Keep The Table Set

co writer: Tom Ryan ~ upbeat “Creole Belle-esque” song about welcoming in all that
life presents, using a dining room table at gathering time as metaphor
13 If I Could Write a Song Like Berlin ~ 2:55 ~ when David was invited to

Keep the Table Set
© 2011 David Roth & Tom Ryan
David ~ guitar, vocal
Vito Petroccitto, Jr. ~ second guitar
David Lange ~ piano, accordion
Penny Nichols, Larry Bridges ~ harmony vocals
SummerSongs Singers ~ chorus
Tom Ryan and I became friends at SummerSongs songwriting camp in 2001 in
upstate New York. Our mutual love of songwriting, sports, humor (he was a clown
by day!) and the human condition brought us together on many occasions, but it
wasn’t until Tom showed up at camp in 2011 with a very aggressive form of cancer
that we finally sat down to write a song together. Tom left us the following summer
and I was privileged to sing at his memorial service near Philadelphia soon
thereafter. He had chosen all the songs, of course. “Sparkles” lives on (a perfect
name for Tom). Other campers who knew this grace-filled man are singing on the
chorus.