Dennis Sy: “Can She Stay” – a powerful and poignant ode

Dennis Sy is no newcomer on the block. In his over 20 year career he has seen the inside of Carnegie Hall and also played stages in Atlantic City, Las Vegas and the Mohegan Sun Casino. Moreover Dennis Sy is an award-winning singer, BMI songwriter, and GRAMMY-winning producer. Hence when he rolls out a song like his latest release, “Can She Stay”, I am not surprised at all. It’s what you would expect from an artist of his caliber. On the track, Dennis shared lyric writing duties with Michael Peloso and producing chores with Lorrie Ilustre, while he himself took care of the music.

“Can She Stay” is a powerful and poignant ode to daughters getting ready to start a new journey with the people they are about to pledge their love and lives to, but at the same time provides an affected look at the bittersweet emotions of a father in the contrasting throes of wanting to hang on and having to let go. Peloso and Sy do a magnificent job of bringing the melodrama of the moment to the fore without leaning on too many clichés.

It’s tough to find that perfect song to dance with Dad on your wedding day – you want something special, touching, meaningful…but not romantic. Often, there’s a song that’s almost perfect — then there’s that one verse that makes it borderline creepy.

Well Peloso and Sy have created the perfect Dad and daughter song…no editing needed. The closest anyone else has come, is Heartland, with “I Loved Her First”, another great song about ‘losing’ a daughter to someone else.

Though totally different in style and theme, “Can She Stay” ranks up there with many other strikingly intelligent and emotional songs about daughters, like “Father and Daughter” by Paul Simon, “Gracie” by Ben Folds, or “Daughter” by Loudon Wainwright.

And there clearly won’t be a dry eye in the house after this song has played through, I can assure you. Dennis Sy’s vocal delivery is powerful, yet never over the top, and emotionally engaging.

The back to the basics approach brought to the track is evident, with its dangling, broken piano chords and angelic melody, it is apparent that Dennis Sy and Michael Peloso came into this track with a fully realized vision that they intended to stick to.

The entire song adheres to this concept, relying on sparse instrumentation (piano, strings and saxophone), dominating vocals, and heartfelt lyrics, to give the track an earthy, organic feel as opposed to the rigid studio trickery present on most modern recordings. The result is a rich character study and evocative imagery that usually defines the best musical compositions. As I said right in the beginning, Dennis Sy is no newcomer on the block!