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Ya Just Didn’t Know It Was Me

A great songwriter/musician I was working with at the time was asked if he wanted to submit some material for George Benson and Lou Rawls to review for possible inclusion on their new album. The year; 1992. I thought it was amazing that they would receive such an opportunity. Then they told me to go ahead and come up with some material as well; mostly because I was writing a lot more contemporary Pop and R&B at that point. I was thrilled to give it a try.

Within days I had written an incredible R&B/Smooth Jazz concept for a song that sounded very George Benson’ish. Still living with my parents at the time, I would grab Mom and drag her up to my bedroom project studio and have her listen, just as I always had in the past. She loved everything I wrote, no matter how terrible it was. But this time, I told her to be brutally honest, because this was meant for George Benson and Lou Rawl’s ears. She promised to listen with critical ears and I began playing back what I had just recorded.

“This is wonderful! It’s so beautiful. What’s the name?” she said, enthusiastically.

“In Your Eyes, is what I keep hearing in my head.”

“Can you sing it for me?” she asked.

“No. See that’s the thing. I am completely stumped. I love writing lyrics, but I just can’t find the right words for this one.”

After listening to the track a few more times, she leaned in and said, “You said you wanted my opinion, right? Don’t put lyrics to this. It’s far too beautiful as it is!”

Convinced I had no chance without lyrics, I brought the song to my music colleague, Ken. He said, Wow! This is great stuff! Where is the lyric sheet?”

All I have is a title, In Your Eyes. The lyrics are escaping me. My mom said I should leave it as is” I responded.

“I think your mom is right. Let’s rerecord this and master it and see what we get,” he cheered me on.

Then within weeks, it was shopped to Muzac Inc. and within a year it was distributed to various venues including The Weather Channel, Five Star hotels, and corporate telephone on-hold systems.

I was in the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Chicago checking the weather on the TV when I heard it for the first time outside of the studio. There it was, “holy shit!”, I thought. Of course, I immediately called mom and dad in disbelief.

Through the years, it has been interesting hearing so many people tell me, “Hey! I know that song. You wrote that? That’s you?”