Soup song strives to save lives
Monday, 06 February 2012 14:59
For the past five years Bobette’s Take Out on the Boston Post Road has been donating profits from the sale of its butternut squash bisque in February to the Beth El Homeless Shelter.
This year the owners took that one step further: They wrote a song about homeless people to complement the soup. It’s called “Butternut Buddy.”
“Homeless and cold, we’re only a paycheck from the street, give back or let them be,” the song goes.
Gary Caulfield, who started writing lyrics only about six months ago and already has about a dozen songs devoted to soup, said it wasn’t easy working the words “butternut buddy” into a song.
But he did.
Listen:
The soup name serves as a refrain that echoes throughout the song: “Help each other, butternut buddy.”
Toni Dolan, director of Milford’s Beth El Shelter, has put the song on the agency’s website.
Bobette Moore and Gary Caulfield have owned Bobette’s for 23 years. Caulfield, who describes himself as a writer, said he started penning lyrics about six months ago when he decided to write a song for Moore to honor her birthday.
That one is called “She’s Got the Soup,” and parts of it may be heard on Bobette’s website.
It wasn’t hard working “Bobette” into the song: “I’ll tell you her name so you don’t forget; next time you want soup, just think of Bobette.”
Caulfield writes the lyrics, and then he gives them to his friend Brian Shaker, who turns them into songs.
Caulfield and Shaker met years ago when Shaker started coming in for soup. Shaker owns a business down the street, A&S Auto Services, where Caulfield has work done on his car.
“I knew he was in a band, so I asked Brian if he could take my lyrics and put them to music,” Caulfield said.
Shaker’s band is called The Fugitives, and he didn’t blink an eye when Caulfield asked him to help create soup songs. He went at it, working Caulfield’s words about bisque and broth into musical arrangements, some as ballads, others with a sexy, bluesy sound, with some with rock and roll thrown in.
Shaker plays the guitar and other instruments, sings the songs, and then mixes the tracks in his home music studio.
When Caulfield brings him lyrics, he usually hums a tune to Shaker to give him an idea of what he’s thinking.
“I never thought I’d be singing to a guy,” Caulfield said with a laugh.
Shaker said he takes the bit of tune Caulfield hums and works it into the music, and Caulfield said he’s amazed when he hears the final product.
Caulfield, Shaker and Moore hope the Butternut Buddy song draws more attention to the plight of the homeless, and to the fact that Bobette’s butternut squash sales benefit the homeless shelter through the end of the month.
Moore said the squash soup promotion started years ago when she asked former Mayor James Richetelli Jr. which charity he thought Bobette’s should help out.
“He said the homeless shelter was close to his heart, so that’s what we chose to do,” Moore said.
The butternut squash soup was the most popular, so they settled on that one.
Prices are as follows: A quart costs $11, and $4 of that goes to the shelter. A pint costs $6, with $3 going to the shelter; a regular costs $5, with $2 going to the shelter; and a small costs $3.25, with $1 going to the shelter.
So Bobette’s has the soup — plus sandwiches and salads — and now songs about soup. Caulfield and Shaker have recorded five soup songs so far, and Caulfield wonders if some day the songs will be as popular as Bobette’s soups.
Dolan said she appreciates the soup and the song.
“Gary and Bobette have been generous supporters of Beth-El for many years,” Dolan said. “We are so grateful for their ongoing support, and know that they are true community partners. In addition to Bobette’s creative talents with soup-making, Gary has shown his creativity by writing a song about this Butternut Buddy event — this is true dedication.”
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