Tom’s Songs

Been There, Done That!

Tom and I wrote this song, and I brought it to an NSAI Song Camp in Nashville and had it critiqued by James Dean Hicks. His suggestions were great and we did the re-write and had it demoed. When we played it again for James Dean the next year he was really impressed, even though he had totally forgotten that he had critiqued the song in an earlier incarnation. The problem is that there are a lot of songs with the hook "Been There, Done That!", and though we've gotten lots of interest, it never was recorded. I am convinced, though, that we've written one of the best of the bunch. It's a great demo and would be perfect for a synch placement in film or television.

Heart Of My Heart

Performer: Jerry Silverstein

Heart Of My Heart

This is truly a beautiful waltz. Tom noted that, though there is a classic song called "Heart Of My Heart," that song is actually about singing a song with that title. Our song uses that hook, and I think it's one of the most beautiful songs that we've written. It's also an example of a song that got rewritten because it had one weak line in the chorus (it used to read 'You keep me from falling apart') and that was really just filler.Tom and I brainstormed and finally replaced that line with one that fit in with the idea of guiding the singer to find his heart. The second we changed the line, the song became stronger and now I would love for it to find a wider audience. "You can always get down to what matters You've been my True North from the start With touches and looks and wise words you guide me Straight to the heart of my heart."

Hold That Moon

Performer: Tom Murphy

Hold That Moon

One of our earliest songs, the hook actually came from Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd where the barber says "I once held the moon in the palm of my hand and let it slip away." Tom and I wrote about a couple for whom the moonlight that shines into their room on a night that they're fighting reminds them of the moonlight that was there when they first fell in love. "Baby, Baby, I can’t take another silent night The moon through our window is casting down its lover's light We're bathed in this moonlight yet we barely touch But I know we'd still be in love if we could just Hold that moon Once upon a time we held the moon in our hands Hold that moon We did it before we could do it again Hold that moon"

740 Strut

Performer: Tom Murphy

740 Strut

Early on in the partnership, Tom and I were looking for outlets where we could get songs on the radio. At the time there was a local country radio station on Long Island broadcasting on the 740 AM frequency, so we decided to write them a theme song and get the tracks produced in Nashville. The song was fun, the tracks were great, Tom's vocal was super but by the time we had the song ready to pitch the radio station changed formats. We were left to look around the country for country radio stations that happened to broadcast on the 740 frequency. I do believe that no writing is wasted writing and it was definitely a learning experience. Who knows, we still have the tracks so it might yet morph into another song.