“She Didn’t Mean To” is a light-hearted piano solo originally composed in 1989 when Matt Johnson was the “house pianist” for a well-known hotel in Boston. In Johnson’s words: “One fateful evening, a very sweet waitress named, Irene—who should have retired years earlier—dropped a large tray of food. The entire restaurant came to an awkward, silent halt after all the noise settled. I immediately began playing this upbeat piece. Made it up on the spot, I did, as a distraction to calm the clientele. The melody sang our empathic thoughts, ‘she didn’t mean to’.” The warm melody and quickly-flowing rhythms must have soothed Irene in her embarrassment - if she could even hear the music under the circumstances! Either way, it’s a joyful, carefree piano solo to both listen to and to play for yourself.

Newly-recorded and transcribed for this 2020 release, the single and the sheet music are both available from Matt Johnson’s website as free downloads. The sheet music is ten pages plus composer notes, and is in the keys of C and D major (0 and 2 sharps). I’d put the sheet music at an upper-intermediate playing level.