Jonathan Paull Gertler released his new album "No Fear" this week and to celebrate we have asked him to tell us about the song "Grasp The Moon". Here is the story:
"Grasp the Moon" is the first tune on the new release "No Fear." I am privileged to serve on the board of advisors of a major Medical School that is dedicated to providing the best of care to people regardless of their socioeconomic status - serving the poor and the disenfranchised for their complex medical needs. "Exceptional care without exception" is the hospital's motto.
One of my co-board members is a giant in the civil rights world having served in numerous presidential administrations and also a renowned physician leader and advocate for minority education. He was speaking to us about his initiative to increase scholarship support for people of color in medical education and used the phrase "if you shoot for the stars, you can grasp the moon." As is often the case, a phrase leaped out at me and grabbed me, and I thought about how this ability to reach, to try, to take a chance, often can lead to failure but it is the only way to achieving improvement in all our lives as individuals and as a society. Much of my lyric writing becomes personalized in stories of individuals or expressed about individual emotions, as this song did as well, but the song is very much about taking risks, striving, and providing for others.
The song was recorded a whole step down, kept as simple as possible with the two guitar interchanges dominant, and the soaring harmonies in the last verse were the outward expression of the intrinsic optimism of the song.
Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below and learn more about the album here