Sweet Barcelona

Sweet Barcelona

A few years ago, I found myself in Barcelona over a long weekend.  Every city has its rhythms and cycles.  Barcelona was a revelation.  I'd been to Paris. Beijing. London. Amsterdam.  They each had their patterns and vibe.  Barcelona (Barthelona in the local Catalan dialect) was...like none of these.  Streets filled up on Friday evening and people did their shopping and then dined, socialized and strolled late into the evening.  Saturday, I had a chance to visit La Sagrada Familia, a cathedral under construction for more than a lifetime, to be finished (barring economic collapse, or perhaps in spite of it) in another decade or so.  This was the work of mastermind Antoni Guadi.  It is a masterpiece of imagination and dreaming.  Most impactful was the statue of Jesus near the top of the spires, sitting on a stone bridge, not impaled on a cross, but sitting peacefully looking down on the city below.  Like  a gentle sentinel, he watches out for Barcelona. 


Saturday evening was in some ways a rerun of Friday, but less intense. There was a Dragon's Futbol game on, and one could hear shouts of joy and agony coming out of every apartment, bar and electronics shop that had a television.  The streets were oddly empty.  I had late tapas and perhaps too much wine, as I woke early Sunday with a nasty head cold.  It was raining.  I ventured out to find a pharmacy.  Nothing much was open.  A bakery or two.  The nearby pharmacies, with their green crosses in the window, were closed, but had helpful signs informing the unfortunate where an open pharmacy could be found.  I survived the day on pastry, coffee, and some kind of head cold remedy the kind chemist provided after I used the universal "plugged up nose, sneezing, headache" gestures.


Overall, I loved the time I had in Barcelona.  The cafes with their patrons sitting on stools, dogs below on leashes, waiting to resume their daily walks.  Some time later, on a similar rainy Sunday morning at home, I had my guitar out and a little chord progression turned into some lyrics which turned into a song.  Sweet Barcelona.  It was a little more modern than my usual song, but somehow it really fit the mood of that weekend in Barcelona, minus the head cold.  Travel seems to improve in memory that way.  My friend Tim Moyer heard it and called it a "love letter".  I played it a little differently after that, making sure to keep the love letter quality in mind.  It was a good suggestion.  A while back, I recorded a demo version of this in Tim's garage studio.  Somehow he graciously found the time for an evening of fiddling and adjusting microphones just so, till we had a good sound.  He's a really busy guy, putting a lot of his time and energy into not only his own music career, but into countless charitable efforts involving music, his family, and helping others like me along the path.  Somehow we got through the evening.  At one point I managed to poke a hole in the garage ceiling with the headstock of my guitar.  Later I spilled a glass of red wine.  I don't get nervous when I'm recording.  Really.  We persevered and managed to get three songs done that evening, including Sweet Barcelona.  I had a great time.

I sent Sweet Barcelona into a few contests, along with some other songs.  In April, I got a nice email from the West Coast Songwriters 2012 International Song Contest congratulating me for an Honorable Mention for Sweet Barcelona.  Its the first time anything submitted anywhere has gotten any kind of mention, honorable or not, so thanks West Coast Songwriters!  And thanks Tim!

Song lyrics and tune can be found here... SWEET BARCELONA

 - Matt