THE PERFECT LOVE STORY

Over the years I’ve collaborated with many musicians, and there’s always a bit of tug-of-war that develops during the creative process. “Can we take that section out…I think this part should be the chorus…what if we make this section half as long” etc., etc. It can be a very painful experience! So you can just imagine how excited I was when I wrote a melody and lyrics for a piece of music composed by my friend/former band mate, Jeff Soriano, and he didn’t want to change a thing. He had emailed me a demo of the music he recorded with guitar, bass, drums and piano, and asked if I’d be interested in writing lyrics for it. I listened to the music, and while I know I have claimed this almost never happens, within just a short time, 10 or 15 minutes, I wrote a completely new song to Jeff’s music. The words and melody fit perfectly with the music and required not one single note to be changed…truly a first in my experience. The song is entitled Follow, and it will be featured on my upcoming debut CD.

The song’s lyrics tell a tale of storybook love…the kind you are willing to go to the end of the earth and back for. For those of you who don’t know me very well, I was pretty much born a romantic. When I was a kid, I loved to play King and Queen with my grammar-school heartthrob, Debbie. I still have a picture from one of my birthday parties with Debbie sitting next to me, and I was pretty sure at the time that we were going to be married and grow old together. Well, that of course didn’t happen, but I never stopped believing in the perfect love story.

Throughout my life I’ve been in many relationships I thought might be “the one,” but time and again, I found that I was still, as Neil Young says so profoundly, “Searching For a Heart of Gold…and I’m getting old.” When I finally met my wife, Tanya, I was in a very good place in my life….living in New York City in a really cool loft, making a good living, and in the best physical shape of my life. When I fell in love with Tanya, I didn’t think this is “the one”…I just knew it. I never meant to test that certainty, but in the first few years of our relationship, I suffered from a physical injury, which created a number of challenges, and Tanya was there for me in a way no person has ever been. As time moved on and other challenges surfaced, she continued to support me, always there by my side. When someone believes in you like that, it changes how you see the world.

“No one ever took a chance on me. The chance you took, has set me free.”

The video for Follow came together almost as easily as the song. A friend of Jeff’s, Jenifer Hahn, is a filmmaker and offered to donate her talents to concept and produce the music video, which co-stars Tanya, along with our scene-stealing cat Kiki. Jenifer’s concept for the video portrayed the song’s references to distance and struggle as a soldier’s struggle, which gave the song a whole new meaning. When I wrote Follow, I saw myself as the follower. When I watched the finished video, I realized the song was as much about how Tanya had followed me – “through virtual hell and the real one as well.” For Tanya, there is truly “no place I won’t go.”

~D

 D’Simone & Soriano ~ September 2010

FOLLOW

Lyrics by D’Simone
Music by D’Simone & Soriano

I’ve got a faded pocket picture of you
It keeps me sane when I can’t be close to
The one thing in this world that I have seen
That makes me think my black heart could come clean

I see the question mark behind your smile
For some to trust it takes a long long while
But time and circumstances crumble walls
It’s not too late for you to call

If I could tell you I would tell you now
The words have lost their meaning anyhow
So I will be a soldier for your war
And if I die I’ll know what for

[Chorus]
A heart of gold that kept my soul from going cold
Where you go I follow
Forever and tomorrow
Through time warps and black holes
There’s no place I won’t go

This trip has taken me a million miles
But I’m made new each time I see you smile
A thousand churches inspire some
But in your eyes I come undone

I’ve become jaded from this cruel world
I don’t believe anything that I’ve heard
No one ever took a chance on me
The chance you took has set me free

[Chorus]
How far could someone go for somebody they love
Through battlefield clashes
And frozen high passes
Where you go
I follow

I’d like to think I could be good for you
I give you anything you ask me to
And if you find yourself over the edge
I will be there to bring you back again

[Chorus]
Where you go I follow
Forever and tomorrow
Through time warps and black holes
There’s no place I won’t go

Through battlefield clashes
And frozen high passes
Through virtual hell
And the real one as well
I follow

©2010 Calello Music Group