When I find something that I like on my own that is not liked by many other people, it becomes very special to me. One of those things is the song We Will Meet Again by Bill Evans. This song is so unpopular that you barely find any covers of it on YouTube, while Evans has so many other songs that are more known and I guess popular. This song has a very strong effect on my emotions, and I can really sense a feeling of “Sorrow” each time I listen to it. I looked it up. It was first recorded in 1977, in the album You Must Believe in Spring. In that version, which is 4:04 long, it’s Bill Evans on the piano, Eddie Gómez on bass, Eliot Zigmund on drums [1]. The song was dedicated to his brother Harry. Later, when Bill is on tour in the Pacific Northwest, he learns that his brother Harry, who had schizophrenia, died by suicide at the age of 52. Months after his brother’s death, he goes to New York to record his last studio album. He titles it the same as the song “We Will Meet Again,” and re-records the same 1977 song as the last song on this album, but this time, alone, just a piano solo, lasting only 2:35 [2]. The song that was once a warm dedication to a living brother was now an elegy.
References
[1] https://open.spotify.com/track/3UZSpAlc0WZjxkfbUBdUgT?si=43169a3c278d42a6
[2] https://open.spotify.com/track/188gWOL4IDZ5wu9OjIGl21?si=af9d6724f6514bc6