Welcome back, friend.

I hope you had a great summer. I have been roaming the country since the early days of April. I have seen beauty in abundance, but my favourite months are September and October, “when the wind and the light are working off each other…”

I’ll tell me ma: wave mp3 lyrics: traditional/music: Martin Praetorius

One night, about 25 years ago, I sat down in the recording room of the studio I was running back then, to work on a chord progression and melody that had been in my head all day. It matched beautifully with the lyrics of the well known children’s song “I’ll tell me ma”, so I married the two and recorded a version, which soon got forgotten.

In the summer of 2013 I found the tape, re-recorded the song and put it out on bandcamp. It sat there almost unnoticed, until I started playing it regularly at my weekly live-streams during the pandemic.
I recorded an updated version and released it as a b-side of the first single ‘All the travelling’, from the forthcoming album ‘It’s OK, I’m still laughing!’

For the past couple of months, I have been playing it in pubs around Ireland, and it seems to be the kind of song that attracts people’s attention and is able to quieten a room, so I decided to give it a proper – off the record – Bandcamp-Friday release on September 02.

Here it is for you, and I hope you like it and play it on your shows and add it to the playlists of your stations. There is a mp3 and a wave version for your convenience. The ISRC code is QMEU32105328.

I’ll tell me ma – Martin Praetorius – wave

I’ll tell me ma – Martin Praetorius – mp3

You can also visit my previous releases:
‘Out Of This Town’ – a sparkling, uplifting folk-pop track that reminisces ‘The Byrds’ and ‘Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers.’

To The Dreamers’ – for those who doubt, and for those who dream, which are often the same kind of people.

House With Yellow Windows’ – “We took the old road to the city, as we left the dual carriageway behind…”

‘Into The Mystic’ – my take on the Van Morrison classic