The Singer and the Landmark Month

November 30, 2004.



Dear Mr. Ambassador:

Thought I’d stop by to wish you a happy birthday, but there is so much going on in your life that you’ll forgive me if I take a minute to comment on some of the things that have happened during this extraordinary month of November.

I am addressing you here by your proper title --- I’ve never known an ambassador before and I don’t want to be too informal. Alright, jokes aside, it’s thrilling to see how my sister's prediction of more than a year ago that “Clay will still be a teacher” has come true in ways that few could have imagined. For all of those who wonder what a pop star can do to change the world --- well, this pop star, role model and humanitarian will be the UNICEF Ambassador for Education for All Children Worldwide. It will be daunting out there, in some of the places you will travel, and it will break your heart to see for yourself how some of “our” children live. But when you look into their eyes and see, time and time again, the unquenchable fire of hope, you will know why you were sent. I’d better move on --- there’s something in my eye.

You’ve been showing up all over the place --- I saw you on “Larry King Live,” “The Today Show,” “Regis and Kelly,” “The Early Show.” You were a little bit frayed around the edges, but you always radiate so much joy. Thanks for dropping by to let us know what you’ve been up to --- no wonder you need a nap!

So, how are you enjoying being on the New York Times Best Seller List? I won’t set up a Lucy-style psychiatry booth to analyze what you revealed in Learning to Sing, but I want to tell you how much I appreciate that you trust the world with some of the elements of your life. It is touching and sweet and poignant and inspiring and very, very funny, all in turn. Sharing your story makes a difference, no doubt about it. Thanks.

Perhaps you didn’t have a lot of time to think about being a best selling author, because you were too busy obliterating the record for Best Selling First Week for a Holiday Album in the Soundscan era (that belonged to the immensely popular Garth Brooks, Clay --- Garth Brooks!) and tying for top chart position with a debut at #4 (keeping company with Celine Dion, who has sold an album or two in her time.)

Maybe you missed that because you were reading the news that you had shipped platinum for your second album --- that’s three platinum releases (the "This is the Night/Bridge Over Troubled Water" single, plus the Measure of a Man and Merry Christmas With Love CDs) in the eighteen months since you began your professional career. Think that might give music writers a new way to describe you to replace the hackneyed descriptive they’ve been dragging around since May 2003?

I heard that you were named spokesman for the Toys for Tots campaign. There you are again, seeing how you can help children.

I was there when new initiatives were announced for The Bubel/Aiken Foundation when you appeared (quietly, due to your laryngitis) at your first fundraiser in Los Angeles. I want to thank you and Diane so very much for giving me an opportunity to serve as a co-chair of the benefit committee and writer for the Master of Ceremonies' script.

I know that you appeared (even more quietly, but much more personally) the next day at TBAF’s Friends In Deed inclusive art project at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on World Children’s Day. Those children who meet you, made masks and beads with you, painted with you and danced with you will never forget that day and, I suspect, neither will you.

Sorry about the shows you had to postpone on your Joyful Noise Tour, and thanks for rescheduling them --- that means a lot to those in the west who missed you on your solo tour. I am so glad that you are well again. You are sharing the good news of Christ’s birth, reminding those of us who are Christians (or struggling to be) of the reason for the season, but your talent is such that many who do not share your faith can still love and appreciate your artistic expression of your beliefs. That’s good news, indeed.

The selection of songs, both secular and sacred, provides an evening of such varied experience that “entertainment” seems too light a word. I love that you know just how much you can shake the house up with the word “yeah” and just how to imbue the word “lord” with the reverence it deserves. I love that you dance with the beauty that is inside of every woman, regardless of her package. I love that we can scream in disbelief as you scale the musical peaks with "Don't Save it All for Christmas Day" and then find a hushed place of appreciation as you share the "Good News." Thanks for San Jose, and see you in Pasadena.

The better news as far as your career is concerned is the stunning improvement in your interpretive abilities that you continue to demonstrate. When we first saw you nearly two years ago, it was remarkable how well you could find the heart of a song --- that’s one of the things that made you stand out from the rest. But what you are doing now? Clay, you are not just learning to sing, you are learning to soar. You are learning to communicate intimately on a grand scale, as though each and every one of us is the reason you sing --- and that is one of the things that makes you an artist, not “just” a singer. It’s a little bit awe-inspiring when I consider where you will be, another five years down the line.

In a little while you will celebrate your birthday by singing for the entire world at the Christmas tree lighting in Rockefeller Center. (Look back at your birthday in 2002 --- I know you’ve given up a lot, but I hope that what you are finding as you move through this public life makes most of the hassles worthwhile.) I will be one of those wishing on the star atop that tree that the year ahead brings you health, happiness, hope, success and much, much love.

And because I wouldn’t be me without a little bit of snark to balance the praise: here’s a token gift for your birthday. I know you can get whatever you want for yourself these days, but I thought of something that you could share with everyone.

You see, there’s this an achingly beautiful song that’s had a couple of spins through your random lyric generator and though those of us in the audience understand, I know it must be frustrating to you.

So --- here’s the lyric sheet for “Mary, Did You Know.”

Enjoy!

The true gift of your birthday is the one you continue to share with us --- your talent, your heart, your humor, your quirks, your temper, your example --- and your boundless love. You will never, ever have to worry about being “some useless celebrity.” I know that you will continue to use your voice and I thank you for showing me a few more ways to use mine.

And so the months turn into years, and I am so happy to be able to say that I love you and I mean it.