Blame It On My Youth

While I was out walking today I started to sing the beautiful Oscar Levant song Blame It On My Youth (Edward Heyman lyric) and before I knew it I realized that this could be the title of the play (musical? play? memoir?) I have been toying with. In fact using the song at the top of the show might be my way in. Maybe by using a real song that mean something ironic as a title and a device is my way into this play. Treating a play the way I treat a musical might get me into it. It's a memory play for sure and the lyric has a certain irony.

IF I EXPECTED LOVE WHEN FIRST WE KISSED
BLAME IT ON MY YOUTH,
IF ONLY JUST FOR YOU I DID EXIST
BLAME IT ON MY YOUTH
I BELIEVED IN EVERYTHING
LIKE A CHILD OF THREE
YOU MEANT MORE THAN ANYTHING
ALL THE WORLD TO ME

Already it feels right. A way to talk about the first kiss and how naive a 16 year old boy (no matter how sophisticated he thinks he is) can be. How this 40 year old woman wove a web of magic and romance and pulled him into it.

IF YOU WERE ONE MY MIND BOTH NIGHT AND DAY
BLAME IT ON MY YOUTH
IF I FORGOT TO EAT AND SLEEP AND PRAY
BLAME IT ON MY YOUTH

This boy gave up everything for this woman, for the chance to be adult, to be cared for, to be nurtured and understood.

AND IF I CRIED A LITTLE BIT
WHEN FIRST I LEARNED THE TRUTH

And eventually truth came crashing around his ears. The truth of obsessive love. Of adult emotions that he was not ready for. Of a love so intense he had no way of dealing with it. Neither did she for that matter, except to do all the wrong things.

DON'T BLAME IT ON MY HEART
BLAME IT ON MY YOUTH

But what could SHE blame it on? Her heart, her needs, her narcissistic need for the boy.

There IS something here. To intersperse her singing with his recollection and then let play with time. How I would love to keep this a two character piece, but for some reason I have already added another actor in this first scene. Well, it could all change tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow...Having lunch with Thomas Z. Shepard about the possibility of working on a book with him. Could be good. I will report back.