This is one of my favorites, and it is totally my theme song! The lyrics are amazing and it is fun to sing.
I loved this song long before I got to sing it, and I recognized that it would be a great opening song for public speaking. I wrote the band on myspace, and basically said something like "Hey, I don't know if you actually have time to read these, so I'll keep it short just in case. 3 years ago I broke my neck and now I'm permanently in a wheelchair. I like to do motivational speaking, and I love your song "What I'm Dreaming Of." So 1, would you mind if I used it? And 2, is there a minus track?"
They wrote back. The entire message was "1- yes. 2- no".
I was way happy- they said I could use it! But I didn't want to play it, I wanted to sing it! Which was a problem without a minus track. Or sheet music. So for Christmas '07, my wonderful mom contacted an old friend, Larry Ross, to see if he could make a minus track. Brother Ross happened to be the ward executive secretary in my singles ward, and had nice recording equipment and a band.
I guess almost every band member got sick during the process, but they got it done just in time for Christmas. My dad went over and picked it up on his flash drive on Christmas Eve. I opened the gift on Christmas Day, and it was my dad's 2 gig flash drive. I thought to myself, "Um, I have a 4 gig flash drive..." They told me to look at what was on the flash drive. I browsed through the files and instantly recognized what it was. I was so excited! It was my favorite gift.
Brother Ross came over later to record the vocals with me. He did all of the effects on this one. I learned a lot for future recording on my own. Here are the lyrics!
Welcome to a new beginning
Welcome to a brand new side of me
This will be the life I'm meant to lead
More than just a midlife crisis
This will be a lighthouse in my soul
Taking me to what the future holds
I am not confined to steady ground
For fear of falling, I will fly
So I will live my life
Knowing I've got just one chance to make it right
Hope will me on my side, this time
To live what I am dreaming of
Tear away my fall back option
Take away the safety net below
I'm taking my chances as I go
Life is more than just survival
Love will be the thing that sets me free
Just a little faith is all I need
I am not inclined to give up now
The sky is calling, I will fly
So I will live my life
Knowing I've got just one chance to make it right
Hope will me on my side, this time
And I will spend my days
Knowing that the love I give won't go away
I will not stand and wait for life to come
I will live what I am dreaming of
I will not let failure me down
I am not afraid of learning from what comes around
So I will live my life
Knowing I've got just one chance to make it right
Hope will me on my side, this time
And I will spend my days
Knowing that the love I give won't go away
I will not stand and wait for life to come
I will live what I am dreaming of
I will live what I am dreaming of
I actually recorded this song pre-breakneck with Danny Davis. I went to his house one day and recorded a bunch of songs with him. It was one of the first songs I ever recorded.
Dr. Jekyll is a scientist who is laughed at by his peers. But he is working on a very unique potion- one that will remove man's evil tendencies. He sings this song right after he finishes the potion, but before he tests it out. This is the moment! I love this song, it is very powerful.
The version I have recorded here doesn't follow these lyrics, but the piano version I do with my wife does, and I like them better hehe. *paste!*
This is the moment
This is the day
When I send all my doubts and demons on their way
Every endeavor
I have made- ever-
Is coming into play,
Is here and now- today
This is the moment,
This is the time
When the momentum and the moment
Are in rhyme!
Give me this moment
This precious chance
I'll gather up my past
And make some sense at last!
This is the moment
When all I've done
All of the dreaming
Scheming and screaming become one!
This is the day
See it sparkle and shine
When all I've lived for
Becomes mine!
For all these years,
I've faced the world alone,
And now the time has come
To prove to them
I've made it on my own!
This is the moment
My final test
Destiny beckoned,
I never reckoned
Second best
I won't look down
I must not fall
This is the moment
The sweetest moment of them all!
This is the moment
Damn all the odds
This day, or never I'll sit forever with the gods
When I look back
I will always recall
Moment for moment
This was the moment
The greatest moment of them all!
This is the first song I did where I set my mic over our piano and had my mom play the piano part. It is another song with amazing lyrics. I love to use it to close motivational speeches, since it sums up the message I'm tyring to get across. The biggest thing that holds you down is you, so knock it off and take on your life!
