REMEMBER
[Jeffrey Clark]

I want you to tell me
I want you today
I want you tonight
Am liking the way
I want you to know it
We’re open as hope
I want you to live
While I sing my song
The air is tonight
But your memory is green
So I just want to remind you
That I want you
Want you to always remember
Yes I want you
Want you to always remember

I watched you. Went on without you
I watch you today
And if something could be different
Guess I’m still gonna say yeah
So my heart is ill
‘Cause my heart’s not that strong
And all the things that I told you
You knew them all along
The wind may blow
But your memory is green
So I just want to tell you
That I want you
Want you to always remember
Yes, I want you
Want you to always remember
Yes, ‘cause I want you
Want you to always remember
I want you
Want you to always remember . . .


REMEMBER
[Jeffrey Clark]

Leslie Medford : bass, drums, percussion, organ, cornet, voice
Douglas Gilham: 6-string acoustic and electric guitars

A cover of an unreleased (recorded live) Torn Boys song. It's also “from” the Leslie Medford-crafted Torn Boys cdr he called Remember (Ring a Bell Yet?) Circa 1983.
Publishing: Torn Again Music, BMI / BrowBeat Music, BMI
Recording date: 22-24 March, 17-19 April 2024
Recording place: The Barn, Bentleyville, Stockton, California
Recorded with a Tascam DP24
Arranged by Leslie Medford
Recorded, engineered, mixed and mastered by Doug Gilman and Leslie Medford

I was there whenever the Torn Boys played at the Blackwater Café, and I even saw the show in Davis. I was, and am, a true fan. I have, rather famously, collected on cassette everything I was gifted by the band back then; admittedly my cassettes being a generation removed from a source which remained in Jeff’s, Kelly’s, Duncan's or Grant's private collection. As mentioned above, from this treasure trove of performances I fashioned myself a Torn Boys collection on cdr, which came to be the recognized “standard” – all the “traditional choices”. Haha! For forty years, it was.

I was not surprised that the song “Remember” did not make the cut for the Torn Boys just-released and delicious “1983” retrospective album. The only version I know to exist is live, and of poor fidelity. It wasn’t a mainstay in their set; indeed, they may have performed it only the once. The Torn Boys live version is *very* Velvet Underground. I’ve always loved the song and the way they performed it – the song came right through to me despite the flawed cassette sonics. Only hoping to honor the Torn Boys and convey my admiration, musical and personal, may I present a version of “Remember”. I hope I’ve captured a bit of the essence of the original.

Doug Gilham, part of this very Stockton generation, a high school classmate of mine, plays guitars and was instrumental in getting this recording made, in the country outside Stockton, no less. Bentleyville, huzzah! So . . . we hope a bonus track to “1983”, if you will, but over to the side, of course. “Remember” . . . —Leslie Medford, Prunedale, 20apr24