Early life & music career
Tommy Shaw was born in Montgomery, Alabama in 1953 and played with many local bands in his early years. He left Montgomery after high school to join MS Funk, a Chicago-managed outfit that he played with for 3 years, which gave him a chance to be noticed by the band Styx during a 2-week club gig in Chicago. After MS Funk disbanded, he went back to Montgomery to join a local group with his childhood friends called Harvest, which performed at a club in a bowling alley called "Keglar's Kove". Following Styx's move to A&M, guitarist and vocalist John Curulewski suddenly left the band shortly before they were to embark on a nationwide tour, and a frantic search to find a last-minute replacement was launched. While playing at the bowling alley bar, as a result of his previous experience with MS Funk in Chicago, Shaw got the call to audition for Styx and was quickly hired.
Styx — 1970s
The first album with Shaw, "Crystal Ball" (1976), was titled after his own composition and also includes his songs "Mademoiselle" and "Shooz". Its follow-up, The Grand Illusion (1977) became the group's breakthrough album, which went platinum and also featured a radio hit by Shaw, "Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)".
Styx's 8th album, appropriately entitled Pieces Of Eight, was the breakout album for Shaw's songwriting talent with his rock-oriented contributions "Renegade" and "Blue Collar Man", which became `70's rock radio staples and perennial Styx concert favorites, reaching #16 and #21 respectively on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart.It also featured a minor radio hit Shaw's tune "Sing For The Day".
[edit] 1980s — 1990s
Though the `80's brought the downfall of Styx, it began with Styx riding a wave of commercial success with the #1 pop ballad "Babe" from the 9th Styx album, Cornerstone in 1979, which was written by keyboardist Dennis DeYoung. However, tension mounted within the band as Shaw and other band members expressed dissatisfaction with DeYoung's desire to pull the band into a pop radio & theatrical direction, while other members preferred the rock direction of the songs written by Shaw and guitarist James "JY" Young. For this reason, unbeknownst to the public-at-large, Dennis DeYoung was fired from the group in early 1980 for a brief unpublicized moment and quickly rehired, but this conflict would arise again. Shaw's ascerbation was furthered with his disatisfaction of the theatrical-themed album Paradise Theater and brought to a boil with the tour for the next album Kilroy Was Here, which featured a progressive stage show combined with an 11-minute movie intro and theatrical performances by the band. Shortly after the tour ended, Shaw left Styx in 1983 to pursue his solo career.
Shaw released 3 solo albums in the 1980s: Girls with Guns (1984), What If (1985), and Ambition (1987), scoring a Top 40 hit with the title track from the 1st album.
1990s — present
In the early 1990s, Shaw, Ted Nugent, Jack Blades, and drummer Michael Cartellone formed the band Damn Yankees. Their biggest hit, "High Enough", was co-written by Shaw. The band had a strong concert following; however, even though the 2nd album went platinum, the band separated.
Shaw returned to a reunited Styx in 1995 and embarked on a subsequent tour with them in 1996. Tommy would later record a fourth solo record in 1998: "7 Deadly Zens". Shaw has also worked with other artists on a "Pink Floyd's The Wall" tribute album. He also worked on a KISS tribute album, "Spin The Bottle: An All-Star Tribute to KISS", on which he sang "Love Gun".
Tommy teamed up with Night Ranger's Jack Blades in a duo appropriately called Shaw Blades and released an album entitled "Hallucination" in 1995. A second collaboration entitled "Influence" was released in early March 2007 and the duo appeared live on VH1 Classic backed up by famed Nashville songwriter Gary Burr. Shaw Blades did a short tour in Spring 2007 that was well-received. The tour included songs from Night Ranger, Styx, Shaw's solo albums and Damn Yankees. The duo also recorded the classic Christmas song "The Twelve Days Of Christmas" which was released in 2002 on the album "A Classic Rock Christmas", a compilation of classic Christmas songs recorded by various Classic Rock artists.
As of 2007, Shaw leads Styx along with James "JY" Young. Shaw & Young are the only remaining members from Styx's heyday.
Hall of Fame
Tommy Shaw will be inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in February, 2008 at their awards banquet to be held in Tommy's hometown of Montgomery, AL..
