My recorded heartbeat from a sonogram is heard early in the intro; I wrote 'In My Eyes' around the end of my 7th grade year as a tribute to my dad. A lot was going on at the end of that year, with school officials still very angry with me for...
But not until she received international recognition for her 'Cartwheel Heard 'Round the World' would she be firmly ensconced in her music.
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Determined and confident, she proceeded to each task and accomplishment with extraordinary grace and style and became a model for others during her developmental years that also included gymnastics and a sudden interest in the piano at age nine.
But not until she received international recognition for her was the inspiration that piqued her interest in playing the piano, but it was her steady cultural diet of that established her direction as a singer/songwriter and musician/arranger.
Story behind the song
My recorded heartbeat from a sonogram is heard early in the intro; I wrote In My Eyes around the end of my 7th grade year as a tribute to my dad. A lot was going on at the end of that year, with school officials still very angry with me for making, in the Principal’s words, “…the school look bad,” instead of looking in their own mirror(s).
School Administration had instructed the teachers to watch my every move and I was challenging them at every turn. My dad supported me throughout every single episode of harassment, which helped me as I composed this song.
I was so happy with how everything had turned out that I wanted everyone to know how great my dad was to me and how great he is in general. So once again, while the public school system didn’t intend for this episode to embarrass them or to help me in any way, the irony of the media frenzy is to understand that the misbehavior of these adults resulted in opportunity for me and serves as an example of how not to behave when I become an adult.
In this song, I have written lyrics that mean a lot to me and they go way back to when I was very young. My dad had always told me to look over my shoulder and he’d be there and he always was. That's why it was so important to use this lyric in the song.
Secondly, he asked me three very important questions from the very start and they are, "Who are you, where are you going, and how are you going to get there." Without those three questions I may not be where I am today. That is how important they are not only for me but also for everyone…
With the first piano motif begins a ‘dialogue’ with my dad [on the outside] with his piano part answering. My recorded heartbeat from a sonogram is heard next in the intro as my arranger-producer dad wanted to convey the very special interest he had in my arrival even half-way through gestation by recording my heart with a handheld cassette recorder in a physicians office.
A ‘conversation’ develops between us in this way until the moment of birth itself as the production gives way to cellos, cymbal dynamics and a French horn section that enjoin the piano representing the ‘trauma’ of emerging from the womb and its resolution which quickly follows.
At this point, a pop ensemble of drums, bass, guitars and two sections of violins displaying the bowing techniques of spiccato and pizzicato accompany the lyrical verses and choruses of the song structure until the bridge, where backwards lead guitar dynamically punctuate the lyrical lament.
The chorus returns which gives way to a free-style section of production evocative of the psychedelia of the late ‘60’s with tamboura, dulcimer, McCartneyesque bass guitar part and an ‘I Am The Walrus’ cello section which sets up the outro with a IV of IV chord transition to the song’s conclusion.
Lyrics
You’re my hero, you’re my hero
You’re the world’s hero in my eyes
Yeah you’re a hero, there’s nothing like you in my skies
That’s the way I see it in my eyes
You showed me life
And the role you play
For generations to come what may
The three important questions
That you would share
Who are you, where will you go,
how will you get there for all to know
You’re my hero, you’re my hero
You’re the world’s hero in my eyes
How can I thank you for all that you’ve done in my life
That’s the way it is in my eyes
You showed me life, to take it in
You showed me what to live for
To never give in
This song is more than just a song
You’re my hero, you’re my hero
In my eyes
Yeah you’re a hero, there’s nothing like you in my skies
This is what I see in my eyes
Beautiful person to me
In my eyes