WELL, WELL said the Rocking chair’ is the title of Dean Friedman’s album from 1978.

Well, if that rocking chair could talk today it would still be saying ‘Well, Well,’. The Well, well being the start of a sentence saying well, well Dean still writing and singing your songs.

The answer for the rocking chair would be ‘Yes I am and doing very fine thank you.’

Dean Friedman, for those unaware is one of the preeminent songwriters of his generation - is returning this year to mark his 40th anniversary in the music business.

He will be celebrating with the digitally remastered, re-release of his 1978 ground breaking album “Well, Well,” said the Rocking Chair’ - released April 13 on Real Life Records.

Somerset County Gazette:

Dean Friedman will also mark the milestone by performing the entire album ‘live’, on a 57 date UK tour which will bring him to Bridgwater Arts Centre on April 28.

Speaking to Dean Friedman there is a sense of calm about what he says, ‘the melody of stillness’ if you want to pop a phrase to describe the experience.

Songs and music have always been important to him and are in his DNA and blood.

Speaking about this Dean said: “Writing songs is an individual experience “My mum who recently passed away was a singer and her house was filled with her perfume and music.

“There was always a Broadway tune on the piano and as a result music was in my blood.

"I was always going to do something as the power of music can be joyous.

“As I grew up I was open to all styles and types of music including popular, classical and jazz.

"Music has enriched my life and it has helped make me who I am. I got my first guitar when I was eight-years-old.

"I took a bag of quarters to the shop, put them on the counter and bought it.

"I saved all the money from doing a paper route. I used to take it to school and play some songs.

"I first realised I wanted to be a musician when I realised it would help me meet girls.

"But I had to get up and perform on stage and this allowed me to express myself. It was all really positive.”

Even though he was moving forward with his career, something was not right.

Somerset County Gazette:

Dean explained no matter the songwriter they had to write songs which are personal to themselves no matter how obscure they made it and each song defined how they felt at that moment.

This discovery came to Dean when he was looking back at his song The Kite Song.

The kite in question flies everywhere after it broke loose.

It did not have a tail and so there was no control and the person in the song was chasing a kite out of control as they tried to catch it.

Dean said: “What I was describing was my musical career. Things were blowing up and there was no stability.

So when I was re-interpreting the song I realised what I was saying at the time. What I was experiencing at the time was disarray, panic and anxiety.”

Getting passed all this meant Dean carved out a very successful musical career releasing 18 albums and singles including Ariel, Woman of mine, Lucky Stars and Lydia.

Dean said: “Ariel was my first single off my first album and this was the song which started my musical career.

"When I recorded it I was using the same type of tape machine The Beatles had used for Sgt Pepper.

"This meant I had four tracks and I could over dub my vocals which for me was very exciting.

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"The name Ariel came about as that was the way I sung, I sung the vowels and not the consonants.

"Later I discovered my mum had written a poem about a ray of light which came in the window and the sun bounced around off the reflected surfaces and she called it Ariel.

Subconsciously it seemed to be a gift from my mum.”

Another song which came out of ‘learning’ about an incident came when he recorded his 2017 album 12 Songs.

One of the twelve was The Ducks of St Stephen’s Green.

Dean said: “This was something I wrote after seeing a lot of messages from friends in Ireland talking about the 100th anniversary of the Easter Up Rising.

"I was very ignorant of it all and decided to look into it to learn more.

"I discovered St Stephen’s Green was in a park and when the fighting was going on James Kearney went into the park with a white flag as he wanted to feed the ducks.

"Each time over the weekend he went in they stopped fighting.

“It is interesting to discover something out of curiosity in the midst of everything in the world.”

- Dean Friedman’s 40th Anniversary “Well, Well,” Said the Rocking Chair Tour is at Bridgwater Arts Centre on April 28.

Tickets £25.

Buy online at bridgwaterartscentre.co.uk