[CIOFFI, spoken]
Y'see what I'm saying? The song itself is kinda lackluster. It lacks...

[BELLING, spoken]
Yes?

[CIOFFI, spoken]
Luster

[BELLING, spoken]
I agree. We need a completely new composition, one that's catchier than pinkeye! I'll leave you to it

[CIOFFI, spoken]
Well, at least now you have a few minutes alone with your piano, Mr. Fox

[AARON, spoken]
Alone, yeah

[CIOFFI, spoken]
May I ask, only because I've wondered this my entire life: which would normally come first? The music, or the lyric?

[AARON, spoken]
Same answer as the chicken or the egg

[CIOFFI, spoken]
Ah. So it's the lyric
[AARON, spoken]
No. It can start with a note

(He plays a note.)

Which can become a phrase

(He plays a series of notes.)

And then, you try hanging words off each branch, like trimming a tree

[CIOFFI, spoken]
Sounds easy enough

[AARON, spoken]
Really? Well don't talk about (sung) love
(spoken) Or you'll have to say (sung) "fits like a glove"
(spoken) Or "As certain as (sung) push comes to shove"
You will pine for the woman you're constantly thinking of

(spoken)
You see the problem?

[CIOFFI, spoken]
Dangling participle
So you suggest staying away from love?
[AARON, spoken]
At all costs. And don't mention your life
Or you'll have to say (sung) "cuts like a knife"
(spoken) Or refer to the (sung) "heartbreak and strife"
When you find that you're missing your...

[CIOFFI, spoken]
Missing...?

[AARON, spoken]
What?

[CIOFFI, spoken]
You were saying what you miss

[AARON, spoken]
No, I meant that...well...

(sung)
I miss the music
I miss the song
Since she's not with me
It comes out wrong
It doesn't matter
How hard I try
I've lost the music
I don't know why
You may have known
Before I met her
I wrote alone
But if you ask me
What I prefer
I'd say the music
I wrote with her

When you're writing a song
And you've a partner
The room is filled with jokes and chatter
She says something
You say something
She writes a line
You play a vamp

But when you're writing a song
Without a partner
That's a completely different matter
No one tells you "That's not funny"
No one says "Let's cut that bar"
No one makes you better than you are

I can't pretend
I miss the music
I miss my friend
No need to ask me
What I prefer
I choose the music
I wrote with her
I liked the music
I made with --

[GEORGIA, spoken]
Aaron, I forgot my lyric. Can you believe it? Me

[AARON, spoken]
Well you're not the lyricist now, you're the star. Georgia? Break a leg

[GEORGIA, spoken]
Thanks. You think you can finish the song without me?

[AARON (spoken)]
I'm a one-man band

(Sung)
I miss the music
I miss my friend
No need to ask me
What I prefer
I choose the music
I wrote with her
I loved the music
I made with her