This piece, entitled “Elena Arrives: Waltz+Tango=Vals,” was composed for a one-minute clip from the silent melodrama The Temptress
Instrumental.
© & 
2007, 2004 Mark S. Meritt
This piece, entitled “Abduction,” was composed for a one-minute clip from the silent horror film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Instrumental.
© & 2007, 2003 Mark S. Meritt
Sung by Mark S. Meritt.
2007, 2002 Mark S. Meritt
Jingle Bells and Winter Wonderland
Take a Sleigh Ride, Let it Snow
But like Frosty’s one day
All these songs melt away
Though there’s so many winter days to go
They could light and warm the dark and cold
Not a holiday word sung
Yet somehow for a year
They will all disappear
Moments after the holidays are done
See the family, visit your hometown
Gather all your closest friends
Give to somebody else
It comes back for yourself
Bringing life’s most rewarding dividends
All these things could happen any day
But we seldom let them last
For we’ll spend most the year
Missing what we hold dear
Moments after the holidays have passed
And can we truly be happy
With shopping crowds and bills galore?
Even the holidays don’t feel
At all like holidays anymore
Then again, it feels like all we’ve known
Is this ornamental dream
But if what we enjoy
Really beats any toy
Are the holidays not all that they seem?
No, they really can be special times
Overflowing with good cheer
The best gifts you present
Don’t require money spent
Even after the holidays are here
It can feel like the holidays all year
© 2007, 2001 Mark S. Meritt
This song received an Honorable Mention certificate and Top 500 prize from the 11th Annual Billboard Magazine Songwriting Contest, July 16, 2003.
Sung by Mark S. Meritt.
2007, 2002 Mark S. Meritt
For so long we’ve been together
And each moment’s beat the last
I’ve seen oh so many others
But you’d never been surpassed
Yet now I’ve something to tell you
And it’s so hard to impart
No, our love has not yet abated
But someone duplicated the key to my heart
I once thought each had one only
And I thought my one was you
Yet now, anything but lonely,
I feel everything for two
A smorgasbord lays before me
But love’s not served a la carte
I don’t know with whom I’ll be sated
For someone duplicated the key to my heart
A copy’s a key only fools would use
The master’s the one that you must not lose
But how to choose to stay or run?
The dupe may have come first — are you the one?
Was it I who made the knockoff?
Did I broach Pandora’s Box?
No matter who chipped the block off
With hearts, you can’t change the locks
It seems that I must decide now
Perhaps I should throw a dart
To find out for whom I am fated
Not just infatuated, till death do we part
The choice became so complicated
When someone duplicated the key to my heart
Someone duplicated the key to my heart
© 2007, 2001 Mark S. Meritt
Sung by Mark S. Meritt.
If their life were good
Most people would
Be happy with their fate
Still, down deep inside
It’s not denied
They want a life that’s great
Spite of what they have, they want it all
Lucky me, I’ve got it wall to wall
I’m lost in a wonderful paradise
I’m lost in a glorious dream
Strangers envy me
How happily
They think I live my days
Not one ounce of strife
The perfect life
Wherever I may gaze
Perfect things galore and then some more
But I wonder, who’s it perfect for
I’m lost in a marvelous paradise
I’m lost in a something-else dream
But if this was my kind of paradise
Well, then why do I find myself always wanting to scream?
When I look around me I can
See so many things
That so many people would desire
But nothing makes me feel
Like fireworks exploding
‘Stead of setting me alight,
I only want to set it all on fire
Strangers envy me
How happily
They think I live my days
They don’t know how I’m
So dissatisfied
And it’s more than a phase
All these things around me tease and taunt
None of it is what I really want
I’m lost in someone else’s paradise
Trapped on someone else’s cloud nine
And I can’t help but think that perhaps someone else may be lost in mine
Lost in mine
© & 2007, 2001 Mark S. Meritt
The music for this song was originally written for You Could’ve Been Something Special (Love Theme from Gratuitous Violence). Mark felt the music worth reusing for a piece with a greater likelihood for longevity. Other than the title being a nod, the lyrics are essentially unrelated to the original.