We've heard the tale since we were young
Heard the songs that have been sung
About an evil spell
Someone beautiful is cursed
We feel sad through every verse
Till a kiss, and all is well
The message that no one can see
Is clearer to someone like me
There is no curse or evil spell
That's worse than one we give ourselves
There is no sorceror as cruel
As the proud, angry fool
And yet we cry "life isn't fair"K
Beneath our cries the truth is there
The power that will break the spell
We should know very well
Is locked within ourselves
Yet we'd rather blame
And curse our faith and change
We run from everyone to hide from the pain
And all the shame
The story's old, we knew it well
About a wretched evil spell
The power that will break this curse
Oh I know, all too well
Is locked within myself
This song turned out better than I really thought it would when I started it...I recorded this on a particularly bad day. I'd found a girl who seemed to be all that I wanted, and from the very first time we met it was magical. However, we both got a strong feeling out of nowhere on the same day that we shouldn't date. We tried to follow it, but eventually we gave in a dated for a short while, and it was amazing. But we knew we weren't supposed to. We didn't know why we weren't supposed to, but we knew we weren't supposed to. So we broke it off, and it was really hard.
So! As I mentioned before, I recorded this song on a particularly hard day during the aftermath of that. It's all vocal and all me, I made up the harmony in the second half. It's a very mellow song, but I love it a lot. I felt much better after recording it. (Side note: this is my wife's favorite of the songs I have recorded. Apparently she listened to it quite a bit during our longest, hardest breakup...which is a totally different story...I guess it is just a good breakup song.)
How long have I been in this storm?
So overwhelmed by the ocean's shapeless form
Water's getting harder to tread
With these waves crashing down on my head
If I could just see you
Everything will be alright
If I'd see you
The darkness would turn to light
And I will walk on water
And you will catch me if I fall
And I will get lost into your eyes
And everything will be alright
I know you didn't bring me out here to drown
So why am I 10 feet under and upside down?
Barely surviving has become my purpose
Cause I'm so used to living underneath the surface
If I could just see you
Everything will be alright
If I'd see you
The darkness would turn to light
And I will walk on water
And you will catch me if I fall
And I will get lost into your eyes
And everything will be alright
I know everything is alright...
This song was SO MUCH FUN to make! I actually played the Scarecrow in a community production of the Wizard of Oz once upon a time, which was also super fun. Anyway, one morning or night I was laying in bed, and this song popped into my head. I thought "I could totally make an acapella version of this!" I even made up the little blurb at the end while in bed. Most people don't recognize the beginning part cause it's not in the movie, but in the play, some ravens come and sing and dance with me, er, the scarecrow. The middle dialouge is actually a dance break, but a dance break is boring to listen to. So I added dialouge! It's adapted from a conversation Dorothy has with the Scarecrow when they first meet, and I threw it in there haha. Anyway, enjoy!
(Scarecrow)
Said a scarecrow sittin’ on a pole
To a blackbird sittin’ on a fence
Oh the lord gave me a soul, but!
Forgot to give me common sense
(birds)
Said the blackbird ‘well well well
What in thunder would you do with common sense?”
(Scarecrow)
Said the scarcrow t’would be pleasin’
Just to reason out the reason
Of the whichness and the whyness
and the whence!
If I had an ounce of common sense!
I could while away the hours
Conferrin' with the flowers
Consultin' with the rain
And my head, I'd be scratchin'
While my thoughts were busy hatchin'
If I only had a brain.
I'd unravel ev'ry riddle
For any individ'le
In trouble or in pain
With the thoughts you'd be thinkin'
You could be another Lincoln,
If you only had a brain.
Oh, I could tell you why
The ocean's near the shore,
I could think of things I never thunk before
And then I'd sit and think some more.
I would not be just a nuffin'
My head all full of stuffin'
My heart all full of pain.
I would dance and be merry
Life would be a ding-a-derry
If I only had a brain
(birds)
B1: well now hold on a minute, this guy wants a brain?
B2: well of course he wants a brain!! Doesn’t everyone?
B1: well if he doesn’t have a brain, how’s he do all this talkin’?
B2: well I don’t know… but some people without brains do an awful lot of talkin’!
(laughs)
(Scarecrow)
Gosh it would be awful pleasin’
To reason out the reason
Of things I cant explain
Then perhaps I’d deserve ya
And be even worthy erv ya
If I only had a brain!
I want to know ev’rything of ya
You are such a gorgeous dove
I think it doesn’t take a brain
For me to know I really luv ya!”