John Denicola

Don’t Wait

Omad Records

John DeNicola is an American songwriter and producer. A native of Amityville, New York and a longtime resident of Greenwich Village, DeNicola began his musical career as a bass player with the band “Flight”, which recorded for Motown Records in 1980 and was  sampled by Erikah Badu on her hit song “Back in the Day”. DeNicola played with several other acts before changing his career. Although his songwriting portfolio includes music written and performed by  other acts, DeNicola is best known for his collaboration with Franke Previte and Donald Markowitz on the award-winning songs for the movie “Dirty Dancing”, in 1988 DeNicola won both an Academy Award  and a Golden Globe Award, as well as receiving a Grammy nomination,  for co-writing the song “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life”. A year later, he was the co-winner of ASCAP Awards’ “Most Performed Songs from  Motion Pictures” for “Time of My Life” as wll as for “Hungry Eyes”,  another song from the film. In addition to “Dirty Dancing” hits for Bill Medley (Righteous Brothers), Jennifer Warnes, and Eric Carmen, he has also written songs for Eddie Money, Steve Holy, Bernie Worrell and many others. DeNicola shared an imprint, Omad Records, through which he produced a number of albums before creating his own studio “Jake’s Kitchen Sink”. “Kara’s Flowers”, who went on to become Maroon 5, are among the artists he has produced. In 2019 DeNicola released his debut album of songs he has written called “The Why Because”; included were his synth pop version of “Hungry Eyes”, a stripped down acoustic guitar and brass version of “The Time Of My Life”, and “In God’s Shadow”,  written with John Waite, Anthony Krizan (The Spin Doctor’s), and lyricist Keith Reid (Procol Harum). In 2021 DeNicola released his sophmore album “She Said” which contained nine originals and two cover songs, Bonnie Dobson’s 1962 “Morning Dew”, and 1969’s “Can’t Find My  Way Home” (Blind Faith).

A sad event was the catalyst for this collection. Last year marked the passing of Tim Lawless, a uniquely talented vocalist that DeNicola had been making music with since they were Long Island teenagers. The  opening track “King of His Own World” is a trubute to Lawless, and  features DeNicola on piano, vocals, Wurlitzer, Congas, and bass, and  an ensemble rounded out by members of “Sweetwater” an early  band he and Lawless played with, included are Greg Schleich,  Fender Rhodes; guitarist Ken Favre; Bob Myers, drums; and the horn section of saxophonist Jeff Lange; Terry Nigrelli, trombone; and Leon Petruzzi, trumpet; the background vocalists are Chrissy Lawless and  Donna Lee Maida; as DeNicola sings “As he’s doing the hang of life, He wants you to come along, Your eyes are wide open, When you  hear him sing that song, But he won’t be moved, can’t be changed, He’s the king of his own world, Singing his heart out, Like a soulful symphony, Leaving it all on the table, For all of us to see, But he won’t be moved, can’t be restrained, He’s the king of his own world”.

“Don’t Wait”, the title track is written by DeNicola and Jason Stutts,  and is an exhortation, ‘Get busy…the time is now’ as DeNicola chimes “Never let today, Be a treasure that we throw away, Don’t Wait to say I Love You, For too long”.  On “Amen And Hallelujah”, once again written  by DeNicola and Stutts, and featuring the full ensemble, as DeNicola chants “Amen and Hallelujah Baby, Let’s sing out loud and lose our  mind, Join hands and let’s all live together, And let our love light shine”.

“Saint Samantha’s Singing Penny”, once again written by DeNicola and  Stutts, DeNicola bursts “A dirty penny stuck on a lonely avenue, She  scraped him up and showed him what good love can do, All he’s had  was love, in a revolving door, Philly mint to cement we’ve all been flat before, Now he really rolls, Like a million bucks, bless her soul”. The  first cover written by Peter Lewis of Moby Grape features the original guitar part from the band’s 1971 album as DeNicola cries “As I stood upon the meadow in the summer wind today, Watching while the long grass did it’s afternoon ballet, There came like mountain thunder, the Horseman angel’s cry, Apocalypse is now mankind, your time has  come to die”.

“Flotsam And Jetsam” is co-written by DeNicola and Nina Malkin, as  DeNicola groans “Won’t you be at sea with me, Bob along upon the swell, Makeshift time bomb misfits such as we, Belong together can’t  you tell…Save me, save me, save me friend, Or I am surely sunk and  drowned”. On “A Room Full Of You” written by DeNicola and Paul  Maloney, DeNicola moans “The air’s so thick, And she doesn’t see  through, I feel so alone in A Room Full of You, Like a time bomb that  ticks, My heart goes unheard, Her beauty that speaks, Louder than  words, In my dreams, We’re captured in a kiss, Then I awake, Knowing she sees None of this”. On the closer, a cover of the Al Kooper and  Irwin Levine, “I Can’t Quit Her” performed by the original “Blood, Sweat and Tears”, DeNicola croons “I can’t quit her, She’s got a hold on me, She’s got her hand on my soul, I can’t quit her, ‘Cause I see her face everywhere I go, In the city streets, in the country fields, In the back of my mind, I know it can’t be real, For a woman to possess All the  tenderness she had, But the hands of time, Keep tickin’ on my back, ‘Cause it’s been so long, Since I had her back beside me, Yeah, I know”.

DeNicola calls death “nature’s number one flaw”, nonetheless he reveals ‘it’s always a surprise to me when anyone dies…so tell your partner, your children, your friends, how much you care, and do those things you want to do but haven’t found time for yet”. It’s imperative “Don’t Wait”.

Richard Ludmerer

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