SCP #5: Swing-Song

I have a young guitar student who is incredibly cute, and likes to take off his shoes before he starts his lesson.  He says he's "just not comfortable" until he does.  He always informs me while removing his footwear that he has tan-bark in his socks, and he inspired some of the lyrics for this piece.

Yesterday's tune had a swing feel, so I started with the word swing for this one.  I worked on the lyrics first, drawing up a quick mind map and then doing some timed writing exercises around the themes that emerged.  I feel the most comfortable composing this way, and I really had fun teasing this out over the afternoon.

I originally workshopped it on piano in the key of G so that I could play it on my mandolin with open chords, but I decided it sounded better on the piano so you get to experience my highly average piano playing. Until today I have refrained from recording too many takes of each song, because trying for a perfect one every day will just be exhausting. This one, however, took a good ten tries before I had one full go through without hitting some kind of terrible chord on the piano or losing my place.  A random note still sneaks in toward the end, but I guess that just makes it a more accurate representation of the song and my ability to play it the day of composing it.