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If all you want to do is hear a song, scroll down to the title and click on PLAY THIS SONG. If you want to see the lyrics as well, click on READ THE LYRICS.
If you want to look at performance information about a song, click on the song title. This will take you to a separate page for that song where you will find information useful for preparing the song for a show or recording, including:
- Song length
- Song style/genre
- Song keys and note range
- About the song
- Gender point of view, if relevant
Each song page also has a Contact Dennis link that can be used to request free Sheet Music, which I will email to you as a printable PDF file. You can also request a hardcopy in any key. A free Demo CD of songs that interest you is also available on request; let me know if you wish the FULL PIANO-VOCAL version or, to facilitate rehearsing, the PIANO TRACK ONLY for any song.
Special Material: I'm open to writing a song specifically for you to premiere - "special material" attuned to your vocal style, perhaps for a particular show or revue appearance, perhaps built around your suggestions regarding theme, title, or lyric phrases. I would do this on spec, retaining the copyright - unless we decide on a full blown collaboration - and the right to place the song after you bring it to the world. You want funny, you want sad, you want both on wry bread, who ya gonna call?
How To Obtain A Recording License: You do not need
permission to record a song, but you do need to obtain a "mechanical
license" from the Harry Fox Agency (212-370-5330). Licensing is
easily handled online with HFA’s Songfile licensing tool. If you are making
2500 or fewer copies of a physical recording or permanent digital downloads
of a song, register and login here to start the process. For more information, go here.
For credit purposes, note that all songs are copyright by
Hallmark Music Co., Dennis' music publisher. If a song has a collaborator,
copyright ownership is shared equally.
Performing A Song: You do not need permission from a
songwriter for the non-dramatic, public performance of his or her songs in a
solo show, a showcase or revue that is not built around a dramatized story
or an open mic, though I would certainly like to know if you plan to do
this. It is generally the responsibility of the venue or a producing entity
to obtain the appropriate performance license from a performance rights
organization. In my case, that would be ASCAP.
SONGS:
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A MISTY DAY IN ISTANBUL
Midtempo, moody ballad about the breakup of an affair in a city rife with images of the dustbin of history.
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AMAZING, ISN'T IT?
In this uptempo duet with a Latin beat, an older couple find each other late in life and decide it's never too late for an intimate relationship.
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AN ORDINARY DAY
Thoughtful piece on the commonplace miracles that stitch together what we take for granted as ordinary days.
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BROOKLINE WASSAIL
Four-part harmony holiday piece, with lyrics geared to charity fund-raising events.
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DANGEROUS WOMEN Words by Bob Levy & Dennis Livingston Music by Bob Levy
The song is a rumba with a tango chorus that slyly celebrates those irresistibly seductive, perilous tempters found in pop culture, literature or real life whose allure may beckon for a time until you get singed. Besides the recording heard at Play This Song, two additional takes – a ballad and a playful midtempo kinda reggae – may be heard at the separate page for this song (click on the title).
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EVERY TIME I LOOK AT YOU, I FALL IN LOVE AGAIN
Up tempo love song about what makes a marriage really work.
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GET OUT ON YOUR OWN
Hard-driving comic piece that reveals what the Fairy Godmother really told Cinderella.
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IF I COULD TELL YOU
A mid-tempo song that uses varied musical styles in a setting of W.H. Auden’s poem about the power of Time to take away all that we cherish.
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I WANT IT ALL BACK Words by Trent Walker
A soulful, blues number with a moderate swing tempo about the longing to restore an affair or a marriage that’s ended.
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I WISH I COULD WRITE A SIMPLE SONG
Driving jazz comic number on how to write a song.
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I'M SEEING MY CHILDREN FOR CHRISTMAS
Midtempo story-song about a divorced parent at Christmas time.
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IT'S TIME FOR ROSES
Romantic ballad about finally making a commitment.
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MY LUCKY DAY
Upbeat jazz comic song on how lucky you have to be to meet someone special.
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MY NEVER ENDING DREAM Words by Bob Levy
A sentimental ballad with a theme that is at once traditional and contemporary.
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PANTHALASSA
Contemplative art song about life in the prehistoric world-ocean.
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SOONER THAN SOMEDAY Words by Bob Levy
This danceable rumba provides the backdrop for the frustrated musings of someone impatient for a friendship to become something more.
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SPECIAL ORDERS NO. 191
Midtempo Civil War tale about a series of chance events in 1862 whose consequences played a large role in the North's victory over the South.
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SPRINGTIME IN BOSTON
Uptempo Latin number about why it’s worth enduring winter for the short, but glorious spring in the beautiful city by the Charles.
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SUCH A CURIOUS FEELING
A romantic, uptempo comic song to a bossa beat that asks the musical question: is love just a matter of brain chemistry?
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THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE CAT
Very offbeat gospel number about a dead cat, our place in the universe and a parent's prayer.
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THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MOON
A marching/bossa nova bedtime story about the strange adventures of three cats.
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THE PATH TO MY KINGDOM
Words placed on a mid-19th century Shaker “spirit” drawing by Polly Ann Reed are set to a lilting, original melody in versions for either voice with piano accompaniment or a capella.
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THE STORIES IN MY MIND
Mid tempo story-song about a kid whose love of reading sets him apart from most of his peers.
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THE STORYTELLER
Midtempo art song about Lewis Carroll and his young muse, the real Alice.
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THE WEAVERS' SONG
A midtempo duet with the air of a folk tale in which a couple prepares to set up shop for a new day of weaving and selling goods.
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TOO MANY BOOKS!
An uptempo, jazz comic number about the perils of collecting too many books for shelving in a city apartment that’s too small to hold them.
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WE’RE JUST BETTER OFF APART
A classic blues number that applies a contemporary bite to dealing with an affair that’s reached a dead end.
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WHAT DO I KNOW? Words by Bob Levy
An uptempo swing-jazz number about a clueless person who has no idea why the one he loves has gone away. Besides the recording heard at Play This Song, an alternative version with a Latin beat may be heard at the separate page for this song (click on the title).
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WHEN YOU SMILE AT ME
In this sweet and simple rumba, one partner, in effect, proposes marriage to the other over the course of the song.
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WHY HAVEN'T I HEARD FROM YOU? Words by Bob Levy
In this midtempo tango, a person wonders why the object of his affection is not responding to his communications via every gadget available.
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