Welcome to the 2026 Vocals by Dave Yarin website – please be seated…or remain standing if you wish. No glossy production or AI special effects on these vocals, no autotune or pitch correction in this home studio joint – just keepin’ it real for my listeners.
First…and new for 2026 – a Recently Dropped section with some liner notes for light reading. Then, my “Dave sings Billy“ playlist – which is remastered and remixed…for 2026 (no extra charge for the rhyme). After Billy, my latest and other recent releases playlists; followed by my Elton John playlist. Below all that (exhale), there are some miscellaneous takes that didn’t end up on an album. And for those of you who can’t get enough holiday music, my holiday playlist is available throughout the year at the bottom of the page!
Thanks to Adriana Balic for teaching me how to actually sing instead of yell, and finding the emotion in the songs. Thanks to my friends who listened. But big big thanks to my lovely wife Beth and awesome kids Jennifer and Michael for a lot of listening to the good, the bad, and yes the ugly at times; and some great feedback too! Michael (aka “Beatle”) – the music producer, studio engineer and entrepreneur – taught me a heckuva lot about singing and recording. He oughta know – it’s what he does. So Come On Get Happy, and thanks for listening! Please drive home safely!!
Upcoming Gigs!
August 29th, 2026 – Il Concerto Al Lago (The Concert By The Lake) – SOLD OUT!
October 3rd, 2026 – private party
Stay tuned for other upcoming gigs! Meanwhile, please use the “Contact Dave” tab above to reach Dave about booking info, get a file of something you heard here that you like, or just to say hello and talk music.
Recently Dropped (but not broken)
These are recent takes; meaning there may be some re-recordings and more better mixing/mastering to follow, but I thought they showed some early promise. I hope you do too!
Tell ya what I’m gonna do – only because I’m in a good mood. I did the vocals where most of Don Henley’s singing takes place before the middle break and solos in the song. If you come back to my website in a few days, I’ll have the finished product uploaded for you with the “outro” portion of Don’s vocals. Deal? Until then, you can enjoy the Eagles instrumentation on the outro.
Paul and Elvis Costello became good buddies, and they co-wrote songs for each other to record in the late 80s; Veronica recorded by Elvis, and this one by Paul. From the moment I first heard this song to this very day, this song reminds me of something Paul would have done with The Beatles or earlier in his solo career. But first, Paul saw a face (below).
Fresh off a late night virtual jam session, voice was loose and energy level still high – this one seemed to make sense for toe tapping fun. After Paul first saw a face, he had a brave face (above).
Tom Waits wrote and initially recorded this song, with The Eagles cover version to follow. Waits didn’t care for the cover version (or for The Eagles for that matter), to which Glenn Frey replied in concert years later “Tom didn’t really like our version of Ol’ ’55 when it first came out … and then he got the (royalties) check. Since then, Tom and I, we’re really close.”
Jeez I’ve always loved this song, and I had a lot of fun recording it. Billy wrote it about and for his mom. He followed up the wildly successful Stranger album with this album – 52nd Street – full of jazz-influenced songs and Rosalinda’s Eyes…with a Latin cha cha beat. Brilliant. And so was his band for playing these songs so well. It’s also possible that I’m getting better at mixing and mastering the songs so that they’re not so darn loud.
Saw a special premier screening last night of the new documentary Paul McCartney: Man On The Run, which focused on Paul’s solo years after The Beatles; and yes it was awesome. I clapped, cheered, sang, cried, booed at Allen Klein…and that was just in the first 10 minutes! This song was on Paul’s first solo album after The Beatles broke up, but I like his live version with Wings much better. If The Beatles had stayed together, I think this would’ve been a Beatles song. It’s actually a really hard song to sing, but I gave it me best. Paul wrote the song for Linda; I sing it for Beth.
Dave sings Billy – remastered and remixed for 2026
As a fellow Long Island native and MOT who was born in the same Bronx NY hospital as Billy was, I’ve loved his music for as long as I can remember. To me, he is the Norman Rockwell of popular music 1 – there’s a story in every song. Studying The Stranger’s album sleeve, pictures, liner notes and lyrics as a 10-year old when it came out – and all of Billy’s albums going forward, I worked my way back to his older music through the Songs In The Attic live album. Awesome piano playing and songwriting aside, I’ve always loved the range in Billy’s singing voice and the way that he uses it – particularly for a guy who never took voice lessons. And he can sing all genres – rock, ballads, doo wop 50’s…you name it.
Most of the below songs were remixed and remastered recently to balance my vocals with the instrumentation a bit better and get the loud out (not to be confused with “Getting the Led out” – which is when a radio station plays 3 Led Zeppelin songs in a row). “Everybody Loves You Now” was recorded in an LA studio and was engineered, produced, mixed and mastered by Beatle; and therefore needed no further remixing and remastering. Also, some of the songs now include more retsyn – the secret ingredient in certain breath mints.
Get well soon Billy! Long Island’s own…Billy Joel – as sung by me. Oh and one more thing…as Billy always said at the end of his concerts – don’t take any sh*t from anyone!
Latest Releases
Other Recent Releases
A note regarding “China Girl” on the playlist below. I’ve always loved David Bowie – as both a musician and a person, and I’ve always loved this song. Killer blues guitar on the original recording was Stevie Ray Vaughan. Before you judge the song, here is it’s true meaning as The Washington Post reported:
“If you ever took Bowie for what was on the surface, you were missing something,” said Tiffany Naiman, whose work on Bowie was published in “David Bowie: Critical Perspectives.” “I think he was well aware of his elite cosmopolitanism. He was able to move through different cultures because of his privilege but he understood otherness and wanted to highlight that.”
