The front cover photo, taken by Charles Geoghegan, was an idea that I had to include as many of my song from the album as I could. When you listen to the album you will hear where the idea to represent the songs in this manner came from.
The album title A Tale To Tell comes from a line on the song Sidewalk Serenader, track 5. The blue tin cup comes from track 1 Blue Tin Cup on the CD. A true story, as are most of these songs. The dial telephone comes from track 4 Untitled. If you look close you'll see a silver dollar in the middle of the dial on the telephone, from track 6 Only A Dollar.
The small sculptures come from aluminum that my son George melted down and poured into a mold. The stones come from his extensive collection. The photo on the table was taken at the Mascoma High School homecoming bonfire.
Credit should also go to Andrea Geoghegan for arranging the items on the table.
One day I saw a Redtail Hawk circling up, never flapping it's wings, riding a thermal. I watched until it was just a dot in the sky, quite a fascinating thing to see. I had told George about it and always wanted him to be able to see that. One afternoon we were splitting wood in a field not far from where I had seen the hawk a few years earlier. He kept looking over my shoulder so I stopped and saw a Redtail Hawk just beginning it's ascent on the thermal. We shut the splitter off and stood and watched it spiral upward. Not going as high as the one that I had watched a couple years before that, this one found a horizontal thermal, caught it and went speeding towards the mountain.
I had the idea of wanting to honor George somehow with a hawk, and since he was a bass player I wanted to incorporate a bass clef into it. With the idea in my head I decided to get a tattoo of a hawk soaring with a bass clef. I found an artist that was recommended by a friend, and he happily agreed to help me honor George. I brought the idea of a soaring clef graphic to the artist when I was thinking about what art I wanted to include in this project. Luke took the stencil that he had drawn for my tattoo and came up with this beautiful piece of artwork.
Credit goes to Luke LaBounty at Navushieip Ink.
While visiting the Connecticut Lakes in Northern New Hampshire two years ago on the anniversary of George's death, my girlfriend Anna and I stopped at one of the lakes to walk down to the water. We brought a basket of stones with us that George had collected and left them at random spots on our trip. Almost directly from where we parked we came across this stone heart, which was about 4 feet across at the largest point. That was the first anniversary of his death.
Credit goes to Anna Mazur for that photo.
I'm lucky enough in so very many ways to have a wonderful woman in my life. One reason is because she has an eye for art and random things just catch her eye and she photographs it, no special planning, it just happens.
The two guitars are my Guild acoustic and my Dobro resophonic. One night while playing a regular gig they were hanging on a stand that will accomodate 3 guitars. The photo is taken at such an angle that the Dobro is a perfect side view. It was only fitting to include it on the album cover.
Credit goes to Anna Mazur
THE LYRICS
BLUE TIN CUP
There’s at least a hundred stories
Inside that blue tin cup
I’ll tell you later what it means to me
But for now you should drink up
Grab that old guitar
And sing a song for dad and me
It's for sure he'll give a listen
From the bench between the trees
In the winter we were cutting trees
Down on that old dirt road
The snow and the cold north driving wind
Made the work a heavy load
When the weather got rough or at the end
Of the day we'd sit in that rundown shack
And from those blue tin cups
We’d throw the whiskey back
He told the story about the dead girl
In the car on Methodist Hill
Or a phone crank hooked up to
An old school desk to give a girl a thrill
There were stories of all the good times
And the ones about bad luck and whenever
He'd get empty he’d fill up his blue tin cup
There’s at least a hundred stories
Inside that blue tin cup
I’ll tell you later what it means to me
But for now you should drink up
So grab that old guitar
And sing a song for dad and me
It's for sure he'll give a listen
From the bench between the trees
So just keep the music coming
Until the sun comes up and whenever
You get empty just hand me that blue tin cup
Yeah whenever you get empty
Just hand me that blue tin cup
TROUBADOUR
I am a minstrel a singer of old songs
If you know the words I wish you'd sing along
I am a vagabond take my hand
And come with me
We'll find a spot along the way
To uncover memories
