Danny Arena | SongU.com Member Website

About

Most importantly, I'm Sara's hubby, Mia's Dad, and I hang my hat at SongU.com. Oh, and the symbols next to the songs were added during testing to show you what they do ;-)

Here's the other stuff 🎵 - Tony Award-nominated composer who worked as a staff songwriter for Warner/Chappell Music and Curb Magnatone Music. He holds degrees from Rutgers University in both Computer Science and Music Theory/Composition. He is an Associate Professor at Vanderbilt University and previously a member of the faculty at Rutgers University, in addition to being a columnist for American Songwriter Magazine, a guest lecturer at the NSAI Symposiums (he co-created the Song Camps with Jon Ims and Rick Beresford), Berklee College of Music, and Belmont University.

Influences I'm a big fan of classic songwriters -- Michael Masser, Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil, Michel Legrand, Marvin Hamlisch, and of course, the Beatles, Billy Joel, Elton John, and more recently, Ed Sheeran and Jack Antonoff

Genres Country, Pop, Musical Theater

Instruments Guitar, Piano/Keyboard, Loops/Digital Tracks

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8 songs

DANCING THE SLOW ONES WITH YOU

Plays: 57

Backstory

I actually wrote this song when I was 18, inspired by the contemporary music of the movie, "Urban Cowboy" -- it took 3rd place in the Music City Song Festival (MCSF), a pretty big contest at the time, but not much came of it (a couple of single song agreements). Some 20 years later, Sara re-wrote the bridge lyrics, and then we pitched it to the producer and director of an in-progress musical-theater adaptation of Urban Cowboy, and, miraculously, it beat everyone else out for the lead original song in the show. From that point, we were asked to write several songs for the show, which eventually made it to a short run on Broadway. During its short run, it scored an "Outer Critics Circle Award" for Best Musical and a Tony nomination for Best Original Score. So, never give up on a song you believe in -- you just never know.

Lyrics

DANCING THE SLOW ONES WITH YOU
Writers: Danny Arena/Sara Light

I REMEMBER THE SONG THAT PLAYED
WHEN YOU CROSSED THE DANCE FLOOR
AND WALKED MY WAY
THE MOMENT I SAW YOU THERE
WAS WHEN I FIRST KNEW
I'M DANCING THE SLOW ONES WITH YOU.

THERE WE WERE SWAYIN' TO THE BEAT
WHEN YOU PULLED ME CLOSE
MY KNEES FELT WEAK.
I THOUGHT TO MYSELF
CAN THIS BE TRUE
I'M DANCING THE SLOW ONES WITH YOU

SINCE THAT NIGHT WE'VE COME FAR
AND DOWN THE ROAD I KNOW IN MY HEART
THERE'S ONE THING TIME WON'T CHANGE -
HOW I FEEL IN YOUR ARMS WHEN A SLOW SONG PLAYS

SO CLOSE YOUR EYES AND HOLD ME TIGHT
I'LL BE LOVIN' YOU
FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE
HONEY, GIVE ME YOUR HAND
'CAUSE NO ONE ELSE WILL DO
I'M DANCING THE SLOW ONES WITH YOU
I'M DANCING THE SLOW ONES WITH YOU

COPYRIGHT—CURB MAGNATONE MUSIC PUBLISHING (ASCAP)/SARA B. LIGHT SONGS/THE REAL NASHVILLE ARENA MUSIC

ROOTS

Plays: 1311

Backstory

Our publisher connected us with Bill McCorvey (Pirates of the Mississippi) to write a more gritty country song. Bill was just coming off a hit song with "Lonely and Gone" with Montgomery-Gentry, and he brought a lot to the song that my NJ Billy Joel piano style could never do. The song "Roots" was the result -- it was recorded by a few independent artists (including Paul Coleman) but was never picked up by a major-label artist.

