JGM Pick of the Week: March 16, 2021

“Remember Me”
Eleanor Dubinsky
Touch the Sky LLC
(release date: March 12, 2021)

By Robert M. Marovich

Based on a true story, “Remember Me” was written by Sally Ponzio, her brother Frank Ponzio, and Eleanor Dubinsky, though the most critical contributor was Sally’s late son, Travis.

Six months after Travis succumbed to an overdose, Sally was driving when she heard his voice saying “Fly high, fly free / Spread your wings / Remember me.”

She pulled over, wrote the words he spoke on a napkin, and presented them to Frank, a jazz musician and composer. Frank, in turn, recruited his longtime collaborator, singer-songwriter Dubinsky, and the three put the song together. It turned out that some of the accompanying musicians and background vocalists had also been affected by addiction.

Debuted on December 11, 2019, at Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater in New York City, “Remember Me” was released as a single, with Dubinsky on lead, this month.

The St. Louis-born Dubinsky, one of NPR Alt.Latino’s four 2018 picks for New Spring Music, injects the touching melody with a wizened Carole King sensibility. It’s ideal for such an elegiac yet hopeful composition.