Four Bucket Winter by This Song's For You

"Liquor & Poker" and "'Til the Cows Come Home" are two unique country-styled numbers you should enjoy.

"Matter of Spine" by Phil Bronschidle, featuring powerful vocals by Rod Nickson of The Rod Nickson Project and Tom Mayers, plus Sam Falzone's (Don Ellis Orchestra) solo Saxophone tribute to his dad, "Father's Song" show the diversity of styles that emanate from our humble little studio. All of our songs are near and dear to our hearts, but "As Time Goes By" is special and sure to be enjoyed by all for years to come. It's a love ballad featuring Sam Falzone on sax and Tom Ryan (Weekend and Soul Providers) on brushes complementing the vocal arrangement by Tom Mayers.

A Note From DAVE DiBERNARDINIS:

'Til the Cows Come Home is the first song I ever wrote in San Diego, California and was actually influenced by Hank Williams, Sr., it's simplicity and joy to perform, it however has not been without controversy. I added a bit of a so-called "Negro Spiritual" Mammy's Little Baby Loves Shortnin' Bread, etc., to the middle break which may not be "P.C." but is an homage to the wonderful song styles of the deep south that I love so much. It is also a thinly veiled suggestion of the warm love waiting for my "pretty baby" !

Live with the Pain was written for a lady friend in San Diego whose boyfriend left her for another woman. She was sure it was the end of the world and as I had been there more times than I'd care to admit, I fashioned a song out of what I was telling her "Yes it's true, someone's out there for you too." It was to be a single released for the band Spaghetti Western but because of the old cliche "contractual madness" it never saw daylight. Here at the studio, Producer Tom Mayers had to "inform" me I could no longer hit the original key it was written in and we managed to save the tune to a key more suited to my voice now. George Litz, a guitarist extrordinaire laid down the lead line I actually envisioned in only one or two takes! It also has a fantastic Bass line by Engineer John Swanson that captures the urgency of the tune which surprised even me!

A Note From TOM MAYERS:

"WAITIN' ON YOU" kinda reminds me of a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers style tune. It came to me as most all of my song ideas do, a phrase pops out, gets my attention as a possible song, and then the melody and arrangement follow. It's a song that I would imagine a lot of people can relate to, about a one-sided love affair where one party is being taken for granted by the other, but the relationship still continues. As with most of the song ideas I try to develop from my thoughts and inspirations, the lyrics have been blessed with the constructive criticism and suggested improvements by my good friend and partner, John Swanson, affectionately known as the “Grammar Grinder”. So many times thanks to his help, the songs are able to say what I mean in a more effective way.

“WHEN YOU'RE LONELY” was created when my grandfather passed away. I was a young man, and was struck by the whole post-funeral get-together at gram’s house. The food, the beverages including beer, and most of all, the way my grandmother presented a strong front for all her family to see. It made me wonder what her feelings were going to be after all the people went home and she would be alone for the first time in 50 years. She was a church organist in the city of Buffalo for many years, with a beautiful and strong voice, and luckily I had the honor of playing this song for her on her piano before she passed. She liked it. I think this song definitely has some influence from the Beatles' Eleanor Rigby.

“I'LL PAY YOU TOMORROW” was one of those ideas that came to me all at once, melody and lyrics just materializing from the inspiration of a rhythm style on my Yamaha DGX 505 keyboard after playing a few random chords. Once the theme of needing money was established, the frustration of asking for help from a reluctant “friend” followed, making the story complete with a fun type of feel to a serious situation. It’s one of those songs whose arrangement came out spontaneously in it’s entirety from the intro, all the way to the unique ending. The result was being taped as a possible idea, kept, and then refined with the proper instrumental and vocal parts. You let yourself go with the feelings freely pouring out, and you come up with a whole song that's got a nice blues' groove to it, and you ask yourself: "Where did that came from? .... I love it when that happens.

