Hi! Welcome to “A Body of Work.” It’s the every other Tuesday space here on “Living in a Body” where I dig deep into Hal history and pull out a musical gem. Thank you for being here! Hal
Underneath the Surface
There’s no doubt that my dad was my biggest fan, but I never got the sense that he appreciated my original songs as much as I think they deserved appreciation. :) I remember back in ‘92 when I came downstairs to sing him one of my first originals, “As Though I’m Trapped Inside.” He responded by letting me know he felt the song was a bit too “self-absorbed.” He was right, but c’mon dad, it’s a great song!
He did have a favorite song of mine though... Hallie came out of the womb singing perfectly in tune and there’s nothing my dad loved more that to hear Hal and Hallie sing, “Underneath the Surface.” In this post, you can hear three generations singing three renditions of my most “Disney-esque” original song. It’s a song that I hope someday to make into an illustrated children’s book.
Click the video above to hear Harold Jr. and I sing a verse.
There’s nothing I love much more than huddling around an upright piano with a bunch of third, fourth and fifth graders. It’s my favorite age group. Their head voices are so pure and so angelic. I love the challenge of convincing the toughest kid in the room that he loves singing and that he actually sounds pretty amazing singing way up high. For many young voices, singing starts getting fun when they learn to drop the jaw and fill the head with the golden tone of a hooting falsetto.
After I explain that my voice is a “man’s” voice and that I want them to sing in their “children’s” voices, I ask them to sing what I sing - “I go then you go.” Then I start improvising short phrases to explore the range, the timbre and the possibilities of the voices that are in the room. We’ve had some magical times around pianos all over the state of Ohio.
That was how “Underneath the Surface” was born. I was in Yellow Springs, Ohio leading a residency with the Mad River Theatre Works. I can’t recall the details, but we needed a song about the stories that are hidden in every life, a song that explores the many voices that live beneath the surface. Fueled by coffee and a good muffin from the Emporium, (see Your Hometown Story) I approached those children around that piano with nothing but a willingness to collaborate. Within a day or two, we had written a profound song that I’ve been singing for 20 years now. (See the lyrics below)
Here’s Hallie and I singing together when she was four or five:
Here’s the 2022 version:
Underneath the Surface
Underneath the surface hidden down below,
There’s a story waiting, waiting to be told.
And deep inside the story there’s wonder to behold
Passion, joy and sorrow, gifts as pure as gold.
In every rock and every stone a thousand voices find a home.
In every seed of every form, awaits a secret to be born.
So, listen for the whisper, rolling thunder all around you.
If you do, it’ll turn into a memory to hold.
Listen for the rocks, trees and the bumblebees around you.
Everywhere you know that there’s a story to unfold.
Underneath the surface, hidden down below,
There’s a story waiting. Listen, listen…
Listen and you’ll know.
Underneath the Surface