I was sitting in the train station this morning when I glanced up at the scrolling digital banner outside announcing a new Commuter Rail Schedule effective 4/24/2006.
April 24th. Hmm…
It was twenty-five plus years ago tomorrow that I gave a voice recital at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.
I did a wide variety of songs: Takin’ it to the streets (Doobie Bros.), Oh, my stars (Brecker Bros.), some jazz standards and several songs from a guy that seriously influenced me at the time, Frank Weber.
There was one song that I did alone on the piano that sticks out in my mind simply because lyrically the piece was my life at the time.
Though it’s been 25 years since I sang the song, I can remember every single word.
Please humor me…
“Parents” by Frank Weber
They don’t know me but they try
They lie awake and wonder why I am the way I am
And I don’t wanna take the money for the lessons on the piano
And I don’t wanna leave ‘em, don’t wanna let them go
But I can’t let them know
They’ve been kind and they still are
Want to see me go real far with what I want to do
But I can’t tell ‘em what I really want to do and it kinda makes ‘em crazy
And it makes me crazy, too
I guess that they’re a lot like me
Now my father is a good man, he’s a strong man and a kind man and he always tells me what to do about my car
And Daddy when I really need you; there you are
And my mother’s kind of sentimental, she tells me not to be temperamental, cause, things aren’t quite as serious as I always think they are
But they forget I’m getting older
And the world is so much colder than it ever was at home
And like my father needs my mother
And my mother needs my Dad
I am needing something now, something that they never had
And I don’t wanna take the money for the lessons on the piano
And I don’t wanna leave ‘em, don’t wanna let them go
But I can’t let them know, I just can’t let them know…
(see, I remembered every single word. amazing)
In the middle of the last verse I happened to look at my mother who was seated in the first row. Bad idea, Michael.
She was crying and my Dad had his arm around her.
But it was a moment I will never forget because the song I was singing to them transcended time and space, settling gently in a place that no disease could ever touch. Moments like this make me realize how incredibly fortunate I was to have music in my life. Its intrinsic ability to move people is just so powerful.
Little did I know that a decade later, my life would change dramatically and my care-giving odyssey would begin.
“And I don’t wanna leave ‘em, don’t want to let them go…”
And I’m happy to say, I never let them go.
~m
April 30th, 2006 
