Maui in My Mind

a song by Phil Bender-Stone and the Leinos

Words and music by Phil Bender-Stone, February 2008.
Recorded by Phil Bender-Stone and Rustan Leino, February 2008.
Remixed by Rustan Leino, May 2008 and December 2024.

Phil Bender-Stone: Vocals, keyboards, guitar, bass.
Mattias Leino: Alto saxophone.
Klas Leino: Trumpet.
Rustan Leino: Drums, percussion, tenor saxophone.

Copyright © 2008, Bender-Stone, Leino, Leino, Leino.

Story

Eight months after we recorded Old Friends, my High School music buddy Phil Stone was visiting Seattle again, so we decided to record another song together.

This time, it was Mattias (16) who played the sax solo. This was especially nice for me, for two reasons. One is that the sax leads show off Mattias’s beautiful playing. The other is that, at the time of this recording, Mattias was the same age as I had been when I played the sax solo on Phil’s song Stephanie.

Musically, the guitar figure in the intro (and elsewhere with piano) is the same figure as in the intro of Starship’s hit We Built This City, which came out the same school year that Phil and I recorded Stephanie. This connection was not intentional, but I don’t doubt that music we’re exposed to early has a subliminal effect on us throughout life.

Also, the chord progression at the beginning of the sax solo (I vi7 ii7 V) is like the first four chords of Chuck Mangione’s famous Feels So Fine song, including the walkdown into the second measure, which makes me think of Mangione’s song every time I hear it. A fun fact is that is that I have played (the sax) on stage with guitarist extraordinaire Grant Geissman, who rose to fame when he played the riff and fabulous guitar solos on Feels So Fine. (Geissman surely has no recollection of me. I was just in the Caltech Jazz Bands and Geissman was a guest artist at one of our concerts. Geissman may not even have read my PhD thesis!)

Lyrics

Starin’ out the window
in my cubicle jail
trapped inside 8:30 to 5

There’s a place I go to
when the pressure’s building up
escape inside my own mind

C’mon, sail away, sail away
And all your troubles fade
C’mon, sail away
It’s not too late

I’m going Maui in my mind
I’m going Maui in my mind
I’m going Maui in my mind
I’m going Maui

Stuck in meeting
Rackin my brain
Somebody take me away

Take me to the water falls
Where turtles swim and the dolphins call
Underneath the waves

C’mon, sail away …

I’m going Maui in my mind …

C’mon!

SAX SOLO

PIANO SOLO

C’mon, sail away …

I’m going Maui in my mind …