of sadness concealed,
Oh! How silly she can get when no one is near,
Zany; serious; romantic; or shabby-genteel!
Composing for me, is as predictable as the weather in Puerto Rico. And Serendipity is no exception. It just happened to come by when I was processing a significant heartbreak and alas...came Serendipity! It is a love tale about the peripheral stages of love itself (falling out of love) in its whimsical nature. I relate it to a kind of purging the old stuff and connecting to ourselves and to the results of events around us. It's about letting go and allowing new things to happen...new beginnings.
New beginnings are unique and can be fun. They often bring the best of me. They are like soul cleansers, and I have been fortunate enough to have found myself experiencing new heights of awareness. Yellow Moon Tune could be considered an expression of one of such special moments. The keyword here is reverence, not for anyone or anything in particular, but for all. To me, it is the embodiment of the unspeakable. It is the exaltation of pure beauty and awe that can only be expressed in music. Let the music speak for itself!
"My Romance doesn't have to have a moon in the sky." And can I relate to that! There is nothing like the sweet smell of a new romance! It is the closest thing to hovering above the ground without a propeller. Also, it usually does not include parachute or flying instructions, and the landing tends to be rough, to say the least. Do we complain when we drink "few" glasses of fine wine or champagne and enjoy it to bliss knowing that the next day we might feel like digested food in a toilet bowl?
A dear friend said to me once that she felt like removing something from her body every time she would hear Tujunga Waltz. I told her that even though I never intended to compose a song that would incite inappropriate social behavior, she wasn't very far from its original lyrical intention. Tujunga Waltz is a song about removing false ideas and of reconciliation with the idea that we are alone. Not that we are necessarily alone in a negative way, but alone to create our own reality about how we choose to carry on when we no longer have the company of someone we love. It is really a song about the powerful transformation from being a victim to being the source, realizing that we are still alone but richer in our memories and that in love, "to win or lose is all the same."
The coffee makes the brake of down, it wakes me, I'm out of bed.
The pastry is sweet but not enough to fill me; I'm in the red.
You filled my heart
with new love and
then you stripped it away.
Pretend I'm nothing to you,
but baby, I'm just the same.
Now I can see right through you, I no longer take the blame.
My cup was filled with sorrow and now is vanished away.
We danced the Tujunga Waltz, right above the skies,
gliding sweet and flying, where the sun and the moon and the stars they all watched as we danced.
I want to seal my broken heart away from my empty nest.
For love, for life for all it's worth, to win or lose is all the same. And now I can see clearly,
It's just me and my Tujunga Waltz.
When it comes to tender love, love's longing for its own expression; The Nearness of You is a favorite of mine. Through this song, I have chosen to acknowledge the loving company of K for allowing me to express the full passionate, and joyous nature of my being. This song is for you, K, thank you for fulfilling the most fundamental and essential kind of love that continuously nourishes and enhances my spirit, and thank you for making "all my wildest dreams come true."
Through this work, I get to have the joyous opportunity to honor all (including the moon and my dog) that I have had the privilege of loving one way or the other.
Good music doesn't really need a description.––different people perceive music in their own unique way. I offer these liners only as my own personal story. I am sure that you will have your own account to tell as you listen to this music.
When you sum it all up, life itself is a love tale. I hope that I have gotten your permission to enter and be a part of yours by sharing my music and my most intimate thoughts and innermost feelings. May this be the beginning of a love tale.
Enjoy,
Carli
I would especially like to acknowledge Jack and Jaye's valuable collaboration for making this recording possible and for their warm welcome to their beautiful home, The Chantry Villa in Vermont, and, most of all, for their genuine and supportive friendship. I would also like to thank the staff at The Chantry, especially Dolores, Glenn, and Joy, for making my stay so special.