Dan Hill Sometimes When We Touch

You know how you have a song that every time you hear it, it gives you goose bumps? The song that does it for me is “Sometimes When We Touch” by Dan Hill.

I was listening to a radio show yesterday, with Dan Hill as the guest, and he was talking about how "Sometimes When We Touch" came to be. Dan really liked this girl who was dating a football player. He wanted to make a big impression on her and wrote her this song. She told him after he sang it to her that she was leaving town with the football player, and he was way too intense for his age. So he went on his way, hurt I am sure by her reply. He put the song he had written on the back burner so to say.

One day he was with working on some music with Barry Mann and thought I’ll see if Barry can come up with anything for that song I wrote. He never told Barry it was a song, just said to him that he had this poem he had written and could he come up with music for it. Within fifteen minutes Barry said yes and here is what I came up with.

You ask me if I love you
And I choke on my reply
I'd rather hurt you honestly
Than mislead you with a lie
And who am I to judge you
On what you say or do?
I'm only just beginning to see the real you

And sometimes when we touch
The honesty's too much
And I have to close my eyes and hide
I wanna hold you til I die
Til we both break down and cry
I wanna hold you till the fear in me subsides

Romance and all its strategy
Leaves me battling with my pride
But through the insecurity
Some tenderness survives
I'm just another writer
Still trapped within my truth
A hesitant prize fighter
Still trapped within my youth

And sometimes when we touch
The honesty's too much
And I have to close my eyes and hide
I wanna hold you til I die
Til we both break down and cry
I wanna hold you till the fear in me subsides

At times I'd like to break you
And drive you to your knees
At times I'd like to break through
And hold you endlessly

At times I understand you
And I know how hard you've tried
I've watched while love commands you
And I've watched love pass you by

At times I think we're drifters
Still searching for a friend
A brother or a sister
But then the passion flares again

And sometimes when we touch
The honesty's too much
And I have to close my eyes and hide
I wanna hold you til I die
Til we both break down and cry
I wanna hold you till the fear in me subsides

Dan Hill is a Canadian pop singer/songwriter from Toronto, Ontario, who was born in 1954. He was always interested in songwriting, and studied guitar when he was in his teens. At 17 he left high school to work for RCA as a songwriter. In 1975 he released his first album, Dan Hill, with the hit single, “You Make Me Want To Be”. “Sometimes When We Touch” came out in 1977 hitting #3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Many people that include Tina Turner, Rod Stewart, Dolly Parton, Barry Manilow and others have covered this song. In 1982 Dan recorded, “It’s a Long Road”, for the movie “First Blood”. He has written many other songs, but my favorite of his is, “Sometimes When We Touch”

Tonight March 27^th, at the Juno Awards, from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Dan Hill five-time Juno Award winner, will be one of the many presenters airing on CTV at 8 p.m.

“In Your Eyes” a song that was a hit for George Benson was co-written by Dan Hill and Michael Masser. Dan has written so many songs for various artists such as Celine Dion, Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, Tammy Wynette, Reba McEntire, Alan Jackson, the list just goes on and on, that have become huge hits.

Dan in 2009 wrote a book called, "I am My Father's Son", a memoir of love and forgiveness. His father Daniel Hill was a civil activist. In the book he tells how he feels why he became the man that he did.

If you would like to see a glimpse of what this book reads like follow this link.