Ethan, is a birthday song I wrote for a 17 year old boy who loves anything to do with racing cars. His mother tells me that his reaction to his gift was, "Whatever", but he played it for everyone in his class.
Jane and Jay, is a 15th wedding anniversary song which Jane sings. She presented the gift to her husband by putting it on the stereo, saying nothing, and as he starts to recognize her voice, and then realizes it's about them, he becomes choked up with tears. I actually bumped into them at a Broadway show one night, and once we were introduced, he shook my hand with both of his and said it was the best gift he could ever receive.
Mother's Day was commissioned by a young father. He wanted to write most of the lyrics, which was great, and I changed things around just a little to fit into the music. Their 2 year old son sends his Mom a message in the song, that she's "awesome" . Apparently, that's when her tears came. She emailed me and thanked me for making her mother's day unforgettable.
Bernadine is a song in memoriam of a woman who lived adventurously. She inspires many of us to follow our dreams. To be exciting by doing exciting things. To be fearless, and never bored. I wanted to adapt a Bob Dylan style song, because she loved him in her Hippy days, but I couldn't find a singer who could emulate the great Dylan, so I sang it from my heart. We had the great John Carey on Bass for this song.