I am a songster and we can write a song
Build us a story and I'm glad that you're along
You are my muse
And you've opened up my mind
We can sing a song about that perfect time
I am a troubadour finding notes along the way
You are the song that makes me want to stay
I am a troubadour finding love along the way
You're bringing me around
And clearing skies of gray
I am a minstrel a singer of old songs
If you know the words I wish you'd sing along
I am a vagabond take my hand
And come with me
We'll find a spot along the way
To uncover memories
I am a troubadour finding notes along the way
You are the song that makes me want to stay
I am a troubadour finding love along the way
You're bringing me around
And clearing skies of gray
Yeah you're bringing me around
And clearing skies of gray
WHAT YOU’RE PUTTIN’ ME THROUGH
I just closed down another lonely night
At the honkey tonk
And I spent all my time
Sitting there missing you
And wonderin’ what’s inside of me
That keeps me drawn to you
And wonderin’ why I put up with
What you’re puttin’ me through
I thought if I danced it’d
Ease the pain just a little bit
But all it did was make me wish
That she was you
So she listened to me talk
She listened to me as I cried the blues
And wondered why I put up with
What you’re puttin’ me through
What you’re puttin’ me through
What should I do
With what you’re puttin’ me through
I can’t help the way I feel about you
Now, here I am again tonight
In this lonely bed
Thinkin’ about you being oh so far away
Well, I don’t know if I can take
The miles between us two
Or if I should put up with
What you’re puttin’ me through
What you’re puttin’ me through
What should I do
With what you’re puttin’ me through
I can’t help the way I feel about you
‘Cause you know that I am
Still in love with you
UNTITLED
I'll never get your call
That comes at two AM
Saying Dad can you
Come pick me up
My car's broke down again
I'll never get your call
That comes at twenty after five
Saying Dad my job is moving me
Can you come and help me drive
I'll never get your call
At four in the afternoon
Saying Dad my girl said yes
Do you think I asked too soon
I'll never get the call
At quarter after two
Saying Dad we're having a boy
I think I'll name him after you
You'll never get the call
That comes at two AM
Asking you to pick him up
His car's broke down again
‘Cause I had to make the call for you
When your body let you fly
Then all the people came
But it was just too late to try
And on that fateful night
I couldn't even say goodbye
I would have came to get you
In the middle of the night
And drove the moving van
Because you knew the time was right
I would have loved to meet
The girl that gave you family
And would have been so honored to have
Your son named after me
‘Cause I had to make the call for you
When your body let you fly
Then all the people came
But it was just too late to try
And on that fateful night. . .
SIDEWALK SERENADER
I was walking through a railroad town
One sunny day in June
When I thought I heard a busker
Singing out his lonely tune
The smell of cigarettes and whisky
Was hanging in the breeze,
His voice was slightly worn
As he tried to stay on key
Chorus:
I saw the shadow of his fingers
As they strummed across the strings
I heard a leather sole tap
As his guitar began to ring
I felt a lonely soul reaching out
Like some old eerie spell,
Listen to the sidewalk serenader
He has a tale to tell
He sang a song about a love he lost
So many years ago
Regretful and remorseful
It seemed to haunt him so
I tried to get a closer look
but only saw his shadow
I wondered if somehow that it
was all he dared to show
(To Chorus)
When he took a break I asked him
If he’d sing a song for me
He rolled up a smoke and said
Listen boy now can’t you see
If I do the one about the Troubadour
It’ll put your brain in hell
I’m the sidewalk serenader
And I have a tale to tell
(To Chorus)
Then a shadow from a cloud above
Crept down the sunny street
Taking with it when it left
The lonely soul that I did meet
The shadow was gone and I was
The one left standing there
And I had to stop and wonder
was he ever really there
(To Chorus)
I am the sidewalk serenader
And I have a tale to tell
ONLY A DOLLAR
He was just a kid standing in the aisle
At the local department store
With a dollar stuffed in his pocket
Of the pants that he wore
He had to choose the perfect toy
But to that there was no end
But nothing over a dollar
He only had one to spend
Chorus:
It’s only a dollar
That's all you have to pay
It'll bring someone a smile
That's sure to last all day
It's only a dollar
So remember this my friend
That might be all it takes
To put a sad heart on the mend.
