"Desperate"
Written by Mark Polak & Edward Jerlin
© 2007 Everlasting Arms Records & Publishing/Mark R. Polak - All Rights Reserved
"Do Your Own Thing"
Written by Andy Schlesinger, Mark Polak, Edward Jerlin,
George Cortes, Mike Kleiber & Paul Caputo
© 1991 Grin & Bare It/Everlasting Arms Records & Publishing - All Rights Reserved
Continuing our series focusing on the talented singer/songwriters I've
had the privilege of working with over the years, July's offering features
Mark Polak, the lead singer for "Grin & Bare It", an original classic/progressive
rock band we were in from 1989-1992. (The background for this page consists
of a number of band promo pics taken in 1991 around NYC & on & under
the Brooklyn & Manhattan Bridges.)
I confess that while each singer I've worked with over the years has brought
something unique & wonderful to the table, I've got a special place in my
heart for Mark & the time we spent working on music together. He has a
tremendous vocal range (not just note-wise, but a range of expression &
versatility) & can pretty much sing just about anything you give him,
in whatever style a song requires. He's also an incredibly gifted lyricist
with a knack for coming up with memorable melodies.
I've debated with myself as to whether to share a brief history
of the band here, wondering about its relevance to the music you'll be
hearing, or if anyone would even be interested in reading such a thing.
I ultimately decided not to include that on this page,
but if you're interested, I'm working on a "Grin & Bare It"
tribute web page (still under construction) here.
"Desperate" was a song that Mark & I were working on together during the final days of the band's existence. I had initially developed the entire piano part, mostly as a "jam" of sorts, thinking it would make a nice middle section/interlude for a song & was playing it before a rehearsal when Mark came in, asked what it was, took a liking to it, & almost immediately began writing lyrics & singing his own melody over it, something he was incredibly gifted at.
The band rehearsed this song a number of times, trying out a number of arrangements. I was surprised (after some "archival research") to find that I have a couple of recordings of us rehearsing it, parts of which were instructive for me. We never did play it at any live gigs or make any formal studio recordings of it. After the band broke up, this song remained in that ever-growing list of songs I've written or collaborated on over the years that have never seen the light of day. I tried to record it once with me singing it, but that's better left unheard. :-)
About two years ago, Mark (who now resides in Germany with his wife, daughter & a son on the way) was in NYC for a visit & one of the things we were both really keen on was getting a recording done of this song. Each of us was surprised that the other remembered it so well, as if we'd merely skipped ahead 13-14 years via a time machine. We didn't have much time so rather than trying to get the "perfect take", we recorded Mark doing around 7 or 8 off-the-cuff takes, with various vocal stylings, impressions, melodic variations, improvisations, whatever came to mind, just like the Mark I remembered so well.
A lot of memories from many, many recording sessions came flooding back as I listened to him record this song... all those times where Mark had multiple ideas for a melody, trying them all out, rarely quite singing it the same way twice, seeing what worked best before settling on an acceptable rendering for the demo recordings. I remember shaking my head as I listened, thinking what an amazing instrument God has gifted him with.
It's been left to me since then to choose "the" vocal track from a number of wonderful renderings & ideas & add the instruments to it. After yet another couple of years, I've finally done so. Thanks Mark for your patience!!
About the song itself & the lyrics:
For some reason, Mark heard/felt an "Urban New York City Essence" quality about the music & his lyrics about the struggle of many immigrants who come here reflected that. There's no politicizing here; merely the observations of one who walked the streets of New York often during his days here & had his own struggles establishing himself on his own after moving here from Cleveland, trying to break into the music biz & the theater biz. Yet given the current "debate" going on in the media & in our government about immigration, this song comes across now as something totally fresh & current today, even though it was written 15+ years ago.
Mark's web page (currently under construction) is here.
I couldn't bring Mark's talents to the table here without including at least one "Grin & Bare It" number from the old days.
For many reasons, "Do Your Own Thing" has a special place in my heart. To my recollection, it represents the one time where the entire band came together & contributed to the writing of the music -- it was pretty much written during rehearsals, with quite a bit of experimentation & interaction between all of us before we settled on the final arrangement.
For me, this song captured the "essence" of both Mark & the band.
I remember Andy came in initially with the guitar riff & almost immediately, Mark began singing his own melody over the riff & writing lyrics to it. (Yes, this happened a lot!) The lyrics Mark came up with summed up how we all felt about our gigs & the whole musical situation. We started jamming over it, each of us contributing our own riffs, over, under & around the original guitar part & under Mark's melody. I remember playing with the chords/tonal structure a bit & helping organize the changes in the middle & helping to steer it back to the 3rd verse. George, our sax player, decided to add a wind synthesizer to this one for his solo in the middle, initially as a joke, but we all took a shine to that & insisted he do it that way for the recording.
Once completed, this song was always included in the setlist & was a show-stopper during live gigs; we often ended the set with this one. While we did play around with the middle section a little over the years (Mark's laugh was jettisoned at one point in favor of a band unison power-riff), we generally had a philosophy that all our solos be "written out" as note-for-note renderings, rather than improvisations, which means that what you're hearing in this recording is pretty much exactly the way you'd have heard it at a live gig, including every note of all the piano parts throughout, all the guitar solos/riffs, & all the drum parts. I listened to a few live recordings of it & I smiled at how tight it was.
Enjoy!
(Pictured left to right)
Andy Schlesinger - Guitar
Paul Caputo - Drums
Mark Polak - Lead Vocals
Mike Kleiber - Bass
George Cortes - Sax, Wind Synth
Edward Jerlin (kneeling)- Keyboards
Thank you, God bless, & a very Merry Summer to you & yours.
To download the music, RIGHT CLICK and choose "Save Target As":
"Desperate" MUSIC 2:50
"Do Your Own Thing" MUSIC 2:38
To download the lyrics, RIGHT CLICK: and choose "Save Target As":
"Desperate" LYRICS
"Do Your Own Thing" LYRICS
