The Song

My Ever Changing Body – Music and lyrics by Matthew Ferraro

The lyrics of My Every Changing Body were produced from Mr. Ferraro’s interest in the age divide. He interviewed hundreds of people over 50 and under 21. These recorded sounds and testimonies of people’s real life are the content of the song. It utilizes a concept he created in 2005, which was officially named, “Orchestral Journalism,” by the California Arts Council. It is an art form where recorded testimonies and sounds of a specific subject are gathered together and then used to inform and literally create a fabric of music. The entire libretto or lyric is created from the testimonials.

As he was contemplating the lyrics, some friends took him tango dancing. They told him tango dancing kept them young. He noticed that people of all ages attended these tango dance events. Old and young danced with each other. There were no boundaries between the generations. This matched the lyrics he had just written.

He shaped the melody into a tango piece for a concert featuring chamber musicians from Los Angeles and a group of film composers premiering new works. His, “My Ever Changing Body,” now a tango song, brought old and young people out of their seats to dance in the aisles. Smiles, laughter and a sense of humanity and joy filled the room. It was quite a spectacle, and the piece was the crowd favorite.

He knew he was on to something that could diminish the barriers between old and young. We have testimonies turned into music, and music turned into moving art by animation.