41 (Ben Hur's Blues) (c) 2014 Words, Music, & Guitar by Lance Frank
Among other things, one of the principal reasons I chose to study TV and Film at Temple University was because it merged music with my many other interests. This tune is a tribute to the film "Ben Hur" and it's score by Miklos Rosas. Fans of the film will recognize the bass line from the slave galley scene, an excerpt from which is below. Note: "41" is Ben Hur's oar number in the 1959 version of the film, though the character has had other oar designations in other versions of the story.
I'm not a very good soloist. In fact, I really cannot solo at all. But when I decided that a solo was required after the second verse I just spontaneously played one without thinking. I didn't pick it out note for note. I just played it. It isn't all that complicated a solo but the fact that it just flowed out of me blew me away. It's hard to describe the feeling. I was so jazzed I called my old friend guitar virtuoso Mitch Farber to tell him about it. He must have thought I was crazy and he's probably right.
I identify with the main character not just as a Jew, but because of the 15 years I felt chained to the oars of a corporate slave galley. It can be tough for a long haired wild eyed musician to reinvent himself as a conservative Fortune 500 executive. In time I came to realize it was my customers that I served, not my corporate masters. Though I was for the most part well treated, I freed myself as soon as I could.
Lance Frank, Broker Associate Berkshire Hathaway Home Services California Properties 74-990 Hwy 111 Indian Wells, CA 92210 760-610-9282 LanceFrankBroker@gmail.com