Liner Notes For My Music Videos

Readers who have viewed the music videos of my songs on YouTube, Norman Dovberg@ndovberg4964, are curious about the stories behind them. For you, here are liner notes. If you have viewed them or have been intending to listen to the album but haven’t had a chance, these notes may enhance your enjoyment of them. Tune in now before you get busy and forget to.

Old Love: I never stopped working to improve my guitar chops, most recently taking on-line lessons at ActiveMelody.com with Brian Sherrill until my disease weakened my hands to the point I could no longer play. Brian posted a melodic arrangement I worked on which is the instrumental intro of the recording. It felt like a love song to me. Most love songs celebrate young or new love, but as my almost 60 year love affair with Sandy was reaching its end I wanted to celebrate it in music along with the joys of a long, committed relationship. My voice was ragged but my playing was still decent. Not long after it was recorded, I had to put away my instruments for good so I’m glad it got done. This final song and a couple others got recorded by me before it was too late. Thankfully my daughter and hospice volunteer, David, recorded the beautiful renditions you hear on most of the videos. I am deeply indebted to them for their months’ long labors to ensure these songs will live on.

The First Time I Heard My Daughter Sing: Ali was about 14 months old on that trip. The sunset was on Lake George as seen heading south on the Adirondack Northway. I indeed never forgot it and as Ali reached her teens and became a gifted singer I seized on that true experience to celebrate her vocal talent, the pleasure it gave us and gives us still. The fact she is singing on the video about her singing makes the song even more special to us both.

Sweet Imperfection: Living with a right-brained “ditzy” artist has provided endless, occasionally frustrating, hilarity and many opportunities for mutual teasing. Don’t be fooled. She is one smart lady. After all, she married me😂😂

What Is Fate?: We adopted Ali at 4 days old “plucked by fate from the road (she) might have travelled.” When she was in high school, that line popped into my head and the song just flowed out. Ponderings into the ironic inter-connection of fate and free will gives you a look into the workings of my sometimes overly philosophical mind. The ending is especially meaningful as I approach life’s end.

Time You Have No Mercy: Over the years I have written many songs commemorating milestones in my friends’ lives. They are mostly not included in this collection, but this one I wrote for myself for my 40th birthday.

Greedy: It was the 90s when “greed is good” became a popular idea. Having gotten into blues at that time I riffed off of that idea in this blues inspired love song/protest song.

Was There Ever An Answer?: Coming of age during the Viet Nam protest era, like many of my generation I had hopes we were on the verge of building a better world based on peace, fairness and love. This song expresses my subsequent disillusionment in middle age. If you are old enough you will appreciate how the lyrics play off of popular folk songs of the 1960s and you will recognize how the instrumental intro and outtake echo Peter, Paul and Mary’s guitar intro to “Blowing In The Wind.”

That Same Sad Song: Written during my most productive period, early to mid 1990s, while I was writing songs to perform at open mic at the Eighth Step coffee house in Albany, I wanted to get away from my obsession with the passage of time. Fat chance. This song wound up following suit and may be a more poignant expression of that theme than the ones I thought it would be a departure from. What can I say? That’s just me.

October Light: Commemorating a devastating October 1988 early blizzard, this song became a protest about how technology can undermine our humanity. It is more relevant now than ever. A fellow song writer described it as”pure prosody.” Whatever that is, Dan, thank you.

Song For Richard: Richard “Dick” Corrigan and I met the weekend we visited Union College at the request of its swim coach. From the moment we met, I was in awe of him. He was the image of young male cool that I felt I could emulate only in my dreams. But time and life brought unexpected changes. If you have read the poem “Richard Corey,” by E.A. Robinson you will hear echos of its message in my lyrics.

The Voice That Calls Me Home: Most of us go through a period of development when we undervalue our parents and the hearth and home they provided. If we are lucky, we renew those ties while we still can.

Wherever We Go: In the summer before my senior year of college, Sandy, her friend, Ann, and Ann’s boyfriend and I spent an idyllic weekend at Ann’s grandmother’s Adirondack cabin. I returned from that trip more in love with Sandy than ever, but without certainty that I would ultimately secure from her the commitment I was ready to make to our relationship. She finally came around later in the course of that year, but at the time all I had was hope and a beautiful memory.

High Octane Jayne: Jayne and I met when we were ski instructors and became fast friends. Jayne is not quite the super skier she is portrayed as in the song, but she, in her eighties, remains a bundle of energy and enthusiasm. When people ask if she really skied out of her pants I jokingly tell them no, but she is well known to have shed them in other situations. Fortunately for me, Jayne has a good sense of humor.

Bring It All Back: Another love song to Sandy who in my eyes will ever embody the freshness of springtime.

God’s Little Video Game: 9/11 hammered home to me the hopelessness of the human race and the belief that, if God exists, He observes us with a mix of pity and amusement and ignores our prayers. The song was the germ of my idea to write my A. Lester Lord trilogy of novels.

(The books, available at Amazon, are inexpensive and are as good as blog followers would expect them to be. Forget the N.Y.T best sellers. Put the adventures and musings of A. Lester Lord on your summer reading list instead. I’d suggest you just read books Two and Three which I published in my real name. Diehard fans may enjoy the back story in “Cosmic Casino: The True Word of A. Lester Lord” by “Joseph D. Nehemia” and observe how my writing chops grew as I wrote it.)