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Continuing our series focusing on the talented singers/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.

I confess that while each singer I've worked with over the years has brought something unique and wonderful to the table, I've got a special place in my heart for Mark and the time we spent working on music together. He has a tremendous vocal range (not just note-wise, but a range of expression and versatility) and can pretty much sing just about anything, in whatever style a song requires. He's also an incredibly gifted lyricist with a knack for coming up with memorable melodies.

"Desperate" was a song that Mark and I were working on together during the final days of the band. I had initially developed the entire piano part, and was playing it before a rehearsal when Mark came in, took a liking to it, and almost immediately began writing lyrics and singing his own melody over it.

The band rehearsed this song a number of times, trying out a few 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 played it at any live gigs or made 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.

About two years ago, Mark was in NYC for a visit and 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 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 and ideas and add the instruments to it. Thanks Mark for your patience!!

About the song's lyrics:
For some reason, Mark heard/felt an "Urban New York City Essence" quality about the music and his lyrics about the struggle of many immigrants who come here reflected that. There's no politicizing; merely the observations of one who walked the streets of New York often during his days here and had his own struggles establishing himself on his own after moving here from Cleveland, trying to break into the music biz and the theater biz. Yet given the current "debate" going on in the media and in our government about immigration, this song comes across now as something totally fresh and current today, even though it was written 15+ years ago.

Enjoy!

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