In 1987, my hometown friend, Billy Heard, came to our family recording studio, "Studio Z," in Jackson's Gap, AL, and played us a great song that he had written called simply, "Miracle." It was a motown-style, romantic ballad - motown meaning a combination of pop and soul - with a pretty melody and heart-felt lyrics.
Billy's desire was to record the song onto a vinyl, 45 RPM record, which was the hot thing to do with music back then. With Billy singing and playing both bass and lead electric guitar (we had an 8-track studio), my brother, Phil, on the drums, and me on the keyboard, we put together a top-notch, stylish arrangement of this ear-catching tune. Phil also engineered it, and Dad, who had a BMI publisher's license, published it on his label. It was a group effort that helped to bring about Billy's dream of making a record.
A few months ago, I had two people from France who contacted me, saying that they had heard Billy's record and wanted copies of it if we still had some available. Billy was able to round up a couple of the vinyls for the first enquirer from France, but we weren't able to find any extras to send to the second person, who actually was a record collector. I told Billy that, if we had known he was going to get famous in France all these years later, we would have been sure to keep extras on hand! How amazing that, after all this time, someone discovered what we thought had been dead in the water, so to speak. Life can surely bring you surprises sometimes when you least expect them.
This reuniting with Billy and his record inspired me to arrange a piano solo version of the tune. It was exciting to listen to the song again, and I had forgotten just how much I enjoyed playing it with him and my brother. Our family used to have the best of times making music at our studio, and jamming on Billy's song was no exception.
I hope you enjoy reading the lyrics to "Miracle" by Billy Heard, and also enjoy listening to my solo performance of it on a beautiful, handmade Fazioli piano at my workplace, Ellis Piano.
It's a miracle that I found you,
It's a miracle, yes, it is;
You have been away for so long,
Girl, I miss you; won't you please come home?
All I ask for is another chance,
I wanna hold you; how 'bout a little romance.
It's a miracle, girl . . . a miracle, girl,
You've been away for so long . . . so long, so long, so long,
Won't you please come home?
It's a miracle that I found you,
It's a miracle, yes, it is;
The things I do for you I do for no one else,
I wanna sit down and talk to you,
I wanna come home and be with you.
It's a miracle, girl . . . a miracle, girl,
You've been away for so long . . . so long, so long, so long,
Won't you please come home?
It's a miracle, girl,
It's a miracle, yes, it is.
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