A Musical Note.

In memoriam to somebody I once knew, whose A sharps rarely sounded like B flats.

Oh Jane

You’ve lost

Your voice again

You cannot sing

It will not rain

Oh Jane

Refrain

From causing further pain

Your efforts

Are in vain

Back in the 80s, my then wife had a rock band (she was very young) and their bassist was a bit of a novice. She told me one day that they’d been in rehearsal and she’d told him to play a B flat at a certain point. He’d looked up and down the cool, fretless fretboard, and declared:

‘There’s definitely no B flat on this guitar.’

‘Has it got an A sharp?’

‘Er… yeah.’

‘OK, play that instead.’

He had an unrequited crush on her, you know. I saw him sitting outside the house on one occasion, looking very miserable. I knew the feeling, so I left him to it.

And purists needn’t tell me that A sharp and B flat aren’t technically the same note. I know. My then wife told me.