4.4 Where does the term "Lost Chord" come from?

Jimmy Durante recorded a song called "The Guy Who Found the Lost Chord," which recounts an old English legend about, in the words of Mike Pinder, "an organist who, while practicing one day, hit a particular chord which elevated his consciousness and he experienced what might be called nirvana or a glimpse of heaven -- perhaps a trance of sorts. However, as with all forms of stimulants, it was short lived and he moved one hand and could not find that special chord again. He spent the rest of his life searching for it."

Mr. Pinder credits this legend and the Jimmy Durante song as having had a major influence on him during his early years growing up in England during the final years of WWII. The legend is also related in a poem, "A Lost Chord" by Adelaide Anne Procter (1825-1864) which can be found in the poetry anthology "A Treasury of the Familiar", and the song "The Lost Chord" was recorded by Reinald Werrenrath prior to Jimmy Durante's version. An mp3 of the pre-1926 Werrenrath version of the song can be found at www.billjerome.com/moodyblues/lostchord.mp3

On to Section 4.5

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