Charlie Fechter and I wrote Romilayu's Tune way back in the summer of 1980, at a time when Charlie would come over to my place on Sunday afternoons to hang out and play music. 

 

One Sunday we had pulled out the instruments and were getting ready to start. Charlie was standing by the door playing a little repeating rhythmic figure. 

 

That's a nice bit there!  Don't stop.  On my Fender bass, I improvised a simple line to settle the groove, then moved on to an equally simple melody.

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There it was, just like that - a really distinctive piece of music.

 

Wow.  That was easy!

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The previous summer I had read Saul Bellow's "Henderson the Rain King" for the first time. This new tune Charlie and I just put together had an African flavor - Charlie's guitar riff could easily happen on a thumb piano - and it felt like travel music. I suggested the title "Romilayu's Tune" after Henderson's African guide in the book.

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Romilayu's Tune has persisted.  It is simple and it is true.

 

If ever a film version of Henderson the Rain King is made, I want Romilayu's Tune to be used again and again as travel music.