He was 21 years old sitting in a roadside café,
Having coffee with a friend he hadn't seen
Since graduation day
They talked about girls and working
And youth coming to an end
Reconnecting over a dollar a cup
That's all they had to spend
(To Chorus)
He was 45 years old
Heading south on the interstate
Coming to a stop to pay his fare
At the cash toll gate
The collector said, Well buddy
You’re all set, the guy before you paid
It only took a dollar
To turn around his day
(To Chorus) (Instrumental) (Repeat Chorus)
MOONBEAMS
Moonbeams dance across the silver waves
I'm thinking about your loving ways
The feeling deep inside me runs to the bone
Oh, baby please come home
I'm hypnotized by the wind
That blows across the sand
That we walked on holding each other's hands
Making promises and making things right
And making love until the early morning light
Chorus:
Oh, baby please come home
Since you left me, I’ve been so alone
And you know I love you so very much
oh so much
And I long to feel your touch
The freight train that is
Rolling through the night
Gives a lonesome cry to see daylight
It's kind of like the feeling
Down inside my soul
Won't you please come back
And make me whole
Girl if you come back I want you to see
That there'll be a change a change in me
I'll give you all the love I have in the world
If you just come back and be my girl
(To Chorus)
I miss you and I need to feel your touch
33 SUMMERS
He got here in the spring
And headed for home in early fall
With 33 summers in between
His taillights had faded
To nothing in the dark
And he drove away
With all his broken dreams
He took a wrong turn to the left
And found an empty muddy road
But he backed out and tried his luck again
Over and over
‘Til he couldn't make it through
But the allure of the darkness pulled him in
Chorus:
He went down the road alone
Looking for a sign,
Something he had to understand
Speeding through his time
Not knowing what was next
And hoping someone would take his hand
He never got to see his thirty-fourth winter
Or another day of sunshine on the farm
Giving in to what beckoned him
In the dark beyond
He let the emptiness enfold him in its arms
(To Chorus)
Speeding through his time
Not knowing what was next
He was hoping someone would take his hand
BACK PORCH SWING
I sit here on this back porch swing
I hear a distant whip-poor-will sing a song
To his true love across the field
The crickets are at their very best
The moon shines a light that seems to caress
The world and all that it beholds
Chorus:
I close my eyes and I think of you
And I see your smiling face
And I no longer feel the troubles
Your gentle kisses erase
And the love you show to me
Nothing dares to compete
Cause I’ve finally found
What makes my life complete
It’s your soft and easy-going style
And the laughter that we share
And all the little things that make me smile
It’s all of this and so much more
But one of my most favorite things
Is sitting with you on this old porch swing
(To Chorus)
Yeah, you’re the one
That makes my life complete
WAYFARING STRANGER/BLACK MT RAG
(Traditionals)
I decided to include these two songs as an instrumental when my friend Dan Ibey
asked if I would play his grandfather Elmer “Al” Bocash’s Gibson guitar on the album.
At that point I had already finished the guitar parts on the rest of the tracks,
so I thought it was fitting to include this as a bonus track.
This is dedicated to Dan and his mother Beverly Ibey. - Martin
MUSICIANS
Martin Decato - Vocals, Guitar, Resophonic Guitar
Jodi Bates Ibey - Additional Vocals
George Decato - Bass on Back Porch Swing
Jared Croteau - Drums on Back Porch Swing
Charles Geoghegan - Organ on Back Porch Swing
All songs written by Martin Decato except Troubador, written by
Martin Decato & Mark Vogel, and What You’re Puttin’ Me Through,
written by Martin Decato & Joey Foley.
Produced by Martin Decato and Charles Geoghegan
Recorded at Sawyer Hill Studio, Canaan, NH except
Back Porch Swing recorded in Dorchester, NH by George Decato
Recorded and Mixed by Charles Geoghegan
Mastered by Adam Lasus at Studio Red, North Hollywood, CA
Cover Design by Martin Decato
Cover Photo by Charles Geoghegan
Back Cover and Liner Photos by Anna Mazur
Liner and Disc Artwork by Luke LaBounty
SPECIAL THANKS
George Decato
Anna Jenny Mazur
Charles and Andrea Geoghegan
Jodi and Dan Ibey
Jared Croteau
Deidre Keller
Andy Stewart and MJ Slattery
Luke LaBounty
Steve and Aaren Dow
Dave Leone
Scott Sanborn
Peter Dionne
Mark Hiatt and Anna Hutton
Travis Bill, Clifton Bill & The Bill Family
Paul Mylod
Gary MacDonald & Cheryl Puleo
and Everyone at the Greenhouse