"Turn to Me" is track 5 on the new album, 'Kiss and Tell' and its a very personal track, written for a family member who unfortunately didn't live long enough to hear the finished article. That's always sad, but the song still stands as a testament (I hope)...
My uncle Martin left home when he was 16 and travelled the world. He came from a seaside town in north Wales and ended up living in Australia, New York, LA.. It doesn't get any more exciting than that to a kid growing up in the '70's, so he was always a kind of hero to me. He very rarely came back to UK but occasionally I'd meet this 6'3" giant with a strong American accent... It (and he) was a big thing to me.
As I got older, he met my wife and children at the inevitable funerals and we kept in touch by phone and an occasional email, but our lives were very different of course. He had worked for a huge Japanese airline and lived in Santa Monica. He rarely left the states and when I travelled to the States, we never got chance to meet up.
In the last few years of his life, he got stomach cancer which eventually took his life. He stayed strong but I know he suffered, and I wanted to write something for him, something that would give him hope and know he was being thought about all those miles away. "Turn to Me" was it. I played it live to him down a phoneline once and he got upset. It struck a chord... He felt I had captured his life somehow you can't ask for much more as a writer... It was Martin who told me I should be a full time songwriter. Lovely to hear that said, but I hadn't (and still haven't) the first clue how that happens, so it's still a passionate hobby...
The line:
"Every day when you wake up and see the morning dew
Never knowing if it will return"
Felt very poignant as I wrote it, knowing that a day would come when my uncle saw the sights out of his window for the last time. Very few of us know it's the last time of course..
"Count on me when the light fades and when it gets too dark
Call me and I try and help you see...
Turn to me"
Without being intentionally immodest, "Turn to Me" is a good song. It carries a strong message. It's one of those songs that comes to you because of the life of another person. You are just the scribe, the conduit. Rest in Peace Martin. I hope you feel this song in some way
The beautiful melancholic string sound after the last chorus by the way is Marc Joy playing an e-bow on his Telecaster. It is absolutely stunning.. fits perfectly and I am very grateful to him for coming up with this... As always Marc comes up with a sound that just couldn't suit the song any better... That's what happens when you share the track with a great musician - Marc I mean of course, not me... ;-)
Crispin x
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