Earlier this year, Malden songwriter Greg Cherone told Scituate Historical Society president David Ball that he was writing songs to benefit the historical society.
“I don’t think he believed me,” Cherone said.
This June, Cherone’s two-song compact disc, “Songs of Scituate,” will be available for $5 at a number of local stores, including the historical society’s Maritime Museum and Little Red Schoolhouse, as well as Humming Rock Gifts.
Cherone met with Ball because Cherone had been researching the story of Scituate Lighthouse’s Army of Two — during the War of 1812, two teenage sisters, daughters of lighthouse keeper Simeon Bates, are said to have scared away British troops by playing military music and pretending to be a local militia while hiding — and he wanted Ball’s opinion of the story’s validity. Throughout their lives, the Bates sisters faced accusations that they were making up their stories.
“It seemed very controversial,” Cherone said. “People said it happened, people said it didn’t.”
When the two talked, Ball asserted his belief that the story was true. He invited Cherone to explore records in the historical society’s headquarters, where Cherone looked through magazine interviews given by the two sisters later in their lives.
“I went down there one afternoon, just had a blast,” Cherone said.
From there, he dove into researching the story. After deciding he believed it, Cherone sat down and wrote the song with his brother Gary, who is known for his former band Extreme and stint with Van Halen.
Cherone not only found information about the Bates sisters at the historical society. Cherone also discovered that Scituate had an official song. In 1935, Scituate selectmen named a musical version of Samuel Woodworth’s poem “Old Oaken Bucket,” as the town’s official song.
The song, Cherone said, was beautifully written, but slow, so he updated it and added his version to the disc he was making.
“I thought I could drag it into the 21st century,” he said.
The final product, “Songs of Scituate,” Cherone said, is like a musical postcard, a two-song compact disc that residents and visitors can buy to remind them of the town. When he was a child, Cherone and his family spent summers in Humarock, and he still takes his family to the area for vacations. He said he plans on moving his family there permanently one day.
“Songs of Scituate” isn’t Cherone’s first ode to his favorite vacation spot. In 2004, Cherone wrote and recorded “A Humarock Song” that sold at Humming Rock Gifts, and he was shocked by the community’s support. The song sold 500 copies, with proceeds going to the Humarock Beach Improvement Association.
“I never sold 500 of anything (before),” he said.
Cherone began working his latest songs when, on a recent vacation to Humarock, he ventured off the peninsula to explore Scituate, something he doesn’t normally do during his vacations. He came across Scituate Light and read the display on the Bates sisters.
“I thought, ‘Wow, that’s a great idea for a song,’” he said.
And months after his first meeting with David Ball, Cherone kept his word and delivered the compact disc.
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