“Dropping” My Album

Nothing sharpens the mind like a hangman’s noose around one’s neck. So opined Samuel Johnson, and I can vouch for him. One aspect of my thinking that changed after doctors confirmed my ALS diagnosis, was the question of whether to create a Youtube album of my original songs. I’ve been writing songs since grade school but have rarely performed them. I never bothered to record most of them either, and by the time I decided to, my disease had degraded my instrumental and vocal skills to the point I couldn’t.

Toward the end of college I took a vocational inventory test that revealed my personality matched with those of professional musician-performers. The test doesn’t measure talent, however. I felt I was not talented enough to make it in the music world and made the practical decision to pursue a career in medicine. But music never ceased to play a major role in my life. When I got to the point in life that afforded me time to develop my musical potential, I realized I had more talent than I had believed, but by then too much time had passed to fully develop it. This limited my performance options to the semi-professional level.

When I performed, privately or publicly, I rarely played my originals. People generally prefer to hear songs they are familiar with. This is particularly true of my songs because their main strength lies in the lyrics. This requires the listener to actually listen. Good luck with that.

Even my family and closest friends had never heard some of them. Part of my reluctance to push them stemmed from my own inner doubts about their worthiness. But those who have heard them usually say they are as good or better than others in the same genre that were penned by successful singer/song writers. Maybe they are just being nice. Either way, I faced the the prospect of these songs, however good or bad, dying with me. Encouragement from my wife and daughter emboldened me to make them available to the world.

Over the past 6 months or so, my daughter, Alison Kerlin, my hospice volunteer, David Dotson, and I have met weekly to practice and record a number of them, Ali on guitar and vocals and David on keyboard and vocals. Unable to play or sing, I provided technical input. They worked hard and we came up with the best renditions we could given the circumstances. I wish I could have sung and played guitar, including solos, in them, but that was not to be. There are a few somewhat rougher earlier recordings that have me singing and playing. I recorded them before I was too far gone. These give at least an idea of how I performed them. Once the audio tracks were laid down, the “kids” began incorporating them into videos some of which feature family photos.

You will notice common themes run through most of my songs. They are, at root, poems of a highly personal nature, expressing what I believe are universal feelings conveyed through my own feelings about the human condition and the people and things I care about. I omitted the many, often humorous, songs I wrote for friends on their special occasions as they include a lot of inside jokes that the general public wouldn’t get. I did include an homage to long time ski buddy, Jayne Zinke, “High Octane Jayne,” because, good skier though she is, her enthusiasm was more of an inspiration for a generic ski themed song than was her actual skiing prowess . “Song for Richard” was written in commemoration of my college classmate and fellow swim team member, Richard (“Dick”) Corrigan who died way too young.

If you choose to listen I hope the often bittersweet lyrics give you pleasure and pause to ponder some of life’s joys, sorrows and paradoxes. I hope they add to your appreciation of life as they have for me. You can get into the videos by going to Youtube and searching for “Songs of Norman Dovberg.” The option Norman Dovberg @normandovberg4964 will open the full site that includes written lyrics below the picture videos. A short introduction that is worth reading appears at the top of the page. To access that option scroll down until you see a photo of me enclosed in a circle and click to the right of it on “Norman Dovberg @norman dovberg4964.” This is the best portal to the entire collection.

Much as I wish I had recorded them all myself it is kind of cool that “The First time I Heard My Daughter Sing” is sung by the subject of the song, my vocally gifted daughter. In its typical way, Youtube may follow my videos with ads and unrelated videos. If it does, click the back arrow to return to my page.

I hope you enjoy listening.