Jim
Peterik is a prolific songwriter and has a vast storeroom of songs that
he has written for various projects over the years that for one reason
or another never made it to commercial release.
In
this section of his site Jim will be digging deep into his "Attic
Tapes" to let you hear some of these forgotten gems.
Just
click on the title to each song to travel back in time through Jim's
Attic. More songs will be added in the near future.
"Above
The Storm" is a song Johnny Van Zant and I wrote back in
late 2001 when we got together to write songs for a Skynryd
record. Actually- I had just returned home from my trip to Ft
Meyers, FL when I got a call from Johnny. He was still on a
creative roll and sang me a piece of a chorus over the phone.
He said "It's probably not right for Skynyrd- but let's
write it just to write it." He told me it was about his
newborn baby and how he wanted to protect her from all the dangers
of the world any way he possibly could. I came up with the title
'Above The Storm" and we went to work long distance. In
a few days I went into the studio and laid down what you hear.
It was one take and that's it. I didn't want anyone to really
hear it originally because I use my falsetto range. People have
since told me that it's cool- so here goes. I hope you enjoy
it!
Jim
This Attic
Track has never appeared on any album. It was used as the end
title to the 1990 motion picture release "Delirious"
starring John Candy and Muriel Hemingway. In the film, John,
who plays a soap opera writer, gets caught in his own soap opera.
The movie is still on cable frequently. The year was 1989 and
I was playing at a music- tennis festival in California. I ran
into music supervisor Budd Carr backstage (he was also Kansas's
manager). He told me that he was looking for an end title song
to this film. I read the script all the way home to Chicago
and then wrote a song called "Beyond Our Wildest Dreams"-
I already had some guide music from Cliff Eidelman to base the
song around. I demoed it with just Barb Unger on piano and the
silky vocal of John Melnick. I knew we had something special
when I sent the finished demo to Budd- but I never imagined
that they would like it so much that they would use it "as
is" without a single embellishment. It even beat out "Unforgettable"
by Nat Cole for the spot. Just recently I found the master tapes.
It will be a part of my "Songs From The Vaults" double
disk set coming out in January 2005.
I hope you enjoy hearing this one!
Dream on!
Jim
