Serenade to a Singing Princess

Written and Recorded in 1990

I guess it took me about a few weeks to write and record this instrumental tune and there were certain time lags during the time of composing. Initially, perhaps ideas emerged through my random piano playing as usual and it seems that, according to a notebook I used at that time, I thought about compiling the ideas to form a piece of Classical music. This initial intent might have been soon interrupted due to the addition of a Swing-like bridging section in the middle and at this point, I decided to write a lyric that goes with the tune. I remember at least I tried out the lyric with my own voice once and the song was about walking on a pleasant autumn day.

One day during such a pleasant autumn, while I was still working on this tune, I went to see a concert held within my college site. It was one of the casual concerts by a mixed choir, which belonged to the students’ musician union of the college, and having a look at such one was a normal activity for members of the union. Through such activities, I took to be familiarised with Classical music and though I didn’t have a particular interest in choir music, I was quite impressed by a female singer’s performance on that stage.

When I got back home to continue finishing my work, I changed my mind to dedicate this tune to the female singer I saw in the concert, by removing my silly voice part and renaming it Serenade to a Singing Princess. Shortly before that, I remember the tune was provisionally titled Underground Hollywood, referring to a chapter from a memoir written by Ultra Violet, a book I was reading then, despite the tune had nothing to do with Andy Warhol’s Superstars.