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The rock riff was written the day before I left for Europe (9-2-2001, when I was supposed to be finishing the final things I had left to do for my trip!), and the part with the weird changing meters was written immediately after my return home (9-28-2001).

Of course, as everyone knows, the terrorist attack which destroyed the World Trade Center in New York occurred on 9-11-2001, while I was in Italy.

I was humming the rock riff to myself the whole time I was traveling around Europe. When I added the other part, it was in my mind to have that section represent my trip in Europe, and to have the rock riff represent something concerning the terrorist attack (even tho I wrote that part before it happened).

I had long ago (1979) thought that I was witnessing the "Decline and Fall of the American Empire" (to paraphrase the title of the most famous history of Rome), and I view the events of 9-11-2001 as an analogue to the Germanic invasions of the Roman Empire.

It struck me as incredibly ironic that this event occurred just after my seeing the actual Roman ruins for the first time. So the idea here is to set words that compare my motor-scooting thru the Roman Forum with my jetting over New York on the return home.

This is still a work in progress, and I haven't yet determined exactly how I'll set the "intoned poetry" over the section with the changing meters. But here are the words for the "rock riff" section.

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Twist the throttle 'round
Lift my foot off the ground
Drive my moto down Via Cavour
Then I'm cruisin' thru the ruins

Get in the jet
Take off and fly
Over the ocean
And then I'm cruisin' thru the ruins

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• If you have an opinion about this song or you'd like to record it, let me know.

• If you like stuff that's more intellectual, I've written a book.

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