“AS TIME GOES BY” arrived as a melody that my late mother would’ve loved to hear, and the words that came to me were initially about my wife Elaine and I and our love. Soon after the first verse, I realized that the song lyrics could apply to anyone who is in a relationship with another person and that they had a universal type of appeal to all couples. The style of music reminded me of the type of song that would be played near or at the end of the evening with perhaps a mirrored ball rotating slowly. During that final dance, you’d know by the way that you held each other, how the rest of the evening was going to go. The brushes whispering the rhythm and the gentle lilting saxophone in the background lend themselves to the perfect mood for a love song. It's a song that I would love to hear sung by Tony Bennett, but good luck on my being able to get it to him.

“WE'RE ONLY HUMANS” is a song that was definitely triggered by my Yamaha DGX 505 again, with it’s auto-accompaniment and style leading the way for my melody, which inevitably led to the lyrics. The only way that I can describe that experience is to say that somewhere in my mind or soul there’s a catalogue of song ideas waiting to arrive through my fingers and my voice, and when you have such basic quality coming at you as an inspiration, it seems to happen on it’s own. On this particular song, as on almost all of my writings, John Swanson was once again “instrumental” with his fine tuning of the lyrics and his helpful suggestions on refining the musical arrangement. In it, I try to point out how no matter what race or religion we are, we all share the same desires and frailties, and we should try to enjoy our time and each other during our lives on this planet.

“I’LL BE AROUND” started with a melody that reminded me again of the type of song that Mom would play for us five kids on the piano. It’s the kind of melody that’s easy to follow for a first time listener. The lyrics fell into place, making it an old-style message that tells the singer’s lady that if she’s ever lonely, “I’ll Be Around”, and even though she might not realize it, he’s going to be there for her through thick and thin, and he’s not just saying that to make her feel good, he means it from the heart. When we were adding the instrumental tracks to this song, drummer Ray Fournier intuitively felt the “tap dancing” sound that fit so nicely in the middle and which added that extra feeling of an era gone by.

“LARRY LIKES TO FISH” was written as a gift to friends of mine that would annually vacation with us at Lake Chautauqua every July. One day in November I got the idea to write a song as a homemade Christmas gift for each of the three couples that we shared cottages with. Having worked with the husbands of the first two couples for a number of years, I was able to comment lyrically about them and their families with quite a bit of personal information. When it came to writing about Larry and his wife Marge and their children, I really didn’t know much about them except that Larry and Marge REALLY like to fish; everyday in fact. So, the song is basically about how much Larry likes to fish with sing-along sections and some group “whistling” instead of words. To finish the song, we came up with the idea of doing parodies of “We Are The World” by Michael Jackson, and “Give Peace A Chance” by John Lennon, changing them to “We Are The Fish” and “Give Fish A Chance”. It’s a great campfire sing-along where everyone can join in whistling or singing along to “Larry Likes To Fish”.

A Note From JOHN SWANSON:

Re: LIQUOR AND POKER (Jones/Swanson)

As with a number of the songs on this compilation album, this song had it’s genesis in the seventies but is just now being released as a finished copy. The original inspiration for the song came from a tee shirt for a bar that advertised Liquor in the Front and Poker in the Rear. With that catch phrase in mind, the comic applications came fast and furious.

The basic arrangement practically wrote itself, and the lyrics tightened up quickly with only a couple of re-writes being needed to finalize the song. The easy part being over, it only took another 25 years or so to finish the recording aspect of this project, but the results speak for themselves.

As the years have gone on, I don’t see too much of Gary [Jones], my co-author, anymore, but I want him to know that if this song starts to sell, I’ll be sure that he gets what he’s got coming to him.

Phil Bronschidle: guitar

Dave DiBernardinis: guitar, vocals

Sam Falzone: saxophone, flute, clarinet, percussion

Ray Fournier: drums, percussion, vocals

Russel Hatcher: percussion

John Larson: drums

George Litz: guitar, banjo

Tom Mayers: vocals, keyboards, percussion

Annie McKenna: cello

Rod Nickson: vocals

Pat Schwab: guitar, vocals, percussion

Gary Styn: keyboards, vocals, percussion

John Swanson: bass, guitar, vocals, percussion

Tom Ryan: drums

Joe Territo: guitar

Bill Pavone: webmaster, purchasing, IT, CD stuffer/shrinkwrapper

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