Back Stage Pass News reviews Tom Tikka's single “With Eyes Closed”

With Eyes Closed is a real eye opener for the listener

Back Stage Pass News reviews Tom Tikka's single “With Eyes Closed”  and enjoyed every second of the 3 minutes and 35 seconds length of the song.   Listening to the song, you definitely hear the influence of the Beatles.  

As his bio says: Tom Tikka picked up the guitar at the tender age of six after hearing Paul Anka's "Lonely Boy" in his father's old Chevrolet. Soon afterwards, he began writing songs. Tom's infatuation with music only deepened after his aunt's husband introduced him to the concept of lead guitar and even more importantly to the music of such legendary groups as The Beatles and The Doors. 
Tikka has had major label deals through the years getting his first recording contract on his 21st birthday.  The album didn't take off like everyone wished it would.  Tom took off some time to regroup.  He started honing his songwriting craft and he was off again, this time with a new band called, Carmen Gray. Carmen Gray lasted from 2005 until 2015. 

Tom wanted another shot with his own music as a solo artist and he started working with Michael Stover at MTS Records. His latest album, “This Is My Happy Face” which was released September 17th, 2021 includes his #2 iTunes chart single, “Heart’s On Fire” currently at #83 on the US Mediabase Activator chart. 

"With Eyes Closed," is the brand new single from the album 'This Is My Happy Face," and it  is a really great song.  The feel, the mood, the lyrics, the melody, and the tempo come together to create a happy place for the listeners heart, and soul. Back Stage Pass News gives "With Eyes Closed" five (5) big shiny stars.  You can keep up with what Tom is doing at his website.

Notes from Tom about this beautiful song

I almost didn't read the notes and that would have been terrible to miss this beautiful story. So beautiful in fact that I have to publish it. Thank you Tom for sharing your heart and talent with the world. 
Notes to "With Eyes Closed"
 What can I say? I'm the world's biggest romantic!

I've been burned by love so many times, and in multiple different ways, yet I find myself enamored with the notion that everybody has a perfect match. Some Native American tribes believe that before we are born the gods split us in two, into a man and a woman. The purpose of our journey on earth then becomes finding our other half. When we accomplish this task, we become whole again. I always loved that idea. There's something very comforting in that thought.

My parents were a bit like this. They truly were each other's "other halves". I don't remember them ever prioritizing anything over their marriage. Let me give you an example. Once, my mom was having a bad day. She had a terrible cold, our washer had just broken, my dad had forgotten to change the oil in her car and to top it off, my teacher had called to complain about my juvenile antics at school. The memory of her calling my dad (who always answered when she called regardless of what he had going at work) is very vivid in my mind. Between the coughing and the sneezing, she asked him if he could pick up the dry cleaning and the groceries on his way home from work. She truly didn't feel up to it.

In about an hour, the front door opened and my dad came home in his pinstripe suit, holding the dry-cleaning and three bags of groceries.
"It's noon," my mom whispered from the couch with a flu-ridden voice, "What are you doing home? Didn't you have that big business meeting today?"
"I did," my dad blurted out, "But that's a meeting, this is us, Gorgeous. It sounded like I'm needed here." With that, he picked her up, kissed her on the forehead, carried her to bed and tucked her in.

My dad and I cooked her favorite food that night, eggplant parmesan. He took it upstairs for her, just like he did with breakfast. For the fifty years that they were married, he would wake her up with breakfast every morning. Those two did everything together. In fact, they only spent fourteen nights apart during their marriage. Even when my dad spent weeks on end at the hospital after he was diagnosed with cancer, my mom was there by his side, holding his hand...until the very end.

Right before the end, my mom was asking him, "Whose going to make me breakfast?" "It's about time you did that yourself," my dad exclaimed with laughter in his voice. We all kissed and hugged, realizing the significance of that exchange.

I took my mom to lunch yesterday. I was a bit late and she complained that she was famished. I asked her if she ate breakfast too early, to which she replied, "I don't eat breakfast anymore, Tom." A tear rolled down her cheek as she said it. I was once again reminded of what true love is. It's the rarest thing and not everyone is blessed with it.

"With Eyes Closed" is about my parents, the two halves that truly found each other and became whole.

The name of the song comes from what my dad once said to me, "You can apply logic to everything else except love...that you have to navigate with your heart and with eyes that are firmly shut."    TOM TIKKA