Lyrics

ROOTS
Bill McCorvey/Danny Arena/Sara Light

HE WAS BORN IN ALABAMA
A CHILD OF THE LAND
THE LAST IN LINE TO MAKE A DIME
FROM THE DIRT ON HIS HANDS

THE DAY THAT HE TURNED TWENTY-ONE
HE LEFT IT ALL BEHIND
AND IT WASN’T LONG BEFORE HE HAD IT ALL
ALL THAT MONEY COULD BUY

BUT THE COTTON FIELDS KEPT CALLING
HE COULD FEEL IT IN HIS BONES

CHORUS
IT’S IN THE ROOTS
IT’S IN THE BLOOD
A FEELING THAT A HEART JUST CAN’T GIVE UP
YOU CAN LEAVE IT ALL BEHIND
BUT YOU JUST CAN’T HIDE THE TRUTH
IT’S IN THE ROOTS
IT’S IN THE ROOTS

SHE USED TO WATCH HERSELF IN THE MIRROR
WITH A HAIRBRUSH FOR A MIC
AS A TEEN SHE’D SING AT THE NAZARENE
AND PLAYED ROCK AND ROLL AT NIGHT

HER DADDY KNOWS THAT MUSIC ROAD
IS A HARD WAY OF LIFE
ONCE HE HAD HIS SHOT AND NOW SHE’S GOT
THAT SAME FIRE IN HER EYES

SO HE DOESN’T TRY TO STOP HER
INSTEAD HE GIVES HER WINGS

REPEAT CHORUS

COPYRIGHT—CURB MAGNATONE MUSIC PUBLISHING (ASCAP).

SCARS

Plays: 37

Backstory

Wrote a song by myself called "What I Care About"...everyone loved the verses (semi-autobiographical), but I just couldn't get the hook to work. So I called up Arlos Smith, who is one of my favorite co-writers, and brought the song in. We rewrote the chorus, and then Ashe Underwood suggested the title "Scars," and then it all seemed to work.

Near misses: This song went on hold for a bunch of artists, including Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney. Bret Michaels really wanted to cut it but requested some lyric changes we weren't comfortable making. The group Lonestar actually recorded it, but it didn't make the album. And so it goes in the music business...

Lyrics

SCARS

VERSE
Tommy pulled a cigarette from his pocket
That he stole from his father
Lit a match and passed it around
To all the boys on the playground
I stared as it was handed to me
And tried to decide if I was gonna be
The only one who was gonna chicken out
I didn’t worry I’d get addicted
Or what the surgeon general said
I just took two puffs and tried not to cough my lungs out

CHORUS:
But hey
You live, you learn
You make mistakes
And then you learn how to live with
Those same mistakes you made
You stand up, you fall down
On your way around to who you are
The best lessons in life
You learn from the Scars

VERSE
I graduated and moved off to the city
I took my guitar and my Jenny with me
And promised her someday I’d be a star
Jenny worked a waitress job to pay the rent
I wish i could say back then
I knew how much that meant
But I just ignored that part
And on the night that she moved back home
I was playing on the road
For seven drunks in the lounge of a Days Inn motel
(TO CHORUS)

BRIDGE
Life has a way of knowing when to turn the pages
You wind and try to find your way
Until you find out where your place is…

VERSE
Tonight, as I lay down beside my wife
I take quiet stock of my life
And think about all the things
That really matter to me
Like how to be a better husband
A better father, and calling my brother
Just to shoot the breeze
As I close my eyes I say a prayer
Run my hands through Jenny’s long hair
(TO CHORUS)

(c) BMG Music/Don Light Music/Arlos Smith Songs/Danny Arena Songs. All Rights Reserved.

SO EASY TO LOVE YOU

Plays: 21

Backstory

My wife, Sara, is my absolute favorite person to spend time with any day of the week. The day we wrote this song (about just hanging out in life together), I thought it would be cool to see if I could pull off changing keys in every section (I read that one of my heroes, Barry Mann, did that once). So, the verse, chorus, and bridge are all in different keys. Luckily, our publisher really liked the song, and it made the cut for one of our upcoming demo sessions.