“Bowie was donning the role of a racist womanizer not only to decry racist womanizing but to condemn the West’s demeaning view of the East as a whole. “China Girl” was a parody of racism and stereotyping.”
“The message that they have is very simple,” Bowie said. “It’s wrong to be a racist!” Amen and well said David.
Dave Sings Elton
Everyone talks about Elton and Billy’s piano playing…for obvious reasons, but I was always awed by their vocals. Elton’s range, his style, his vocal emotion was and remains amazing. The playlist includes 4 songs from my favorite Elton album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (the title track), and 3 songs you don’t hear as often (Sweet Painted Lady, Roy Rogers and Harmony) – that are part of the reason why this album remains one of my all-time favorites from cover to cover. And before you say “Hey Dave, isn’t Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds a Beatles song?” – Elton did an awesome cover of it, so I included it on this playlist. Thank you Elton.
More Songs I’ve Sung Fairly Recently…
This one goes out to my lifelong brothers that I grew up with and remain my brothers 55 years later. I let Roger be Roger on this recording (as suggested by one of those brothers – Marc), while I took the Pete Townshend vocals. Such a great song. “I’ll sing my heart out to the infinite sea”
One of the first songs I can ever remember liking, with a true story behind it. Paul and John had repaired their relationship to the point that John was going to join Paul in New Orleans in late 1974 – early 1975 to write and record a few songs together on the Wings album (“Venus and Mars”) on which this song appeared. But at the last minute John cancelled; having just found out that Yoko was pregnant with Sean. They very sadly didn’t get an opportunity to write and record together again.
Back around 1977 and already really into music, my grandma took me to Newberry’s (the “five and dime“) to buy me my first record album. Truth is before I got really into The Beatles, my first musical memories are of Paul McCartney’s solo music, and the best I could tell my grandmother at the time was that “this guy was once in a really big band.” Understatement of the century. Anyway, my grandmother bought me a Paul McCartney live album (“Wings Over America“), of which one of the songs on it is this one. Oh and by the way…here’s the album. Still with me after all these years…
Such a beautiful song, and amazing vocals from one of my all-time favorite singers – Robert Plant. The dynamics and range in his voice, especially earlier in his career – but even now, are out of this world.
While I’m not yet 64, I’ve accomplished the first line of the song…
Next Album
Mrs. Gibson – our grade school music teacher – taught us this one, lyrics on ditto paper and all. She asked us to guess who we thought the song was about. Guesses?
Before Sheryl Crow sampled the guitar part for All I Wanna Do Is Have Some Fun, and before Gerry Rafferty did Baker Street, he did this. If you want to have more fun with this song, see Malcolm In The Middle, Season 1 – Episode 11. Not as much fun in the movie Reservoir Dogs.
My very favorite Who song…every component of this amazing band was on display in this song; the raw energy and power that was and remains The Who.
We were watching Fleishman Is In Trouble – great show (and book). They were playing this song in one of the episodes and I said “Dang it that’s one of my favorite Neil Diamond tunes.” So here ya go…
…In honor of the documentary of the same name that came out a couple of years ago. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it. The video and dialogue between John, Paul, George and Ringo (and Billy Preston) are so clear that it feels like these events happened last week or something. I know, I know but just let me have my dream ok? This has always been one of my faves from the Fab Four, and I really came to appreciate John’s lead guitar work on this song. From the rooftop of Apple Corps headquarters at 3 Savile Row in Central London…
Jerry Lee Lewis wrote this humorous little ditty, and I enjoy Rod Stewart’s cover. The instrument track was in a lower key than I wanted to sing it in, so I cranked it up a few steps.
The great Nile Rodgers produced this song and album (and I believe played guitar on this song), and combined with John Taylor’s bass playing it made for an absolutely fantastic soulful funk album. This was my favorite song off that album. Come to think of it, Nile Rodgers produced David Bowie’s Let’s Dance album that China Girl (above) is on. No doubt that Nile Rodgers is one of the greatest musicians, performers and producers there is.
Because who among us didn’t have an imaginary childhood friend? Mazel Tov Neil!
To ma boys, ma homies, my Green Acres MOTs. Five guys who grew up loving The Who. The Who forevah. Best friends and brothers forevah.
This is a song called Plush.
Happy Holidays!
A playlist of twelve thirteen of my favorite Christmas songs – all as sung by; and repeatedly remixed and remastered by…Moi. A double shot of Elvis (RIP). Jimmy Buffett (born on December 25th; RIP) and Tom Petty (RIP). I read somewhere that Wham’s Last Christmas (RIP George Michael) is the most listened to Christmas song ever…however they keep track of that. Band Aid had everyone who was everyone then…before We Are The World I might add. And yes – I’m all the lead vocals on Do They Know It’s Christmas. John Mellencamp – for my Indiana family! Elton being Elton. Combining Motown and U2 on Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) is like putting chocolate and peanut butter together, and I’ve loved the John Lennon (RIP) and Greg Lake (RIP) songs ever since I can remember remembering. I first heard Please Come Home For Christmas by The Eagles when I was a kid, but over time I’ve discovered several other versions that are equally as good, the best of which is by Aaron Neville. Twelve Thirteen of my favorite Christmas songs, with Happy Holiday wishes from me and the “band” to everyone!
“I wish you a hopeful Christmas
I wish you a brave new year
All anguish, pain and sadness
Leave your heart and let your road be clear“
- Expression TM by D. Yarin ↩︎