Lindsey's 15th Birthday
My youngest stepdaughter, Lindsey, now living in New York City, found her passion, many of her friends, and her life’s work in the theater. That theater life began in earnest when she was in the 8th grade. The school proclaimed there would be no spring musical then changed their minds when Lindsey’s mother offered to produce the play. Li’l Abner was chosen. Parents volunteered. Students auditioned. After months of hard work the show, staged in the field house because the school theater was being renovated, was a smash.
In the process Lindsey found confidence, her voice, and many friends, including three who would become especially close, Darci Hall, JP Hennessy, and Ben Unguren. The next spring those friends agreed to join her mother, older sister, and me in learning and recording nine original songs as a gift for Lindsey’s 15th birthday.
Our first thought was to record without Lindsey at the studio. We would simply give the completed recording to her at a birthday dinner we would all attend. In a flash of inspiration we decided she should be there. We “kidnapped” her, blindfolded her, led her into the studio where after removing the blindfold we embraced her, wished her a happy birthday, and began the process of recording.
Having Lindsey there to share the experience was one more lesson in how wonderful sharing the journey can be instead of simply the destination.
The kids were talented special kids. They were also fifteen or sixteen with no studio experience. Our endeavor became a conglomeration of love, laughter, joyful tears, enthusiasm, and discovery. The room was constantly alive. It buzzed with revelry between takes and breathed with tenderness as we sang first all together and then one by one a solo written for and sung to Lindsey. When mischievous Ben sang we couldn’t stop smiling. When it was intense JP’s turn we couldn’t stop nodding. When sweet Darci sang with Lindsey sitting a few feet away we couldn’t stop crying. Each one affirming their affection for their friend in song.
While I was mostly the musician and part of the chorus I did sing a song with lyrics adapted from an amazingly insightful poem Lindsey wrote at fourteen years old. I also played an instrumental written for a favorite Cabbage Patch doll Lindsey had when she was seven or eight.
Then as if the emotion couldn’t get any greater Lindsey’s older sister, Jodie, took her turn at the mic. Self-conscious with no experience and little self-confidence in public singing she stood up, sang straight from the heart, and brought the house down. Yet even that wasn’t going to be all of it. Lindsey’s mom, who had no experience in the studio, then stepped to the microphone and sang her solo, “This I Wish For You,” in which she offered a musical blessing that lit up studio even more.
Then together we sang a song called “We Are Family,” and the recording was over. Because we had recorded it all live there was no mixing to be done. Terry, my singing partner in The Brothers Four who was doing the producing and engineering, quickly made a master copy. Our merry band headed back to the house for dinner and cake. We listened over and over to what we had done. We made copies for all the participants. It was an experience like no other.
As I listen now to those wonderful young raw voices and the songs we recorded over 22 years ago I am reminded of what was said in the introduction before the first notes were sung:
"In time we will look back and wish we had sung more perfectly and the songs were better written. We will not, however, have to question the love with which they were written and given, and the joy with which they were sung and played. We will also never wonder about the joy that it is to have Lindsey in our lives and how much we love her."
The four songs found here are sung by the group and by Lindsey’s friends. JP is singing “Faraway Hills,” Ben “Thinking ‘bout You Tonight,” and Darci “Cause You and I Are Friends.” The songs sung by family will be part of the next blog post.