Lyrics

SO EASY TO LOVE YOU
(Sara Light/Danny Arena)

It’s how you take my hand when we’re walkin’
And how we can spend hours talkin’
About life or just spend an afternoon
At the ten-plex at a matinee
Lovin you isn’t complicated
It’s just the simple truth that

CHORUS
It’s SO EASY TO LOVE YOU
Easy to laugh with you about anything
And have I told you lately how much I like to be
In a love that's SO EASY

We may not be inventing the wheel
But long as it’s spinning I like the feel
Of moving through life with you by my side
Every smile is a gift you give me
I thank God every day you’re with me
For what you do without even trying and
(REPEAT CHORUS)

BRIDGE
It’s how you always find a way
Always know what to say to get right to my heart
And the world falls in place at night when I take you in my arms cause
(REPEAT CHORUS)

Copyright Sara B. Light Songs/Curb-Magnatone Music Publishing (ASCAP)/The Real Nashville Arena Music (ASCAP)

EXTRAORDINARY THINGS

Plays: 12

Backstory

This is one of the first songs I wrote after I signed with Curb Music Publishing. Everyone at the publishing company knew it was a little long, but we decided to run with it as written.

Near Misses: Mike Curb actually called from his plane after hearing this song because he "absolutely loved it." He put it on hold for a couple of acts on Curb. Unfortunately, the group that cut the song first was dropped from the label. And by that point, the other group it was on hold for had finished recording their album. It then went on hold for several other artists on different major labels, but never made it over the finish line.

Lyrics

EXTRAORDINARY THINGS
Danny Arena

EVERY DAY HE DRIVES TO THE WORST SCHOOL IN TOWN
PEOPLE SAY DON’T YOU KNOW THOSE KIDS
WON’T AMOUNT TO MUCH?
BUT HE’S A TEACHER THAT WON’T GIVE UP
AND IN A CULTURE OF DRUGS AND GUNS
HE BELIEVES IF HE JUST REACHES ONE OF THOSE BOYS OR GIRLS
THEY MIGHT BE THE ONE TO CHANGE THE WORLD
THEN ONE MORNING ON HIS DRIVE HE SEES A HIGHWAY BILLBOARD SIGN
IT SAYS, “THANK YOU MR. STEVE” YOUR CLASS OF 2003 (AND)

OH IT’S A BEAUTIFUL SIGHT
OH AND THERE’S TEARS IN HIS/HER EYES
OH THE JOY THAT IT BRINGS
WHEN ORDINARY PEOPLE
DO EXTRAORDINARY THINGS

IT’S HER 18TH BIRTHDAY TODAY
HER FAMILY AND FRIENDS ARE DOWNSTAIRS
AS SHE PICKS OUT A HAT TO WEAR
THE CHEMO DIDN’T LEAVE MUCH HAIR
EVEN THOUGH SHE’S FEELING STRONGER
HER FRIENDS HAVEN’T SEEN HER AND SHE WONDERS
WHAT THEY’RE GONNA SAY TO HER
MAYBE THEY'LL JUST STARE
BUT AS SHE WALKS INTO THE ROOM SHE CAN’T BELIEVE THE VIEW
CAUSE EVERYBODY’S THERE AND THEY ALL SHAVED THEIR HAIR
(TO CHORUS)

CAUSE IT’S THE WAY WE SHOW THAT WE CARE
THAT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE WHILE WE’RE HERE...(TO CHORUS:)

TAG: EVERY DAY HE DRIVES TO THE WORST SCHOOL IN TOWN

COPYRIGHT—CURB MAGNATONE MUSIC PUBLISHING (ASCAP)

GARDEN OF EDEN

Plays: 83

Lyrics

GARDEN OF EDEN
Danny Arena/Arlos Smith

ADAM STARED AT THE APPLE THAT HE SHARED WITH EVE
HE KNEW IT WAS AGAINST THE RULES THEY WERE GONNA HAVE TO LEAVE
ADAM SAID TO EVE DON’T WORRY WHEREVER WE GO IS HOME
I’D RATHER LIVE OUTSIDE THE GARDEN WITH YOU INSTEAD OF INSIDE ALL ALONE

