The Composer’s Room

“There Is A Look In Your Eyes”

I wrote the lyrics to this almost overnight, nearly fifteen years ago. But it took an extra five years to compose the music, to find the precise tone that I felt the lyrics deserved— a haunting beauty with a sense of celebrated wonder and glory. That was achieved using the key of C minor as the emotional gravity in the verses, then shifting to the key of Bb as the luminous setting for the refrain.

Those two key are closely related, so the shift doesn’t feel jarring—it feels like a widening. It’s why the refrain feels more open; less introspective, slightly brighter and expansive. Where the verses search, the refrain beholds.

How does this song work to create its two complimentary moods? It begins on the IV chord, uses Dorian color, and employs a Neapolitan lift from verse to refrain. Here, at this juncture the floor shifts. The harmonic air brightens. This shift to the Neapolitan chord raises the vantage point. But it does so subtly.

WHY THE NEAPOLITAN CHORD IS SUBTLY POWERFUL

Because it does something emotionally radical: it sits only a half-step above the tonic. This proximity creates intensity, tender friction, a luminous ache. If feels like the harmony steps closer to the heart without landing on it. It’s not dark like the i chord. It’s not stable like the VI chord. It’s not leaning like the VII. It’s glowing.

WHY COMPOSERS LOVE THE NEAPOLITAN

The Neapolitan has historically been used before moments of revelation; before cinematic declarations, in sacred music, in opera at moments of recognition. It is dramatic without being loud. And it is the right choice here in this setting.

SUMMARY:

I share all this detail to help explain why it took so many years to create the right tune — one where the verses search through precious memory of sacred love, then in the refrain, rise to behold what is still precious without a sense of final resolution. The way the refrain behaves, there is a sense of the wonder continuing on despite loss and separation. Ending on Cm would have said: “I’ve resolved what I feel.” However, ending on Bb says: “This is still unfolding between us”—the aspect of sacred love that makes it so sacred. Because sacred love carries on with glory—despite any darkest dark—all the way into eternity.

“Hymn For A Precious Believer”

Take 1 features the song in its “full rhythmic and sonic character”— instrumentation and a vocal delivery designed to express its potential as an upbeat foot tapper.

Take 2 is the “beautiful” version, featuring a moving female vocal performance with a lovely orchestral string and harp backing.

HOW THE FINAL TAKE CAME TO BE

Not every good recording of a song is necessarily the final version that will end up being shared with a particular audience.

For this Listening Room experience, I made three recordings of Hymn For A Precious Believer before I was satisfied with the final decision.

My decision was based on the fact that the song was originally written for a fellow piano musician and composer as a spiritual benediction—a musical gift and affirmation—so I wanted the words, the message, and the spirit to be the point of the musical experience here, not any musical flash.

The first two takes are provided above. For the third and ultimately final take, I chose to record it with a piano at the center, making the piano the heartbeat of the song, keeping a subdued but steady heartfelt pulse underneath a strong vocal to emphasize the lyrics—as if the song is being sung closely and dearly over someone.

I offer the first two recordings for your reference to see the world of potential this song spans and the spiritual reason for my final sonic decision.