Mehldau plays original compositions, jazz standards and jazz arrangements o… Read Full Bio ↴Mehldau plays original compositions, jazz standards and jazz arrangements of popular music, especially rock music. With his trio, he has recorded arrangements of the music of Nick Drake, The Beatles, Radiohead and Paul Simon. Mehldau has a distinct talent for transforming these ‘Rock’ songs in such a way that they sound as if they were Jazz Standards in the first place. He is best known as leader of the Brad Mehldau Trio, with bassist Larry Grenadier and drummers Jorge Rossy and Jeff Ballard (who succeeded Rossy in 2005). Mehldau has also expressed an interest in and knowledge of philosophy, in particular of music and art( such articles like; " Ideology, Burgers and Beer" published by Jazz Time Magazine, which can be found in his web site under the writing section.) He has played and recorded solo and with co-leaders Peter Bernstein, Mark Turner, Charlie Haden, Charles Lloyd, Pat Metheny and others. In 2004, Mehldau toured with Kurt Rosenwinkel and Joshua Redman.

Mehldau is first and foremost an improviser, and greatly cherishes the surprise and wonder that can occur from a spontaneous, directly expressed musical idea. But he also has a deep fascination for the formal architecture of music, which informs everything he plays. In his most inspired playing, the actual structure of his musical thought serves as an expressive device. As he plays, he listens to how ideas unwind, and the order in which they reveal themselves. Each tune has a strongly felt narrative arc, whether it expresses itself in a beginning and an end, or as something left intentionally open-ended. The two sides of Mehldau’s personality--the improviser and the formalist--play off each other, and the effect is often something like controlled chaos.

Mehldau has performed around the world at a steady pace since the mid-nineties, with his trio and as a solo pianist. His performances convey a wide range of expression, and he favors juxtaposing extremes. Often, the intellectual rigor and density of information in the abstraction of one tune is followed by a stripped down, emotional directness in the next. Over the years, he has attracted a sizeable following, which has grown to expect a singular, intense experience in his performance.

Day is Done
Brad Mehldau Trio Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

When the day is done
Down to earth then sinks the sun
Along with everything that was lost and won
When the day is done

When the day is done
Hope so much your race will be all run
Then you find you jumped the gun

Have to go back where you begun

When the day is done, when the night is cold
Some get by but some get old
Just to show life's not made of gold
When the night is cold

When the bird has flown
Got no-one to call your own
No place to call your home
Now the bird has flown

When the game's been fought
Newspaper blown across the court
Lost much sooner than you would have thought
Now the game's been fought

When the party's through
Seems so very sad for you
Didn't do the things you meant to do
Now there's no time to start a new
Now the party's through

When the day is done
Down to earth then sinks the sun

Along with everything that was lost and won
When the day is done

Overall Meaning

The Brad Mehldau Trio's song Day is Done talks about the fleeting nature of life and how we tend to take things for granted until it's too late. The song starts with an image of the sun sinking down to the earth, symbolizing the end of a day that has seen both victories and losses. This represents life in general, where we win some and lose some, and eventually everything comes to an end.

The second stanza talks about the naivety of youth, where one hopes to finish the race of life as soon as possible, but realizes that they have "jumped the gun" and have to start all over again. This could represent the regret one feels for not making the most of their youth or taking things for granted.

The third and fourth stanzas talk about loneliness and the realization that life is not all sunshine and rainbows. The bird symbolizes freedom and having nobody to call your own represents the feeling of being lost in life. The game being fought and lost earlier than expected shows how life can be unpredictable and how we should make the most of it while we can.

The final stanza talks about regret and the sadness of realizing that we didn't do everything we wanted to do in life. The party being over represents the end of life, and the fact that there is no time to start a new one shows how we should make the most of the time we have.

Overall, Day is Done is a poignant song that conveys the message that life is fleeting, and we should make the most of the time we have.

Line by Line Meaning

When the day is done
After the day draws to a close

Down to earth then sinks the sun
The sun vanishes below the horizon

Along with everything that was lost and won
Taking with it all the successes and failures of the day

When the day is done
Repeating the first line for emphasis

Hope so much your race will be all run
Wishing you complete all your goals

Then you find you jumped the gun
Realizing you acted too soon

Have to go back where you begun
Starting over from the beginning

When the day is done, when the night is cold
When the day transitions into a frigid night

Some get by but some get old
Surviving or succumbing to the harshness of life

Just to show life's not made of gold
Demonstrating that life is not perfect