CHORUS:
WHEREVER YOU GO I’LL GO
WHEREVER IT MIGHT LEAD
YOU GOT MY HEART AND SOUL
YOU’RE A PART OF ME
WITHOUT YOU LIFE WOULD BE
JUST ANOTHER LONELY DAY
IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN

NOW HONEY THAT’S THE SAME WAY I FEEL ABOUT YOU
I’D WALK AWAY FROM EVERYTHING IF I HAD TO
CAUSE EVERYTHING MEANS NOTHING IF YOU’RE NOT BY MY SIDE
WHEREVER WE ARE IS WHAT I CALL PARADISE...(AND)

CHORUS:
WHEREVER YOU GO I’LL GO
WHEREVER IT MIGHT LEAD
YOU GOT MY HEART AND SOUL
YOU’RE A PART OF ME
WITHOUT YOU LIFE WOULD BE
JUST ANOTHER LONELY DAY
IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN

BRIDGE:
YOU ARE THE TRUE LOVE I SHARE MY LIFE WITH
AND HEAVEN KNOWS THAT AS LONG AS I LIVE
(TO CHORUS:)

COPYRIGHT—CURB MAGNATONE MUSIC PUBLISHING (ASCAP)/DON LIGHT MUSIC (SESAC)

I FALL

Plays: 101

Backstory

One of my favorite songs...Marcia, Sara, and I had most of this "list" song finished before our staff writers' meeting at Curb at 10 am. We wrapped it up right after our meeting. One thing I liked is that I was intentional about making sure the prosody fit - the melody in the chorus also had to "fall" to match the lyric.

Lyrics

I FALL S. Light/D. Arena/M. Ramirez

I am a shooting star – lighting up the sky
I am a coin that’s tossed into a wishing well
I am a melody that’s reached it’s highest note
I am a leaf in autumn – can’t you tell
Everyday I fall – I fall

I am a stone that’s [thrown] over a rocky cliff
I am a sober man who took another drink
I am a tear that drops when a love is lost
I am a angel who has lost his wings
Everyday I fall – I fall

When life is set into motion – you can’t stop it, you can’t stop it
Just like a wave on the ocean – sometimes we need to tumble to a different place
To find our way

I am a mother who’s holding her newborn child
I am a remedy – for a broken heart
I am a little girl taking her first steps
I am sleeping in my lover’s arms
Everyday I fall – I fall – I fall --- for you

MODERN DAY BLACKSMITH

Plays: 49

Backstory

Jack Sundrud (Great Plains, Poco) came into our writing appointment lamenting the state of the music business. At some point in the conversation, he said he felt like a modern-day blacksmith. I said, "We should write that!" and we were off and running. It took a couple of sessions to finish the song...but we finally holed up and finished it up at Jack's cabin at the lake. Jack recorded the song for one of his solo projects. It's a little out of the box, but that's what the song was telling us it needed to be.

Lyrics

MODERN DAY BLACKSMITH
Danny Arena/Sara Light/Jack Sundrud

He stands beneath the hickory tree
His mighty arms ‘a swingin’.
Sparks fly, sweat drips from his eyes
His steel hammer singin’.
He holds a fire-red horseshoe up.
The crowd begins to cheer.
They just love the slice of life from yesteryear.
And the tour guide says, follow me.
There’s so much more for you to see.

A woman at a spinning wheel
You can hear it hummin’.
Another works behind the loom
Her harpist fingers strummin’.
Weaving homespun memories of a different time
Before their jobs were taken by assembly lines.
And the tour guide says,

That’s the way it used to be.
Life was so much simpler then.
Once the wheels of progress pass you by
They don’t come round again.

I pick up my old guitar
And slowly start to pickin’.
Play a lick, get out my pen,
Do a little scribblin’.
A couple lines of words and rhymes
From deep down in my heart
I tap into the magic where the music starts.
And the tour guide says, that’s how it used to be.
In the days before we got it all for free.

That’s when I woke up.
And started to wonder if
I’m the Modern Day Blacksmith.

Copyright © Curb Magnatone Music Publishing. International copyright secured. All rights reserved. Used by permission

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