See Me Now
Tommy Shaw Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And I can't look down
I can't look down
You're still out there
I can almost hear you call
Look out girl I'm ready to fall
The bridges we've crossed
In the book of my dreams
They'll never be lost
Come on darling commit yourself
Open up your heart and let yourself go
If you could only see me now
You'd see me different than before
Somehow I've got to make you see
There's a place for you here with me
Whatever happened to my good-time friends
Free as a bird
As wild the wind
Everyone laughed and tried there best
To put us down
I'm still here
They're no longer around
They've settled down now
They're so civilized
If you saw them today you'd hardly
Recognize them
I'll never understand
What happened to them all
It's only me here now
But I'll catch you if you fall
Remember the nights we spent on the island
The days we laughed
And played in the sunshine
We roared with the lion
The opening lines of Tommy Shaw's song See Me Now paint a picture of triumph and exultation. The singer feels like they are on top of the world, and nothing can bring them down. They express an inability to look down, suggesting that they are so high up that looking down could be dangerous. Yet, they acknowledge that someone or something is still calling out to them, as they hear a voice. It is not stated who or what is calling out to them, but the fact that the singer is "ready to fall" suggests that this voice may be causing them some sort of distraction or concern.
The second verse of the song reflects on the journey that the singer and their loved ones have been on together. The mountains and bridges that they've climbed and crossed are symbolic of the obstacles they've faced together. In the book of the singer's dreams, they will never be lost, indicating that these memories are precious and will remain with them forever. The singer urges their loved one to commit themselves and open up, suggesting that they still need them and desire emotional connection. The chorus repeats the lyric "If you could only see me now," suggesting that there has been a change in the singer's circumstances or character that their loved one should be aware of.
Line by Line Meaning
Oh babe I'm on top of the world
I'm feeling great and successful right now.
And I can't look down
But I'm afraid that if I stop and think too much about it, I might lose it all.
I can't look down
I need to keep moving forward and not focus on my fears.
You're still out there
I know you're still around somewhere.
I can almost hear you call
And I feel like I can almost hear your voice.
Look out girl I'm ready to fall
I'm willing to take risks and put myself out there for you.
The mountains we've climbed
We've been through a lot of challenges together.
The bridges we've crossed
And we've overcome obstacles by working together.
In the book of my dreams
In my mind's eye, I see all of our shared experiences.
They'll never be lost
And I know that they'll always be important to me.
Come on darling commit yourself
I want you to be fully invested in this relationship with me.
Open up your heart and let yourself go
Don't hold back - I want you to be free with your emotions and feelings.
If you could only see me now
If you only knew how much I've grown and changed.
You'd see me different than before
You'd realize that I've become a better person and partner.
Somehow I've got to make you see
But I know it's not easy to change someone's mind or perspective.
There's a place for you here with me
All I can do is assure you that I want you to be a part of my life and future.
Whatever happened to my good-time friends
I'm reflecting on how some of my friends have changed over time.
Free as a bird
They used to be carefree and independent.
As wild the wind
Full of energy and passion for life.
Everyone laughed and tried there best
But some people mocked us and didn't believe in us.
To put us down
They tried to make us feel less than or doubt ourselves.
I'm still here
But I've stayed true to who I am.
They're no longer around
And now they've moved on or changed so much that they're not the same people I used to know.
They've settled down now
They've embraced a more conventional or stable lifestyle.
They're so civilized
They seem more uptight or formal than they used to be.
If you saw them today you'd hardly
If you met them now, you wouldn't recognize them.
Recognize them
They've changed so much that they're like different people entirely.
I'll never understand
I don't know why they changed or why they couldn't stay true to themselves like I have.
What happened to them all
It's a mystery to me why people change so much over time.
It's only me here now
But even though my friends have changed, I'm still here and I'm still the same person.
But I'll catch you if you fall
And even though we may face challenges or obstacles, I'll always be there to support you.
Remember the nights we spent on the island
I'm reminiscing about a happy and carefree time in our relationship.
The days we laughed
And how we used to have fun and enjoy each other's company.
And played in the sunshine
Doing simple things together and just enjoying life.
We roared with the lion
We were full of energy and fearlessness, like we were unstoppable.
Contributed by Dominic I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.