Sung by Mark S. Meritt.
We used to be so together
Two shining diamonds in the rough
And for a while just each other seemed enough
But we wanted something better
You sought your fortune in the sky
For me, a far more grounded future caught the eye
But as your star ascended by degrees
We didn’t know we’d turn to enemies
And now you only give the deepest freeze
Gratuitous silence
Tried to help so many others
It’s the hardest row to hoe
When someone else is who they rather would know
If everybody had their druthers
It’s you whose life they’d want to live
They all refuse to see just how much I can give
It kills me knowing that they’re all so blind
But they can’t leave all your false hopes behind
And now from you all that I’ve come to find…
I had the strength to say what I believe
And you thought I was mad
But it turns out that I was self-deceived
If being true should make me glad
Then tell me, why’s it feel so bad?
I did not want you to leave me
Didn’t mean to go away
But sometimes losing what you care for’s a price you pay
Still we follow in our footsteps
Build our castles in the sand
And though we may have been divided, still we stand
Can we be harmonized? I have no clue
What’s good for just one leaves no room for two
And so for now all I’ll expect from you’s
Gratuitous silence
Gratuitous silence
Gratuitous silence
© & 2007, 2001 Mark S. Meritt
In Summer 2000, correspondent Lara Spencer taped a video diary of the planning of her wedding for an ongoing feature on Good Morning America. For the episode in which she covered her dance lessons, she and her instructor came to the studio to give a live demonstration of her progress. Mark was invited to perform on the piano, providing music for them to dance to. Asked to play original music so that the program could avoid paying royalties, this was Mark’s first opportunity to have his own compositions heard by a national audience.
Mark S. Meritt in the spotlight as Lara Spencer and her dance instructor get close
Lara Spencer and her dance instructor swing to more of Mark S. Meritt’s original music
During the segment, Mark performed instrumental versions of these original songs:
This song was written as a submission for Wendy’s Search for Sizzlin’ Sounds Contest, in which Wendy’s sought to judge the best song about hamburgers. Learn more about Potluck’s custom songwriting service which uses Appreciative Inquiry to draw out your needs and desires as the basis for an original song.
Sung by Mark S. Meritt.
2007, 2000 Mark S. Meritt
Watch a video of a solo piano version right here by just pressing Play immediately below. Or, visit YouTube to see the video or post a comment.
Learn about Potluck’s piano/keyboard performance services.
In the morning when I’m wakin’
I’m craving to get on a course that’s right
But I don’t want no eggs and bacon
They might be fine for some, but they don’t whet my own appetite
My buddy Chuck knows there’s no fakin’
The only thing on Earth to fill my need
Though the day’s just begun
He hops inside of a bun
And makes the one thing on which I feed
My good friend Patty, she’s a luscious hotty
And with me, she’s got a hunch
That the only way to please such a man of taste
Is takin’ a break with a burger for lunch
But even that was just a teaser
When dinner rolls around with good Sir Loin
He helps me to bake
Well done Salisbury steak
And my ache turns into enjoyin’
© 2007 Mark S. Meritt; © 2000 Mark S. Meritt and Richard Hack
The Chukwu Octuplets were born in Houston, TX, in December 1998. One died a week after birth. The remaining seven appeared on Good Morning America shortly afterward. They were invited back to the show to celebrate their first birthday, and Mark was invited to perform “Happy Birthday†on the piano for them.
Diane Sawyer, Charlie Gibson and the Chukwu family sing “Happy Birthday”
Audience members sing another round of Mark S. Meritt’s birthday performance
Mark was invited to perform on the piano on Good Morning America for this special spot with Rosie O’Donnell. Known for her love of Christmas songs, Rosie played “name that tune,†with Mark playing snippets of Christmas songs and Rosie having to guess as many as she could in one minute. This was Mark’s first featured appearance on national television, and notable for Charlie Gibson referring to him incorrectly as “Matt.â€
Rosie O’Donnell guessing songs with 17 seconds to go
Charlie Gibson cheers on Rosie O’Donnell as Mark S. Meritt plays the final tunes
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