Gaeta's Lament

Music sheet for "Gaeta's Lament."

"Gaeta's Lament" is a ballad sung by Felix Gaeta which helps him as he recovers in Galactica's sickbay from losing the leg Samuel Anders shot onDemetrius ^{(TRS: "Guess What's Coming to Dinner?")}.

Alone she sleeps in the shirt of man

With my three wishes clutched in her hand

The first that she be spared the pain

That comes from a dark and laughing rain

When she finds love may it always stay true

This I beg for the second wish I made too

But wish no more

My life you can take

To have her please just one day wake

To have her please just one day wake

Production and Recording

The collaboration between composer Bear McCreary and Alessandro Juliani began when they exchanged demos between Los Angeles and Vancouver as McCreary tweaked the melody and key to fit Juliani's voice. McCreary was "absolutely stunned by the quality of his singing" even from Juliani's home recordings.

The final studio recording took place over a year later when Juliani flew to Los Angeles during production of the "Daybreak" score. Despite being "decimated with exhaustion from composing the score for the 3-hour finale," McCreary wrote the orchestral arrangement for Juliani the day before the studio session. The recording session occurred on McCreary's 30th birthday (17 February 2009), making "Gaeta's Lament" both the last piece of music he wrote for the series and the last composition he created in his twenties.

McCreary described Juliani as "a dream collaborator" and noted that he quickly forgot he was working with an actor, instead recognizing him as "a musical professional." McCreary emphasized that the vocal performance was "pure AJ," and that he wrote the orchestral arrangement specifically to showcase Juliani's abilities.

Live Performances

Juliani performed a rendition of "Gaeta's Lament" for the Battlestar Galactica Live Concert in 2009, in addition to the 2018 FedCon.

Notes

• The song was written by Michael Angeli with music composed by his wife, Karen Angeli. Bear McCreary was responsible for the song's arrangement and for integrating the music from it throughout "Guess What's Coming To Dinner?".
• The song was sung on set by Alessandro Juliani who jokingly refers to it as "The Stump Serenade."
• The music sheet's lyrics, "This I wish for the second wish I made too," slightly differs from the season 4 soundtrack rendition, "This I beg for the second wish I made too."
• Both an instrumental version and the version with vocals are included on the Season 4 soundtrack. The instrumental version is a completely different piece of music from the vocal version, featuring Steve Bartek on guitars and John Avila on bass.

References

Sources for this page may be located at: Sources:Gaeta's Lament

External Link

• Composer Bear McCreary discusses the song and its creation: [1]