(Continued from this post.)

I was home, alone, and my wife was in a hospital 10,000 miles away. I’d been playing and recording music, but when this happened, it was as if a dark curtain descended over the world. At this time, I wrote track #7 on my album, evolution, “Missing You (Song for Hannah).”

I can’t describe to you in words what it was like waiting for her to come home. She was ill, and she was weak; she was not permitted to fly until she’d recovered enough to survive that incredibly long flight from the far side of the world. After all, if she started going into anaphylactic shock again on the airplane while flying over the Pacific, what could be done?

The version on the album is a distant descendant of that original. It was recorded July 2, 2005, weeks after Hannah was medically evacuated from her post in Cambodia and we were reunited. Unfortunately, she did not come back well. She had continuing medical problems and mysterious illnesses for months afterward.

I think you can hear the sadness in the song. It has one of the most complicated chord progressions I’ve ever written, concealed under a few unifying themes so you don’t notice the abrupt changes: the constant acoustic guitar rhythm (there are no drums); the Hammond Organ in different voices, but always with a similar phrasing and melody; the chorus with its violin-like eBow line. The bass is, for me, uncharacteristically restrained; I love bass, and I like bass lines, but this song demanded whole notes.

The story of this song will be concluded tomorrow, when I reveal what the “mystery allergy” was that nearly killed my wife. Meanwhile, here’s a few of the chords used on this tune, just in case you’re one of those enterprising musicians who likes to figure out how songs work (or even one that wants to cover it–you are free to do so under evolution’s Creative Commons license, just read the terms).

intro: Em9 to Am13
main: Em9 to Am13

between “main” cycles, the various layers:

Q1: C/G to D/F#
Q2: F#m9b5 to B7b13/F#
Q3: C7/A to D7/A
Q4: Fmaj7/E to G6/E (or Em11)
Q5: E phrygian (G7/E)