Tomorrow, one of my songs will find its way into more ears than any of my songs ever have before, thanks to radio, and thanks to the best station on it. Fordham University’s Voice (WFUV) is playing my song The Light In Your Eyes tomorrow at noon. If you are in the New York area, you can hear it at 90.7 FM, and wherever you are you can hear it streaming at wfuv.org.
Things have changed a lot since I first started making music. Back then, I used to dream of hearing one of my songs on the radio. Before streaming, you either bought music in some physical format, or you listened to it on the radio.
My parents were born in the radio age. In the world they were born into – a world before TV – the sources of entertainment were movies, live shows, and radio, and only one could be found in your home. Radio was the widest window into a world beyond the living room. News, music, plays, and all assortments of information and entertainment, were funneled through the airwaves into a radio set. The voices of world leaders talked a generation or two through wars and other crises. And for the first time in history, radio turned local songs into global ones.
I have a romantic picture of a person, sitting and staring at a windowsill, with the sun streaming in, a muffled drone from the radio sputtering away in the background, who suddenly hears one note bending into another, or notices the way a vocal harmony blends into a string arrangment, and they find a brighter shade of sunlight on the windowsill, or a brand new shade of green behind the curtain. And another piece of the puzzle falls into place.
If nothing else, it is a thrill to know that there are people out there listening to me on their radio.
Ex-friends, ex-lovers and enemies I got your cases in front of me today All sewn up Ex-bosses, you never let me be I got your names and your numbers filed away I've grown up See me Hear me Don't you know you can't get near me? You can only hope to hear me On your radio, on your radio, yeah You're gonna hear me on your radio Radio, on your radio, yeah You're gonna hear me on your radio You're gonna hear me on your radio You're gonna hear me on your radio Ex-teachers still coming through to me Tough kids don't stop trying to kick me to the ground I don't care Go on, just do what you do to me You look so sick when you're pushing me around You're nowhere See me Hear me Don't you know you can't get near me? You can only hope to hear me On your radio, on your radio, yeah You're gonna hear me on your radio Radio, on your radio, yeah You're gonna hear me on your radio You're gonna hear me on your radio You're gonna hear me on your radio And you can't turn up, oh no And you can't turn up, oh no Ex-teachers still coming through to me Tough kids don't stop trying to kick me to the ground I don't care Go on, just do what you do to me You look so sick when you're pushing me around You're nowhere
Words & Music by Mike Power 