Ben Bakken

When You Said Goodbye (studio version)

Having two of the same song on a Maurer CD is a rare occurrence. I planned for the initial recording of When You Said Goodbye to be sung by Ben Bakken, a young and upcoming vocalist I had been Music Director for in Chanhassen Dinner Theatres production of Altar Boyz in Spring 2009. Ben's voice had lot of soul, and seemed the perfect vehicle for the theatrical elements of this song. Sure enough, when I heard him take a stab at it for the first time, I knew I had chosen the right guy!

I wanted a male rendition for When You Said Goodbye, for certain reasons. But things took an unintended twist as I was preparing the song to be introduced to Ben for the first time. Rachel Holder, heard on the live version of When You Said Goodbye, had been filling in with the George Maurer Group quite a bit in the past couple years, and, seeing an opportunity to really introduce the song to Ben, I had Holder quickly sight-read and sing the song, which I then recorded for Ben. In the process, I discovered I also liked the way Rachel sang it, as did others.  Not being able to choose between two very different interpretations of the same song (Rachels innocent, straight-tone jazz voice, or the soulful pop-music-theater qualities of Ben's voice) I decided to include both male and female, jazz and pop versions of When You Said Goodbye on Songs From the Wayward Journey.

“It's all about perspective!” I keep telling my friends and fans who have already been arguing over which version they like better. In my mind, no one owns the rights to the story of saying farewell to a love that has only just begun to take root. I still kinda expect that someday I will hear the other side of that story. Maybe Jim's take on it was close to the mark. Maybe not.